Infosurhoy
June 23 2018
Mt. Davidson cross vandalized with anti-government message
By Denis Bedoya on June 23, 2018 News
As the conversation around the treatment of migrant children at the border gets more heated, hostility toward the immigration-enforcement arm of the U.S. government has become visible, most recently in the case of two vandalism incidents, one of which targeted the enormous concrete cross atop Mount Davidson in San Francisco.
MORE: Billboard on 880 vandalized to read ‘We Make Kids Disappear — ICE’
The same week that an Emeryville billboard was altered to read “We Make Kids Disappear — ICE,” someone appears to have spray-painted a message of solidarity with immigrant families on the cross.
“No more violence. This blessing is for the families in detention centers, for the families experiencing U.S. funded wars. Blessings for the queers,” the red lettering reads.
A visitor to the park, Toby Morgan, photographed the graffiti about 8 p.m. Thursday.
The cross, which has stood atop San Francisco’s highest hill since 1934, was erected to commemorate the 1.5 million Armenians who were killed in the Armenian Genocide under the Ottoman Empire. It is also the setting for an Easter sunrise mass each year.
A representative from the Council of Armenian American Organizations of Northern California said they are “saddened” by the incident and have reached out to law enforcement.
“We are notifying the police and will have it painted today,” a representative said Friday. “We understand peoples need for self-_expression_, vandalism such as this is never appropriate.”
Filipa Ioannou is an SFGATE staff writer.