"RACIST + RAPIST": On Founder's Day at U-Va., Jefferson's statue is defaced

[mahatmakanejeeves]

Grade Point

‘RACIST + RAPIST’: On Founder’s Day at U-Va., Jefferson’s statue is defaced

By Susan Svrluga April 13

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A university worker cleaned a statue of Thomas Jefferson located on the Lawn at the University of Virginia. It was painted with the phrase “Racist + Rapist” early Friday. (Geremia Di Maro/Cavalier Daily)

The words “RACIST + RAPIST” were painted on a statue of Thomas Jefferson at the University of Virginia on Friday, the day the school commemorates its founder each year. This year marks the 275th anniversary of his birth.

Jefferson has become a fraught symbol as the university delves more deeply into its own complicated history, and as broader cultural battles play out nationally and locally over monuments and race.

Jefferson — author of the Declaration of Independence, third U.S. president and founder of the public university — is believed to have had children with a woman who was enslaved on his plantation. In August, students and community members circled a statue of Jefferson to protect it, as white supremacists carrying torches surrounded them, the beginning of a weekend of violent clashes in Charlottesville. In September, students and other community members shrouded a statue in black, with signs labeling Jefferson a racist and rapist.

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Susan Svrluga is a reporter covering higher education for The Washington Post's Grade Point blog. Before that, she covered education and local news at The Post. Follow @SusanSvrluga

[Nitram]

1. Sad, but true. Jefferson was also a political philosopher, a humanist, a visionary, and a great deal

more. Our nation has a troubled history. The sooner we face that, the sooner we can start to build a just and humane society.