Lincoln statue in downtown Spokane again vandalized with red paint

Downtown Spokane’s Abraham Lincoln statue has been vandalized again.

Red paint covers the base and cape of the statue at the corner of Monroe Street and Main Avenue.

It is unclear when the vandalism occurred, but police responded to a call reporting it on Friday at 1:30 a.m. No arrests were made as of Monday afternoon.

The statue was similarly defaced with red paint just after Thanksgiving in 2020. A motive was never officially established. Historic statues across the country were vandalized in 2020 as part of an anti-colonial protest movement.

Spokane police Officer Daniel Strassenberg, a department spokesman, said a motive for the recent defacement hasn’t been established.

The statue by Alonzo Victor Lewis has been a fixture of the city’s downtown since it was unveiled on Armistice Day in 1930 in front of a crowd of 40,000. While campaigning in Spokane, then-Sen. John F. Kennedy gave a speech in front of it in 1960.

Lewis’s other works include “Winged Victory,” a World War I memorial adjacent to the state Capitol in Olympia.

City spokesperson Erin Hut said the city crews plan to clean the statue on Tuesday.