Long Beach police say they are investigating gang-related “malicious vandalism” of Martin Luther King Jr. Park and its MLK statue after community members quickly raised the alarm about what had happened.
Longtime resident Sharon Diggs-Jackson spotted graffiti on the statue of Martin Luther King Jr. as well as on a sidewalk and a nearby wall while she was leaving her office on Monday morning. “It hurt my heart that it was so intentional,” she said.
Right away, she informed her circle by sharing photos of the vandalism that included competing gang tags.
Robert Robinson learned about the defacement via text message and took to social media to amplify the news and call for action. “We cannot normalize or stay silent about ongoing anti-Black attacks coming from any community or institution,” he said in a post on Instagram.
In an interview with the Long Beach Post, Robinson, who works with people exiting the criminal justice system, added that the vandalism exhibited ignorance and anti-Blackness in the city. The graffiti included dueling tags from local gangs that have been historically organized around racial lines. “These things stem from the separatism that’s happening within the justice system,” Robinson said, which in turn spills out into the community, creating division.
The incident of vandalism highlighted “the opportunities that we have as a community to address this and to be able to heal,” Robinson said – especially important, he said, because of anti-Blackness he believes has gone unaddressed in local schools. A group of parents and students recently warned that the Long Beach Unified School District isn’t adequately handling the problem — something they say was highlighted by a racist text message sent by an elementary school teacher.
Robinson called for increased interventions to ensure safe passage for young people, education and dialogue within the community, the arrest of those responsible for the vandalism, and acknowledgement and action from elected officials.
By early afternoon Monday, the graffiti had been removed, according to social media posts from Councilmember Suely Saro and Mayor Rex Richardson. The Long Beach Police Department said they would have an increased presence in and around the park.
“We won’t let negativity define our city,” Richardson said in a statement. “Long Beach is strong, united, and resilient — and when something tries to bring us down, we rise together.”
In recent years, the statue has had its nameplate stolen and been vandalized with Nazi hate symbols. In 2021, Saro allocated nearly $6,000 to restore the statue.
Diggs-Jackson, who grew up in the area and is currently the community organizer for the Historically Black Cultural District, said many neighborhood residents have undertaken a concentrated “effort to improve life in and around the central area,” including King Park.
She said residents are working together to “collectively set a vision for the area and to move forward,” especially as the neighborhood, including Long Beach’s historic Black core, is evolving.
Diggs-Jackson was pleased the city addressed the issue quickly, and she saw the quick response of residents who reported and shared the vandalism as critical to the park’s prompt restoration. “This was a good example of community action at work. … We care about the Sixth District,” she said, referencing the area’s City Council district number.