Face defaced
Red paint, ‘racist’ on controversial statue
A VIGILANTE vandal spray-painted the word “racist” on a controversial Central Park monument to a doctor who performed medical experiments on slaves.
The defacing of the Dr. J. Marion Sims statue was discovered early Saturday, less than a week after City Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito called for its removal.
In addition to marking up the back of the statue, the vandal covered its eyes and neck in red paint.
“I just love seeing this because it’s people in the streets. It’s the people taking it into their own hands,” said Danny Fisher, 20, a musician living in the Upper West Side.
Not everyone walking past the defiled monument on E. 103rd St. was similarly enthused.
“It’s crazy. It’s terrible,” said Irving Lipschitz, 70, a salesman from the Upper East Side.
Lipschitz wondered aloud if he should scrub the statue himself.
“If I got up there and cleaned it, would I be arrested?” he said.
Parks workers arrived later in the day to wash off the paint, and cops were hunting for the vandal.
Hailed the father of modern gynecology, Sims’ reputation has taken a hit amid revelations that he performed operations on enslaved women without getting their consent or giving them anesthesia.
The monument has come under increased scrutiny following the deadly white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Va., on Aug. 12. The demonstration was organized to protest the removal of a statue of the Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee.
The Sims monument — which was moved from Bryant Park to the edge of Central Park in 1934 — is among the statues that a city commission is reviewing for possible removal.
Mayor de Blasio announced last Monday plans for the 90-day review of “symbols of hate on city property.”
Mark-Viverito described Sims’ work as a “stain on our nation’s history” that should be vilified rather than honored.
“We must send a definitive message that the despicable acts of James Marion Sims are repugnant and reprehensible,” Mark-Viverito said.
Strolling past the monument Saturday, St. John’s University law professor Cheryl Wade said she welcomed its defacement because it would likely draw more people into the debate over Sims’ contributions.
“If it inspires people to actually look for the truth and find the truth, I’m so happy it happened,” said Wade.