BROOKLYN, N.Y. — It’s been a month since vandals defaced a statue of George Floyd in Flatbush, Brooklyn, just days after it was unveiled on Juneteenth.

The suspects sprayed black paint on the statue in the middle of the night and wrote the website of a white nationalist group.

It wouldn’t stay defaced for long.

What You Need To Know

  • A statue of George Floyd in Brooklyn was defaced days after it was unveiled on Juneteenth
  • The group behind the statue will take it to a studio to be cleaned further before it goes to Union Square

  • Police say no arrests have been made as the hate crimes unit investigation continues

“I heard the news about the vandalism. I was so proud that I got word that Flatbush held it down, really supported us, looked out for the statue, look after the spirit of my brother,” Terrence Floyd, George Floyd’s brother, said.

The group behind the statue worked long hours with the community to clean it.

On Thursday, the community gathered to celebrate George Floyd and say thank you, with music and a food giveaway.

“It was hours and hours of us physically cleaning with toothbrushes and with your hands and really the only method that worked was really, really put in the elbow grease into it,” said Andrew Cohen, a founder of Confront Art.

“It is still tarnished,” said Lindsay Eshelman, another founder at Confront Art. “Some of the vandalism that happened we work so hard to get it off, but it’s still there, but it’s a reminder that even though someone came to destroy something, as a community we rebuilt it.”

There is still work to do.

On Monday, it will be back in a studio for further cleaning.

Then in September, it will be on display at Union Square as part of a project called SEEINJUSTICE that will also feature statues of Breonna Taylor and the late congressman and civil rights leader John Lewis.

“The memory is always going to be there, but to actually see this, that it’s going to be missing, that it’s not gonna be there no more as far as the statue, it’s gonna be a sad feeling,” said Randy Jones, a Flatbush resident.

For Terrence Floyd, a message for those who defaced the statue in tribute to his brother: “I laughed at it because you try to stop it, but you can’t stop us and we still gonna continue with love.”