our view

We would like to believe that those responsible for the most recent act of vandalism targeting the Say Their Names memorial in Ashland were just acting out without intent beyond tearing down T-shirts strung along a fence.

Just some otherwise rational people acting out over some perceived injustice or fit of pique, and taking it out on an available target.

But something inside us knows better — knows that it is something else.

The memorial — which features the names of victims of racial violence on the shirts strung along the fence behind Railroad Park — has now been hit three times since it was erected in 2020 after the George Floyd killing.

In the words of Auric Goldfinger, the villain of Ian Fleming’s famed James Bond novel, “Once is happenstance. Twice is coincidence. The third time … it’s enemy action.”

What made last month’s vandalism more suspicious, at least in the eyes of some who spent time last week restoring the memorial, was the manner in which the act occurred.

Shirts disappeared slowly, a few at a time, before the impact as a whole was seen.

“It’s fascinating,” sculptor Micah BlackLight told the Rogue Valley Times, “because this time they were like ‘maybe they won’t notice.’”

BlackLight acknowledged that the vandalism against a memorial of remembrance was painful to witness for some, although he sees it as an opportunity for the community to face its demons.

“That pain, to me,” he said, “it speaks to, ‘We shouldn’t have this (happening) in our town.’ But we do, so let’s deal.”

BlackLight’s sculpture concept, which would include all 380 names on the Say Their Names memorial, has been chosen as a permanent piece of public art for the space.

A fundraising drive is underway by the Say Their Names Collective and the local Black Alliance and Social Empowerment group to make the installation a reality.

The nagging question, however, the unquiet pit in the stomach, is that any restored T-shirt collection, or piece of art, is a lightning rod for vandalism by those who reject what the memorial represents.

That discussion, that realization, hovers over the community any time acts take place against targets with racial backdrops.

Cassie Preskenis, a member of the Ashland Public Arts Commission, said perhaps it’s time for the city to come together for more than simply restoring a memorial.

“I still feel every time it comes down like it’s an opportunity for us to look at Ashland as a specific location where racism happens,” she told the Times.

“The first time it came down in 2020, as I was standing here putting things back up, people kept coming by and saying, ‘Isn’t it terrible that someone came in from another town and took the shirts down?’”

No arrests have been made in connection to the vandalism against the memorial, but members of the Say Their Names Collective have said that they suspect Ashland residents might be involved in last month’s act.

Meanwhile, each time the T-shirts are brought down, volunteers are ready to rewrite their message.

After the memorial was attacked in January, collective member Tia Laida Fe posted to Facebook a reminder about the powerful nature of restoration.

“The beauty and the truth,” Fe wrote, “lives, is honed and grows in how we respond.”

When it comes to the Say Their Names memorial, may that response remain moving forward, despite the pain felt inside.