On Saturday morning, two Burlington City Council members woke up to graffiti on their driveways with an intimidating message.
Red tombstones were spray-painted on the asphalt driveways of two Democratic council members with the words “here lies progress” in white lettering.
The vandalism was first reported by WCAX, which said the graffiti had been found at the homes of two Democratic councilors, but they didn’t identify who. WCAX stated it wasn’t the first time the councilors had been targeted, and referred to a protest that organizers had held near the home of Councilor Joan Shannon, D-South District, in October. At that time, protesters were calling on Shannon, who chairs the Charter Change Committee, to give Burlington officials more flexibility to fire problematic police officers, which would require a change in the city charter. On Monday night, the council endorsed a charter change that would form a new, independent police oversight board with power to investigate and discipline police.
Voters will decide whether to support the charter change on March 2, Town Meeting Day. If voters pass it, the Legislature will decide whether to approve the change. If it does, the governor will decide whether to sign it.
By Tuesday morning, there was no trace of graffitti at Shannon’s home. In an email to VTDigger, she declined to comment.
Shannon was also targeted by protesters at Monday night’s council meeting. Her phone was bombarded by repeated calls in an effort to disrupt her comments on the police charter change, which she, along with her fellow Democratic councilors, did not support.
Police Chief Jon Murad said no police reports had been filed about the vandalism on Saturday targeting the councilors. However, he said the YMCA, the University of Vermont and the One North Avenue police station were also hit with graffiti in the same time period, extending into Monday night, relating to the Battery Park and Black Lives Matter movement.
He said the police have no reason to believe that the vandalism is connected.
“The Constitution, the state of Vermont, and the Burlington Police Department each treasure free speech — but vandalism is not free speech,” Murad wrote in an email to VTDigger.
“And I think it’s important to draw a distinction between property destruction committed under cover of darkness and cause-motivated civil disobedience,” he wrote. “One is criminally conducted with cowardly intent to avoid consequences and evade justice, while the other is done publicly and with acceptance of the potential consequences in order to seek justice.”
City Council President Max Tracy condemned the vandalism.
“That is completely unacceptable,” Tracy said of the graffiti. “It’s not the way that I want folks to engage with city councilors. I want councilors to have their privacy respected.”
Tracy said this kind of behavior distracts from the issue at hand — dismantling systemic racism in the city. He thanked movement leaders for encouraging people to show up at council meetings and voice their dissent through a public forum.
In a follow-up conversation on Tuesday, Tracy told VTDigger that he hadn’t spoken with either of the councilors who had been targeted, and no councilors had reached out to him about the vandalism.
Democratic Councilor Sarah Carpenter said she wasn’t positive who was targeted by the graffiti. While her home was not vandalized, “it really distressed me,” she said. “I totally understand people’s concerns and probably anger. And in this Covid time, it’s hard to get out there and protest.
“But I think it’s not appropriate to go to a councilor’s home and create vandalism.”
