A mob in Portland, Oregon, has torched a statue of an elk, prompting observers to theorize that perhaps the animal was a “slave owner” or a “white supremacist”.
Demonstrators on Wednesday night lit fires around the downtown landmark, quickly engulfing the horned effigy in flames. Videos show a small inferno wrapped around the base of the landmark.
It’s unclear why protesters targeted the statue. It was donated by former mayor David P. Thompson back in 1900 to commemorate the elk herds that once populated the region. However, there was plenty of speculation about what the animal had done to deserve being consumed by flames.
“That elk owned several slaves and was one of the biggest cotton-farm owners around Portland,” joked one Twitter user. Others wondered if perhaps “extinct elk herds” represent the “last bastion of white supremacy” in Oregon. Conservative pundit Ian Miles Cheong jokingly applauded the protesters for finally finding a way to end racism.
Demonstrators have targeted statues across the United States as part of ongoing Black Lives Matters demonstrations, claiming that the landmarks are rooted in oppression.
Protesters first toppled Confederate monuments but soon turned their attention to statues of historical figures such as Christopher Columbus and Thomas Jefferson. There have even been attempts to pull down statues of Abraham Lincoln, the US president who abolished slavery.
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