Graham Moomaw, Richmond Times-Dispatch, June 25, 2015

The Jefferson Davis statue on Richmond’s iconic Monument Avenue has been vandalized with the message “Black Lives Matter.”

It’s unclear when the message appeared, but it was visible on the memorial’s base Thursday morning.

Workers from the Department of Public Works were out later Thursday morning to remove and clean the spray-painted graffiti.

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The Davis statue is slated to serve as a key turnaround point in the international bicycling race coming to the city in September. A local activist group has called on officials to change the race route for the UCI Road World Championships to avoid highlighting the Confederate monuments.

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The statue was unveiled in the summer of 1907, drawing an estimated crowd of 100,000 on the final day of a Confederate reunion.

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