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A Utah man was arrested Tuesday for allegedly defacing a memorial commemorating a regiment of Black soldiers who fought in the Civil War, prosecutors said.
Jackson Green, 27, was taken into custody following an indictment charging him with property damage at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., on Nov. 14. The Justice Department alleges that Green used red paint to write the words “Honor Them” on the wall next to the Shaw 54th Regiment Memorial—a sculpture by Augustus Saint-Gaudens honoring “Colonel Robert Gould Shaw and the men of the 54th Massachusetts, one of the first Civil War regiments of African Americans enlisted in the North,” according to the gallery.
The DOJ said Green is a member of Declare Emergency, a group that describes itself as using “nonviolent civil resistance techniques to disrupt the status quo and demand that our government take meaningful action to address the climate emergency.” Green’s action—which allegedly caused over $700 worth of damages—was filmed by other members of the group and shared online, prosecutors say.