Wednesday morning people in Baltimore found the Francis Scott Key statue vandalized.
According to a photographer at the statue, it was spray painted from the sidewalk to the top its columns.
Francis Scott Key was a lawyer, author, and poet from Frederick, Maryland. His poem "The Defense of Fort McHenry" eventually became the United State's national anthem, "The Star-Spangled Banner."
"Racist anthem" was spray painted on the statue. Though it is rarely sung, the song's third verse does contain a reference to slavery.
The Baltimore Sun reports that the graffiti appeared on the statue exactly 203 years after Key wrote the poem that inspired the national anthem.
Baltimore's Francis Scott Key statue vandalized. pic.twitter.com/A4AnIRifd0
— Erick Ferris (@erick_ferris) September 13, 2017
This...Baltimore residents and city workers first look at the vandalized Francis Scott Key statue on W Lanvale St & Eutaw Pl in Bolton Hill. pic.twitter.com/r0NVTf2rea
— Erick Ferris (@erick_ferris) September 13, 2017
