Memorial Day advocates are extremely upset over the desecration of a Black hero’s headstone.
Lafayette Logan fought in the Civil War with the United States’ heroic 54th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment even when he was denied freedom because of the color of his skin. The Black war veteran along with many other African-American soldiers who fought for the country and are buried at Mount Moor Cemetery in West Nyack, New York.
Civil rights leaders and activists along with a few historians who came together Wednesday morning at the cemetery said they were angered by the person who would commit such a disturbing act.
“This is sacred ground for us…Our history is up here,” David Smith who’s also a war veteran told Lohud.
The vandal destroyed Logan’s heirloom headstone and his marker is missing. Smith believes the damage occurred during the holiday season sometime around Christmas or New Year’s although the fragments of the stone were discovered a few weeks ago.
(ricky flores/the journal news)
“We were taught that cemeteries are places of respect and honor,” Wilbur Aldridge, the regional director of the NAACP told the news outlet. “Obviously, some people missed that lesson… I would like to be shocked but anything can happen. I am surprised people would come to this area and do something so despicable.”
The cemetery represents an important part of history for Black people and honors Black war heroes who were never recognized.
The president of the Historical Society of the Nyacks, Win Perry said, “Mount Moor is a visual and physical reminder of the history of African-American people in the community… Many of them were veterans who fought in the Civil War, the Spanish-American War and the world wars to Korea.”
Mount Moor Cemetery was deeded on July 7, 1849, and allows burial space for Civil War, the Spanish-American War, World Wars I and II and other war veterans.
