Art student defaces Bordeaux slave statue; no racist motive

PARIS (AP) — Bordeaux, the French city that was a transit station in the slave trade, feared racism was behind the disfiguring of an African slave statue found partially covered in what looked like white paint. But instead, the city said Tuesday the statue was disfigured with plaster by an art student who had no racial motive. A legal complaint filed after Monday’s discovery was withdrawn, but the city on Tuesday denounced the unauthorized act disfiguring a statue honoring “the memory of victims of crimes against humanity.” The statue was inaugurated  in May 2019 on France’s national day marking slavery, the slave trade and its abolition.