America’s archivist draws a line in the sand against vandals

It was only a matter of time before European-style eco-radicalism reached American shores. In recent years, European museums have had their art treasures attacked by vandals throwing paint, soup, and chemicals on them, while protesting climate extinction or other such apocalyptic claims. Iconic works like the Mona Lisa are not spared and just this month in Glasgow, Scotland, two women defaced a bust of Queen Victoria with porridge and jam while spray painting a horrid obscenity on its plinth. Another favored tactic of the radicals is to block major roads or bridges through sit downs or forming human barricades. The antics achieve nothing but disrupting quotidian activities of numerous commuters or ruining the experiences of thousands of museumgoers. 

Since 2021, Washington, D.C., too, has been hit by the wave of eco-protest. Since then, in the name of climate change, Independence Avenue, I-395 and 495, and the George Washington Parkway are just some of the regional roads, streets and tunnels blocked by sit-downs, jamming up traffic, blocking ambulances, and causing mayhem. Despite arrests, few of the protestors are locked up, and they are thus emboldened to pull their stunts over again.

Now, however, more violent attacks against museums and other public spaces have spread to the nation’s capital. Twice last year, the National Gallery of Art was targeted, with an April assault on an Edgar Degas sculpture and a November defacing of a wall at the famous Augustus Saint-Garudens’ “Shaw 54th Regiment Memorial.” The perpetrator of the November attack is 27-year-old Jackson Green, from Utah, whose only punishment was to be ordered by a judge to stay away from the District of Columbia, its museums and its public spaces.

As could have been predicted, Green took advantage of his lenient treatment to stage a far more destructive attack in Washington, on Valentine’s Day. Abetted by 35-year-old Donald Zepeda, he vandalized the display case holding the U.S. Constitution, in the Rotunda of the National Archives. After creating a diversion by leaving a backpack unattended in the building, the two poured red paint powder on the Constitution’s case and surrounding floor, as well as themselves, while demanding climate action.

The shocking vandalism was seen in a widely viewed video clip posted online by another accomplice of Green and Zepeda. The Rotunda was closed to the public for four days, as Archives staff painstakingly cleaned the paint from the display case, including having to get into the storage space under the massive case, to make sure none of the destructive powder remained anywhere in the vicinity of the priceless documents. The cost of repairs exceeded $50,000.

Few eco-vandals face serious repercussion for their actions, but Green and Zepeda seem finally to have crossed a redline. After initially being charged with a misdemeanor, the two now face felony charges of destruction of government property. Moreover, Green was ordered held in the D.C. jail until his trial, and Zepeda, who previously had blocked the George Washington Parkway, was fitted with an ankle monitor. Most importantly, if found guilty, they could face up to ten years in prison and a fine of $250,000.

While the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia should be applauded for the serious charges against Green and Zepeda, Colleen Shogan, the archivist of the United States, also deserves high praise for her staunch defense of the Constitution and its symbolism for the nation. Shogan, who started in her position last May, publicly demanded that the duo be “prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law,” and worked with federal law enforcement and the Department of Justice to ensure that they were, believing that there must be strong consequences to deter future threats to America’s most important artifacts. She also immediately moved to increase security inside the Rotunda and institute new methods of responding to such attacks.

No society should tolerate the destructive, self-absorbed petulance of the vandals. It should not have to be said that they have no right to destroy an irreplaceable piece of art or a precious document, denying it to future generations. Nor have they the right to cause distress to the tourists who pack such museums and frighten children who see outbursts of anger and violence in public areas that should be devoted to contemplation of history and appreciation of beauty. 

So far not punished severely enough to make them think twice, the vandals have been emboldened by official timidity to make more frequent and more destructive assaults on public spaces, irreparable works of art, or historic documents. As that happens, the radicals undermine civil society, making it harder to learn from the past and impossible to have a reasoned civil debate over difficult issues. None of us wants to live in that type of country. In drawing a line in the sand, the archivist of the United States may have helped ensure that we won’t.

Michael Auslin is a historian at Stanford’s Hoover Institution.