From Staff Reports 

Asheville police were investigating a case of vandalism at Vance Monument after someone spray-painted what appeared to be a noose above blue, block-lettered words, “Black lives matter.” The noose and words were found about 11 p.m. Jan. 17.

Police spokeswoman Christina Hallingse told local news media that the words “Black lives matter” also were written on the Vance Monument last year, but no noose accompanied the graffitti in the previous incident.

The 50-foot obelisk in Pack Square Park is named after Zebulon Vance, a 19th -century governor and U.S. congressman who owned slaves.

For months, local activists and historians  have been collecting signatures for a petition for constructing a complementary monument near Vance’s that would describe the parallel African-American history.