‘Roots’ author Alex Haley’s grandmother’s tombstone vandalized with racial graffiti

Vandals defaced the tombstone of “Roots” author Alex Haley’s grandmother in Savannah, Tenn., spray-painting the phrase “White Lives Matter” on the marker, the Jackson Sun reports.

Gary Will, the police chief of Savannah, said the vandalism apparently occurred in the past few days and will be removed this week. The tombstone marks the grave of Queen Haley, who grew up in slavery, the daughter of a white plantation owner and his black slave.

Will said he didn’t know why the vandals targeted Haley’s grave. “This is a crime that should have never occurred,” he said. “We’d like to know why, why they picked her gravestone. But it doesn’t matter. It isn’t right. ... Whether you’re alive or deceased, your life mattered.”

Queen Haley was the subject of Alex Haley’s book “Queen: The Story of an American Family,” which later was adapted into the miniseries “Alex Haley’s Queen.” The book was co-written by David Stevens, who finished writing the book after Alex Haley died in 1992.

Haley is best known for his 1976 book “Roots: The Saga of an American Family,” based on his ancestors’ journey from Africa to slavery and eventual freedom in America. It was adapted into an award-winning, record-breaking 1977 television miniseries.

The graffiti on Haley’s grandmother’s grave, “White Lives Matter,” appears to be a reference to #BlackLivesMatter, a grassroots movement founded in 2012 by activists Patrisse Cullors, Opal Tometi and Alicia Garza after the acquittal of George Zimmerman, who shot and killed Trayvon Martin, an unarmed African American teenager.

WBBJ-TV reports that Haley’s relatives believe the tombstone was vandalized one day after a family reunion. One of Haley’s descendents, Greg Cherry, told the station, “If hate is inside of you, hate will do nothing but eat you up.”

The town of Savannah recently made news after its mayor, Bob Shutt, requested that it receive a statue of Confederate general and first grand wizard of the Ku Klux Klan Nathan Bedford Forrest, if Memphis goes forward with plans to remove it from a public park. Shutt said he wants the statue in order to draw tourism.

Much of the paint on Queen Haley’s tombstone already has been removed by community members acting on their own, Jackson Sun notes, but a professional company will clean the marker and apply protective coating later this week.

No arrests have been made in the case.