Two Confederate war monuments in Charlotte, North Carolina were hit by vandalism and discovered Wednesday, making them the latest in an increasingly-longer line of vandalism to Confederate or otherwise symbolic monuments across the South. 

One of the monuments, a memorial standing at the city’s Old City Hall, was spray painted with the word "Racist." The monument was removed from its grounds and is now in a city cleaning facility, where the graffiti is to be removed. 

The second monument, which became a point of contention between Mecklenburg County (whose county seat is Charlotte) commissioners and members of the public in the wake of the national conversation about Confederate imagery, was found covered in cement. Specific parts covered include an engraving of the Confederate battle flag and an inscription honoring Confederate soldiers upholding the "Anglo-Saxon civilization of the South.” 

The vandalism happened concurrently with state legislature votes on a bill that would impede efforts to have historic monuments removed. 

(H/t The Charlotte Observer)