SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. (AP) Police are searching for five people who draped Confederate flags on more than a dozen lawn jockeys in front of an upstate New York horse racing museum.
Authorities say surveillance video captured people hanging flags on jockeys at the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame in Saratoga Springs, New York, at about 2 a.m. Tuesday. None of the jockeys were damaged. Museum staff removed the flags that morning.
People who claim to have placed the flags have told news outlets they were protesting against symbols of slavery. They told WNYT-TV by email they want the pale-skinned statues removed and they're urging the museum to include black jockeys in a historically accurate exhibit.
The museum says the statues do not carry racial overtones and instead represent historic racing stables.
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This story has been corrected to show perpetrators want the jockeys removed, not replaced
