On Monday, Aug. 20, 2018, during a protest calling for the removal of UNC-Chapel Hill’s “Silent Sam” confederate statue, demonstrators forcibly brought down the monument that has stood on UNC’s campus since 1913. In the following days, the debate over the statue’s fate has only intensified, with discussions over the statue’s forced removal coming to a head as the story has developed.
Though it is unfortunate that the removal of the Silent Sam statue came to the destruction of public property, we fully support the actions of the protesters. The practice of vandalism is something that, in normal circumstances, Technician does not condone. However, as all legal recourse had been pursued, and UNC students’ authority to shape their own campus environment had been undermined by the state and the university, we support the risk taken by these individuals, in full knowledge of the legal repercussions they may face.
We at Technician stand with the students at UNC-CH and support their decision to take matters into their own hands with the destruction of Silent Sam. This is important to us not only because they are students at a fellow UNC System school, but also because all campuses are harmed by the defense of monuments which glorify the oppression of any members of our community.
While NC State’s campus does not have any monuments honoring the Confederacy, there are Confederate monuments in downtown Raleigh. These statues represent the government’s unwillingness to address the cruel history of subjugation and hatred perpetuated by slavery and segregation.
It is important to specify the context under which the removal of Silent Sam occurred. In 2015, the State legislature passed a law prohibiting the removal of any state-owned “object of remembrance” on public property — including that owned by local governments. Such an object is defined as “a monument, memorial, plaque, statue, marker, or display of a permanent character that commemorates an event, a person, or military service that is part of North Carolina’s history.”
Such objects may be relocated, but only to “a site of similar prominence, honor, visibility, availability, and access that are within the boundaries of the jurisdiction from which it was relocated.” This legislation effectively prohibits the removal of any of the dozens of state-owned Confederate monuments in North Carolina, trampling on the freedom of localities to decide for themselves which values they wish to honor.
Students at UNC have opposed the statue for decades. During a recent Board of Trustees meeting, protesters spoke out against university funds being used on security for the statue, but officials refused to allow public comment during the meeting. As far back as the 1960s, following Martin Luther King Jr.’s assassination, the statue was coated in red paint, and later served as a focal point for protests.
The environment created by this policy has the potential to create unsafe situations. Without a doubt, it’s very fortunate that no one was injured in the process of the statue’s removal during the protest. However, the monument’s presence cast a shadow over the community, intimidating students of color.
Addressing the aftermath of Charlottesville last year, four campus groups — UNControllables, UNC NAACP, Campus Y and UNC QTPOC (queer/trans people of color) — expressed that “Minority students walk on this campus in fear” over the “open invitation to white supremacist groups” the statue represents. This fact cannot be ignored when discussing concerns of campus safety.
The removal of this statue is not an attack on the South or its history. It is a statement against the openly racist principles the statue was created to honor. In his dedication speech for the statue, Julian Carr, a prominent industrialist and supporter of the Ku Klux Klan, praised the Confederate soldier as essential to “the welfare of the Anglo Saxon race” in the South.
Carr’s speech also included a personal story boasting about beating a black woman for failing to recognize white supremacy, saying “One hundred yards from where we stand … I horse-whipped a negro wench until her skirts hung in shreds, because upon the streets of this quiet village she had publicly insulted and maligned a Southern lady.”
We applaud the UNC Undergraduate Executive Branch for insisting that the protestors were right in tearing down the statue, which “perpetuated hate and violence.” We also praise NC State Student Body President Jess Errico for criticizing the racist ideals the statue represents. She also expressed support for all who were negatively impacted by the statue and called out “those in positions of power” for “ignoring the voices of those peacefully seeking change.”
Meanwhile, both UNC Chancellor Carol Folt and Governor Roy Cooper were hesitant to address the racism the statue embodies. Folt referred to the removal as “unlawful and dangerous.” Although Cooper expressed sympathy toward the students who are “frustrated by the pace of change,” he soundly denounced the “violent” means of the statue’s removal.
Last year we called for Cooper and our state legislature to remove monuments that honor the Confederacy and its hateful ideologies, such as Silent Sam. We at Technician hope that they will learn from this incident, and we once again call for them to begin the process of legally removing all remaining monuments that honor the Confederacy and its ideals.
As human beings who cannot support the continued preservation of icons which demean people of color, we demand action from those in power. These monuments do more than neutrally detail history; they actively glorify values which tore the country apart and continue to enforce racial inequality to the present day. These memorials must not stand. The state must take the initiative to remove them from the pedestals we have placed them on.
This unsigned editorial is the opinion of the members of Technician’s editorial board, and is the responsibility of the editor-in-chief.
