My message to UNC-Chapel Hill is simple: do not, under any circumstances, change the name of Saunders Hall.
William Saunders and the hall that bears his name are inextricably linked to UNC-CH’s past, and the deeds he carried out can never be undone. The stories of Saunders’ victims and the victims of others are inextricably linked to their aggressors, and we risk forgetting these victims if we give silent sanctuary to those that committed violent acts against them.
It was in secrecy that William Saunders’ Ku Klux Klan chapter could carry out lynchings and terroristic acts with impunity. Gov. William Holden challenged this impunity by declaring martial law in 1870, after which he brought many Klansmen to trial. The Klan’s expansive political reach succeeded in obstructing any sort of conviction, and Holden was subsequently impeached from office, which was a testament to the Klan’s vicious power.
The State Legislature pardoned Holden in 2011, but too much of this chapter of North Carolina’s past remains untold and its victims forgotten. Sadly, there are still people in our society who are sympathetic to the Klan’s beliefs, and they are all too willing to see this chapter of the State’s past quieted.
It’s true now, as it was true then, that silence is the Klan’s best friend.
We, as citizens, can honor the past and present victims of racial violence by laying bare this ignoble chapter of North Carolina’s history.
Instead of giving Klansmen the shelter of anonymity, we can dignify the countless victims of the Klan’s violence by keeping these aggressors and their violent acts in plain sight; a solemn reminder of a path we hope our society never walks again. By keeping these people in plain sight, the full extent of their victims’ suffering may be fully understood. In the somber reflection of the victims’ suffering, we free their spirits to rise up. And though the names of many of these victims may never be known, we may forever connect the name of William Saunders with their suffering by leaving his name in plain sight. In doing so, we condemn Saunders’ actions to a sentence far harsher than any court of law could impose.
As is befitting of any institution that venerates the virtue of knowledge, I hope UNC-CH makes the decision to own this painful history as a part of its long and complex story, and I hope it leaves Saunders’ name on Saunders Hall as a reminder of the Klan’s numerous victims.
The victims of the Klan’s violence deserve no less.
