Thursday, March 28, 2024

Good Riddance: Hundreds of UNC Students Topple ‘Silent Sam’ Confederate Statue on Campus

*A Confederate statue that has stood on University of North Carolina’s Chapel Hill campus since 1913 was snatched down Monday night during a rally featuring hundreds of student protesters.

The monument of “Silent Sam,” a Confederate soldier sculpted by John A. Wilson, was funded by the University Alumni and the United Daughters of the Confederacy as a memorial to the Confederate alumni who lost their lives in the Civil War and all students who joined the Confederate States Army. It was located on McCorkle Place, the university’s upper quad, facing Franklin Street on the northern edge of campus.

Moments before it was pulled to the ground, a crowd of students gathered nearby for a series of speakers at 7 p.m. before heading over to the quadrangle. Then, about two hours into the protest, a group surrounded the statue and pulled it down, according to video footage. Once it was on the ground, demonstrators kicked it and cheered.

A half-hour after it was pulled down, a crowd of dozens remained standing around the empty pedestal. The crowd chanted “Tar Heels!” and “Whose Campus? Our Campus!” Cars honked as they passed nearby on the college town’s main drag.

Shortly after 10 p.m., a dozen officers were surrounding the fallen statue, which was eventually covered with a tarp next to its empty pedestal.

While many students, faculty and alumni have called the statue a racist image and asked officials to remove it, others argued it was a tribute to fallen ancestors. UNC leaders including Chancellor Carol Folt had previously said state law prevented the school from removing the statue.

Gov. Roy Cooper had called for removing Silent Sam and other rebel symbols on public land. A state historic panel is set to meet this week to debate Cooper’s request to remove other Confederate monuments at the state Capitol.

Still the Democratic governor issued a statement on Twitter Monday night arguing the protesters took the wrong approach to removing the statue.

“The Governor understands that many people are frustrated by the pace of change and he shares their frustration, but violent destruction of public property has no place in our communities,” said the tweet from his official account.

The university echoed the sentiment in a statement issued after the statue came down.

“Tonight’s actions were dangerous, and we are very fortunate that no one was injured. We are investigating the vandalism and assessing the full extent of the damage,” the university said in a tweet.

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