A statue honoring Confederate Civil War veterans at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill was vandalized over the weekend, multiple news outlets reported on Sunday.
The Silent Sam statue, which was erected in 1913 as a monument to the UNC alumni who died in the Civil War, was found spray-painted with the phrases “black lives matter,” “KKK,” and “murderer” on Sunday morning, according to CBS Raleigh affiliate WRAL.
The school’s associate vice chancellor of Communications and Public Affairs, Rick White, condemned the vandalism in a Sunday statement.
“We understand that the issue of race and place is both emotional and, for many, painful. Carolina is working hard to ensure we have a thoughtful, respectful and inclusive dialogue on the issue,” White said in the statement, according to WRAL. “The extensive discussions with the Carolina community this past year by the Board of Trustees and University leadership, and the work we will be doing to contextualize the history of our campus is a big part of advancing those conversations. We welcome all points of view, but damaging or defacing statues is not the way to go about it.”
The Chapel Hill Police Department did not receive complaints about vandalism on the statue on Sunday, according to Durham newspaper The Herald Sun. North Carolina TV station WXII reported that authorities were investigating the vandalism and that no arrests had yet been made on Sunday.
The graffiti on the statue was covered by Sunday afternoon, ABC Raleigh affiliate WTVD reported.
#SilentSam graffiti now covered: http://t.co/DGvKmkVq2a pic.twitter.com/LClTqYILZ9
— AngelicaAlvarezABC11 (@AlvarezABC11) July 5, 2015
The statue has been a source of controversy on campus for a while, and a statue honoring slaves was built in 2005 “in part to act as a voice to counter the negative connotations of the Confederate Monument,” according to UNC’s “virtual museum.”
Trustees at UNC in May decided to rename the school’s Saunders Hall, named after William Saunders, a Confederate officer and Ku Klux Klan leader.
Negative connotation? Surely you jest!
Though in the alternate universe constructed by the Daughters of the Confederacy, there was no conscription and no slavery, it’s a monument to all the UNC students who were drafted into the CSA’s army and never made it back. So it’s at least an ambiguous connotation.
Of course, students being students, it pretty quickly became an object of irreverence. He’s called “Silent Sam” because he’s alleged to fire his gun whenever a virgin passes.
Dear trustees, just see it as a source of revenue and auction it off or send it off to that state confederate museum that will shortly welcome the statehouse flag. State property should not contain tributes to traitors or accolades to racists. This is really not that difficult.
Vandalism is never the right way to go.
And this statue honors UNC students who fought, not he CSA.
So it’s a much stickier situation and harder to parse.
As is often the case, a lot of Americans are overreacting and trying to eliminate all references to the Civil War from public spaces in the South.
This is both stupid and futile.
A little rationality would be good about now.
THEY HAve NO reSPect FOR SOutherN TRadITIOns LIKe STAtes RIGhts and lOWER taXEs and OTher STUFF that ISN’t SLAvery.