Silent Sam wasn't a Confederate memorial, it was a monument to lynching and Jim Crow https://t.co/uHQ9TG1vJV pic.twitter.com/QrqN70zaPl
— Charles P. Pierce (@CharlesPPierce) August 21, 2018
Once again, in a less news-intensive week, the protest where a notorious monument to treason in the defense of slavery was pulled down would’ve been a leading headline and the excuse for much punditorial thumb-sucking…
I haven't been following Silent Sam events in detail, but I would bet cash money that the prevailing feeling at higher administrative levels in UNC is not anger or regret at loss of heritage, but blessed relief that protestors neatly resolved the school's self-inflicted crisis.
— Kieran Healy (@kjhealy) August 21, 2018
But of course the WUT ABOUT MAH HURTIGE?!? crew — and we’re not talking UNC students, we’re talking Repub opportunists and the revanchists who support them — will not let their bronze idol go unavenged. Per the local News & Observer:
The UNC Board of Governors will hire an outside firm to look into university and police actions at the protest where Silent Sam was toppled this week, the board’s leader said Wednesday.
At least one board member, former Republican state Sen. Thom Goolsby, posted a YouTube video with his questions about the incident, including what’s being done to repair and reinstall the statue.
Harry Smith, who became chairman last month, said Wednesday in an interview he wants an independent group to study the facts of what happened, or what didn’t happen, during Monday’s rally. A group within a crowd of about 250 protesters used rope to pull down the controversial Silent Sam Confederate monument Monday night, more than two hours into a rally…
Post-Racist America Open Thread: Toppling Silent SamPost + Comments (137)