A former Chapel Hill Town Council member brought a petition to the council earlier this month with the goal of keeping Chapel Hill police from helping with UNC sporting events until Silent Sam comes down.
The petition was presented at a town council meeting earlier this month by former town council member Maria Palmer, who said she was inspired to make the request by UNC grad student Maya Little. Little was arrested last month for pouring a mixture of what she said was red paint and her own blood on the Confederate monument on the Chapel Hill campus.
“It is true that UNC, especially Chancellor [Carol] Folt, are responsible for the actual removal of the statue. But we can make it easier for her to make that decision. I’m asking you to pass a resolution, obviously not today I know that it takes a few weeks, but as soon as possible, that the Town of Chapel Hill will not assist UNC during games or athletic celebrations until Silent Sam comes down,” Palmer said.
Folt has said she would have the statue removed due to public safety concerns, if she had the authority. Folt has maintained that she is blocked by a law passed by the Republican-led General Assembly that restricts the removal of “objects of remembrance.”
Palmer said during the meeting that UNC is choosing to thwart students and activists such as Little, who surround the statue with signs, bring the town’s troubled history to focus and counteract the image that Silent Sam projects.
“The Town of Chapel Hill does not need to collaborate with UNC while it continues to spend its resources this way,” said Palmer. “As a Chapel Hillian and a Tar Heel, I am deeply offended and embarrassed when I see the campus police and our own Guardians of the Hill protecting Silent Sam or the KKK, while they intimidate and harass our white residents and stop progressive activists who would right the wrongs of the past.”
Chapel Hill Police Chief Chris Blue said he does not think the town will end up there.
“On the ground, when emergency service providers say ‘we need help with something,’ then that help is provided not because of anybody’s politics, it’s provided because we need each other,” Blue said. “And we need each other to manage Halloween and basketball celebrations and when somebody drives a Jeep into the middle of the Pit. We need each other.”
Blue said Chapel Hill police are particularly careful in making sure that boundaries are observed around Silent Sam.
“We don’t have an official role related to Silent Sam, and that’s fine with me by the way,” the police chief said. “But I will say that we do have a strong relationship with the university – the entire university as a town and the university police department as a public safety partner. So we have no direct responsibility for Silent Sam and none of our officers are paying any attention to Silent Sam. We do go on campus sometimes when campus calls for help. That has happened when there have been events that have flared up around Silent Sam. You’ll recall last August there was a pretty big event around Silent Sam. Chapel Hill officers were not on McCorkle Place and were not participating in helping manage that event. However, we certainly were nearby so we could stop traffic if people made their way from McCorkle Place onto Franklin Street, or otherwise manage any part of the event that made it’s way off of campus onto town property.”
The council voted to receive and refer Palmer’s petition to staff before any possible recommendation is made to the council.
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