***UPDATE*** The office of North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper has released a statement on his behalf through Cooper’s official Twitter account.
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. 2/2
— Governor Roy Cooper (@NC_Governor) August 21, 2018
On Monday evening, students and protesters gathered to call for the removal of the Confederate monument known as Silent Sam from UNC’s campus.
A few hours later, they took matters into their own hands.
With Silent Sam covered by large banners, protesters used ropes to tear down the statue, which had been standing since 1913.
UNC student Samee Siddiqui was one of the first to post pictures of the fallen statue on social media, commenting simply “Silent Sam is down.”
Silent Sam is down pic.twitter.com/mUqf7NkS0A
— Samee Siddiqui (@ssiddiqui83) August 21, 2018
The scene following the statue’s toppling was chaotic, with Jane Stancill of the News & Observer reporting that the crowd was screaming and smoke bombs were everywhere. Protesters then proceeded to pile dirt on the fallen statue.
Silent Sam is down. Crowd is screaming. Smoke bombs everywhere
— Jane Stancill (@janestancill) August 21, 2018
Protestors are now putting dirt onto the crumpled #SilentSam statue. #WRAL pic.twitter.com/Ce5uBMgwhX
— Sarah Krueger (@WRALSarah) August 21, 2018
Social media was quick to react to the statue’s downfall, with the majority of people seemingly relieved that Silent Sam had fallen.
About damn time
— butterwise (@butterwise) August 21, 2018
So proud of these protestors. https://t.co/iFf2azZRZs
— Michael Little (@mhlittle312) August 21, 2018
Another loss for the Lost Cause. #silentsam https://t.co/piDBfS2Gmk
— Damon Seils (@damonseils) August 21, 2018
A couple of former UNC athletes were happy to see the statue’s fall.
“About damn time! Good riddance,” commented former UNC basketball player Brice Johnson, who tagged his tweet with #GDTBATH (Great Day To Be A Tar Heel). Former UNC quarterback Marquise Williams responded with, “Facts!!!!”
Facts!!!
— Marquise Williams (@1MjWilliams2) August 21, 2018
Former UNC point guard, and Johnson’s teammate, Marcus Paige also posted his support for the protesters on social media.
This is amazing man I love my school https://t.co/SNpGZoWYK3
— Marcus Paige (@marcuspaige5) August 21, 2018
However, others were not so happy to see Silent Sam fall.
“This is just unbelievable that people think this will change something,” said one user on Facebook. “Disrespectful.”
Another asked about the legal ramifications and commented with, “Ridiculous!!! Arrests??”
Why do you identify the names of the “pro” removal folks but not the people speaking in opposition? If they choose to be anonymous there are standard journalistic conventions available to explain their lack of attributable comment. You provide no such explanation. I’m sorry but that’s very poor journalism
Just more pampered savages in The Peoples Republic of Chapel Hill.
This behavior is EXACTLY the same as the Taliban when they destroyed the Buddhas of Bamiyan, or ISIS destroying the Roman theater at Palmyra. There is NO DIFFERENCE!
What will be next? Do these @H0les have a list of books that need burning as well?
And the cops: standing around drinking coffee instead of immediately arresting these cretins and tossing them in jail?
I spend a LOT of my hard earned money in CH. No more. You can kiss southern seasons, trader joes, and all the other snowflake stores goodbye. They have good products, but the town obviously doesn’t need my money.
PS: How about we destroy or rename everything with “Martin Luther King” in the name? Will the idiots have a problem with that?
It seems pretty simple to me. Why not put silent Sam inside a block of concrete on campus. No one could see Silent Sam. In fact the block of concrete would be a symbol. I think that would also pass the test of complying with the law not to remove the statue from the campus. You could even put the block of concrete back on MacCorkle place. Unfortunately I think politicians will be unable to come to such a clever yet simple solution to this problem.