Faculty in the History Department at UNC are coming to the defense of one of their students after she was charged with defacing Silent Sam.
Graduate student Maya Little poured what she said was a mixture of red paint and her own blood on the Confederate monument on Monday afternoon and was quickly taken into custody.
A letter purportedly signed by 40 members of the History Department was sent to Chancellor Carol Folt, Provost Bob Blouin and the director of campus security on Wednesday in an attempt to “reaffirm our belief that the 1913 monument known as Silent Sam is a festering wound on the campus.”
Several departments – including the history department – wrote to the university administration last fall calling for the removal of the statue. Rallies have been held joining in that call throughout the academic year, beginning with a protest on the first day of classes in the fall. That rally came after a counterproterster was killed at a white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia.
“Abundant historical research documenting [Silent Sam’s] racist origins makes clear there is no place for such a monument on a campus that claims to welcome all of its diverse members,” the department faculty wrote in the letter released Wednesday. Julian Carr told a crowd gathered at the statue’s dedication that he had “horse-whipped a negro wench until her skirts hung in shreds” approximately 100 yards from the statue.
“We support our student and colleague Maya Little and other members of the campus community who employ their right to use non-violent civil disobedience to protest this affront to the Carolina Way,” the faculty wrote.
UNC Chancellor Carol Folt has said she would have the statue removed due to public safety concerns, if she had the authority. But she has maintained that she is restricted by a law passed by the Republican-led General Assembly that restricts the removal of “objects of remembrance.”
Little released a statement after her arrest on Monday, much of which was directed at Folt.
Little was charged with defacing a public statue and was released after appearing before an Orange County magistrate. She is due back in court on Monday.
The full statement emailed to WCHL from the History Department faculty is below:
“As members of the History Department and the broader UNC campus community, we write to
reaffirm our belief that the 1913 monument known as Silent Sam is a festering wound on the campus. Abundant historical research documenting its racist origins makes clear there is no place for such a monument on a campus that claims to welcome all of its diverse members. We support our student and colleague Maya Little and other members of the campus community who employ their right to use non-violent civil disobedience to protest this affront to the Carolina Way.”
Photo via Will Arrington
Oh, for god’s sake, will you move that damn statue to a museum. A museum can provide context which it needs. It wasn’t the University that errected it… so begs the question why is it there.
^i wholeheartedly agree!
The North Carolina General Assembly is not interested in context, Folt, the Governor and the BOT/BOG. They want it to stay, and their law explicitly rejects the idea of moving it to a museum. Student protests on one campus in that district is not going to worry them.
The only way to get it out is to get the NCGA to agree, and that’s by changing minds or members. It’s a statewide decision that needs a statewide approach. Does the Association of Student Governments have a position on this?
Welcome to the United States of the Offended.