UNC chancellor Kevin Guskiewicz shared a statement Friday announcing the installation of a permanent James Cates Memorial on campus. Cates was murdered on the UNC campus by a Nazi-supporting, white supremacist motorcycle gang known as the Storm Troopers on November 21, 1970.
Cates, a Black man, had been invited to an all-night dance in the Carolina Student Union in an attempt to improve race relations in Chapel Hill. There, the gang attacked him, stabbing him twice and leaving him to bleed out in The Pit, where he eventually died of blood loss. Cates was 22 years old.
The Chapel Hill Police Department made no arrests in the case. According to the James Cates Memorial Committee, a coalition created by the UNC Black Student Movement, police failed to provide life-saving medical treatment to Cates in a timely manner, ultimately leading to his death.
Community-made memorials to Cates have been placed in The Pit in the past, though they were eventually removed. The UNC Black Student Movement has made several pushes to permanently honor Cates, including a proposal to rename the Student Stores Building after him.
“Today, I am honored to announce another way that the University will remember James Cates,” Guskiewicz said in his announcement. “Later this year, we will install a permanent memorial in the Pit to honor his life. We have developed this memorial based on input and advocacy from students, faculty, staff and in close partnership with the Cates family. I am grateful to the Board of Trustees for approving the memorial and to the Town of Chapel Hill for its support.”
This year, we will install a permanent memorial in the Pit to honor the life of James L. Cates Jr. Cates was a 22-year-old Black man from the Chapel Hill community who was stabbed outside the Student Union in 1970 and died as a victim of racial violence. https://t.co/ULzUcrKSW3
— Kevin Guskiewicz (@KevinGuskiewicz) August 12, 2022
The memorial is part of the Building Our Community Together initiative, and a part of the larger Carolina Next: Innovations for Public Good plan.
“Our work to be a more diverse and inclusive University takes time,” Guskiewicz said. “And I appreciate our community’s devotion to these efforts.”
Guskiewicz said the university would share additional details for the memorial’s dedication “when they are available.”
“I thank our faculty, staff and students who have contributed to these efforts and so many others that help us be a place where everyone truly belongs,” Guskiewicz said.
The U.S. Department of Justice is currently investigating Cates’ death, having re-opened the case in April of this year. North Carolina State Senator and U.S. Congressional candidate Valerie Foushee is a first cousin of Cates.
Featured image via the Center for the Study of the American South
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