A UNC student says she believes she’s found the location of the Confederate statue known as Silent Sam, which was toppled by protesters more than a year ago.

Carolina Connection reporter Charlotte Ix says her roommate tipped her off that the Confederate monument may be at UNC-owned storage facility off of Martin Luther King Jr Boulevard. According to the story, Ix found stone slabs, what appeared to be a metal figure wrapped in a brown tarp and a tall rectangle wrapped in blue tarp when she investigated the location. She says she believes the covered objects are the statue and its pedestal.

The Connection report says Ix contacted UNC’s Director of Media Relations Joanne Peters Denny to confirm whether the location is where the statue is being kept. Denny responded in an email saying, “I am unable to identify what is in the photo,” when examining photos Ix had taken.

According to Ix, when she returned to the location following inquiry to UNC, a police officer was guarding the area. When visited by Chapelboro staff, a UNC Police car was also at the site.

The location of the statue has been a mystery since its removal from UNC’s McCorkle Place. The bronze figure atop the monument was toppled by protesters in August 2018, who contend the statue is a symbol of white supremacy. The base of the statue was removed in January 2019 under the order of former UNC chancellor Carol Folt. She said she authorized it because threats to the community “continued to grow and place our community at serious risk” with the statue’s presence. Folt also announced the same day she would step down from her position.

Five members of the UNC System’s Board of Governors were assigned to work with the campus to develop a plan regarding the monument’s future. After deadlines for a plan to come forward have been delayed twice, however, no timeframe of when a decision could be announced has emerged.

Photo via Charlotte Ix / Carolina Connection

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