Silent Sam Survives
Hundreds protest UNC proposal to house Confederate statue in new $5 million building https://t.co/tTnEDhk6ir http://pic.twitter.com/hBGTSjrsCU
— The Hill (@thehill) December 4, 2018
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The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill has announced its recommendation that the school build a new, $5.3 million building to house the Confederate monument.
When Silent Sam, the statue of a Confederate soldier that stood sentinel at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill until he was yanked from his station in August, was being dedicated in 1913, Julian Carr, a philanthropist and white supremacist, took a moment to brag. “I horse-whipped a negro wench until her skirts hung in shreds,” he said in his speech, adding that he performed the “pleasing duty” in front of his entire garrison.
On Saturday, Duke University announced that it would remove Carr’s name from a building on its East Campus. “[The] white supremacist actions that Carr pursued throughout his life, even when considered in light of the time in which they were held, are inconsistent with the fundamental aspirations of this university,” the committee that voted to remove his name wrote.
Two days later, and 10 miles down the road, UNC’s board of trustees convened to decide the fate of the monument that Carr was helping to dedicate 105 years ago. Ever since the statue was taken down on August 20, the question has always been whether it would go back up, and in what capacity. At a special board-of-trustees meeting on Monday, Carol Folt, the chancellor of UNC Chapel Hill, announced the board’s recommendation: Silent Sam would stay on the UNC campus, albeit in a less pronounced position.