Confederate Statue Vandalism Becoming More Frequent in the South

As cities, counties and states across the country tussle with the idea of whether or not to remove Confederate statues and monuments, these controversial pieces of public art have increasingly become a target for vandals across the South.

While some acts of vandalism and protest — like the 2018 tearing down of the Silent Sam statue on the campus of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill — have resulted in national headlines, there has also been an uptick in less-publicized incidents, according to the Charlotte Observer.

The Observer reported that roughly a dozen Confederate statues have been vandalized already in 2019, from Texas to North Carolina, and northern Kentucky southward to Nashville.

The number has continued to grow as the two-year anniversary of the deadly riots at a white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, approaches. In August 2017, opposing groups clashed in Charlottesville over the removal of a Robert E. Lee statue, with one man driving his car into a crowd of protesters, killing one and injuring others.

James Alex Fields, who was 20 during the time of the attack, pleaded guilty this year to 29 of 30 charges against him. Fields is scheduled to be back in court on July 3 for his sentencing.

Heather Heyer was the 32-year-old anti-racism activist who was killed.