x
Breaking News
More () »

UNC's Silent Sam statue toppled by students, some Confederate statues still stand

Police pushed back, but eventually backed off as hundreds of energized and determined students protested and pulled the 103-year old statue to the ground.

ALEXANDRIA, VA -- Protestors toppled the Silent Sam statue on the campus of the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill on Monday night. It was a towering confederate monument brought down by students who called it a symbol of white supremacy.

In Norther Virginia, there are at least two confederate soldier statues that look similar to the one torn down by students at UNC.

One of them is the Appomattox Statue in Old Town Alexandria in the middle of Washington Street. Another is in Leesburg in front of the Loudoun County Court house.

RELATED: Confederate memorials turn up faster than they can be removed a year after Charlottesville

On August 12th, as reported by the Loudoun Times-Mirror, protestors covered it with a black tarp, and held a band that said Confederate statue equals hate.

In Chapel Hill, outrage intensified over the Silent Sam statue just as UNC began classes. Police pushed back, but eventually backed off as hundreds of energized and determined students protested and pulled the 103-year old statue to the ground.

Activists have been protesting at the Silent Sam statue for years. It was erected in 1913 during the Jim Crow era with a dedication speech by a former Confederate soldier who talked about beating a black woman near that spot.

Patrick French is a 2015 UNC graduate who lives in D.C. He sid he's pleased Silent Sam is gone.

"Its definitely something when I look at it, I go, 'yeah, that's terrible.' I can't believe they still have it up. But for someone who is a person of color, I think its very triggering, not only triggering but kind of awkward that people who run this university that you've been so excited to attend and worked your whole life to get in, or barely got in, excelled really hard to get in to a school, that they support that, they think it's fine to be up. I think it's really disgraceful," he said.

The city council in Alexandria has been trying to remove this statue, but they don't own it.

It's owned by the daughters of the confederacy and they don't want to move it. Also, there's a Virginia state law that prevents the removal of war memorials and statues.

Before You Leave, Check This Out