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Commission delays decision on moving Confederate statues

The North Carolina Historical Commission on Friday delayed any decision on moving Confederate monuments from the State Capitol until next spring to give members time to study the impact of such a move and to determine what authority the panel actually has to carry it out.

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By
Matthew Burns
RALEIGH, N.C. — The North Carolina Historical Commission on Friday delayed any decision on moving Confederate monuments from the State Capitol until next spring to give members time to study the impact of such a move and to determine what authority the panel actually has to carry it out.
Gov. Roy Cooper's administration recently asked that the 1895 Confederate Monument, the Henry Lawson Wyatt Monument and the North Carolina Women of the Confederacy Monument be moved from the Capitol grounds to the Bentonville Battlefield historic site, citing the need "to ensure the monuments' preservation."

A state law passed in 2015 to protect Confederate monuments and other "objects of remembrance" puts the decision in the hands of the Historical Commission, but the panel's discretion is limited. The law says state-owned monuments or works of art can be relocated only "when appropriate measures are required by the state" to preserve them or when removal is needed to make room for construction.

"This kind of decision that we're being asked to make is a precedent-setting decision," Mary Lynn Bryan, acting chairwoman of the commission, said to explain the desire of most members to put off any decision until their April meeting.

"We're really not used to, as a body, having issues that are this deep and this problematic coming before us in such a short period of time without having an opportunity to look carefully at the ramifications of what we're doing," Bryan said

Monuments have become a flashpoint since a violent clash between white supremacists and counter-protesters in Charlottesville, Va., over the removal of a statue to Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee.

A handful of protesters were arrested after pulling down a Confederate monument outside the Durham County Courthouse, and the "Silent Sam" statue on the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill campus has become a focal point for student protests and created a wedge between UNC administrators and the Board of Governors that oversees the 17-campus system.

Historical Commission members were clearly uncomfortable with the spotlight cast on them. Their meetings are usually held in a nondescript conference room, but on Friday morning, they were on a stage with microphones in a packed auditorium at the State Archives, with metal detectors beeping outside as the crowd filed in.

Dozens of protesters calling for the removal of the monuments – some wore black and had hats and T-shirts emblazoned with "Do It Like Durham" in reference to the statue-toppling there – attended the meeting and staged demonstrations outside before and after the meeting.

"I'm not saying tear them up. I'm not saying any of that because I think history is important. You have to be able to look back to know where you're moving forward," said Robin Ellison of Hillsborough. "I think the statues represent a negativity in terms of history."

"I think that these statues have been in place for a long time representing hate, representing racism, representing the fact that the South fought for slavery, to keep slavery," said Raul Jimenez, who was arrested after taking part in pulling down the monument in Durham.

But Frank Powell, spokesman for North Carolina division of the Sons of Confederate Veterans, said the statues honor a part of state history and should remain at the Capitol.

"Slavery has nothing to do with it. Obviously, I don't know anyone today who is in favor of slavery at any time in our history. It was very bad. No one is in favor of that," Powell said. "These men were called out by the state of North Carolina to serve and defend the state, and they lost their lives doing it. So, it's actually a memorial to these men who gave the ultimate sacrifice."

The Sons of Confederate Veterans said in a formal statement that more monuments are needed instead of removing existing ones, and the group called the Cooper administration's request "politically motivated."

Two dozen House Republicans, including Speaker Tim Moore, sent a memo Thursday to Historical Commission members, stating that "preservation" of the monuments should be narrowly interpreted and that it doesn't apply to limiting their "potential for exposure to protest or criminal activity."

"I think there is confusion as to what the statute says," commission member Sam Dixon said in proposing the seven-month delay.

During that time, Dixon said, a committee could get legal opinions on what authority the Historical Commission has to approve the movement of monuments under the 2015 law, determine whether any of the three monuments is in danger and weigh whether moving them to the Bentonville Battlefield would accord them the same amount of "prominence, honor, visibility, availability and access" as the Capitol, which is also written into the law.

"At this point, we're all neutral fact-finders, and we just need to have a committee to determine exactly what we need to do and what evidence we need brought to us," he said. "Then we can make an informed decision."

David Dennard, one of two blacks on the commission, was the lone vote against delaying action.

"The delay will only prevent us from having the conversation that we should have and delay us from moving forward," said Dennard, a history professor at East Carolina University. "Postponing it, I think, will probably add more politics to the mix, which is unfortunate."

Commission member David Ruffin said rushing a decision would end in a "lose-lose" proposition amid the heated national discourse over Confederate monuments.

"The postponement isn't to put it off indefinitely," said Valerie Johnson, the other black member of the commission. "We respect history, but it's not static. We need to recognize it's not static and making it living for all North Carolinians."

Commission member Noah Jackson added that the Capitol grounds mark the heart of state government and that the monuments there need to "reflect the promise of our government."

Protesters weren't pleased with the delay.

"I thought it was pretty cowardly," said Qasima Wideman. "We have the right to shape our own history, and we have the right to claim public space. Black people have the right to claim public space and to feel safe."

But Powell said people like him also have a right to claim public space.

"That is our ancestors – our grandfathers, our great-grandfathers – and we need to have our point of view represented just like everybody else," he said.

In addition to addressing Confederate monuments, the Historical Commission approved adding dozens of items to the state's historical collections, including a number of Civil War-related artifacts, and signed off on plans for a new museum in Edenton dedicated to the late Golden Frinks, a giant of North Carolina's Civil Rights movement.

Frinks was once described as "Our Martin Luther King." He wore a chain around his neck to symbolize oppression and was nicknamed "The Agitator." The state plans to turn his former home into a museum and will pursue both public and private funds for it.

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