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Judge dismisses NAACP lawsuit asking for removal of Alamance County Confederate monument

A North Carolina Superior Court judge on Tuesday dismissed a lawsuit filed by the NAACP in which the group called for the removal of a Confederate statue from in front of the Alamance County's historic courthouse.

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Black Lives Matter, Confederate statue protesters in Alamance County
By
Maggie Brown
, WRAL multipaltform producer
GRAHAM, N.C. — A North Carolina Superior Court judge on Tuesday dismissed a lawsuit filed by the NAACP in which the group called for the removal of a Confederate statue from in front of the Alamance County historic courthouse.

State law prohibits the removal of monuments, memorials or works of art from public property with exception only where those monuments post a public safety threat.

Stuart Paynter, an attorney with the NAACP, said that the Alamance County monument is "blatantly racially discriminatory."

According to the Burlington Times News, the NAACP argued the monument created a risk of violence pointing to a number of incidents between protesters, counter protesters and law enforcement through 2020, many of which worked their way through local and federal courts.

The monument, which has been in downtown Graham since 1914, has been a cultural flashpoint, drawing far-right and neo-Nazi group gatherings.

Judge Don Bridges, calling the monument issue one "better addressed by the public at the ballot box than in the courtroom," ruled that the NAACP failed to make the argument that this monument is a risk to public safety and therefore can be legally removed.

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