University of North Carolina Students Topple Confederate Monument

www.huffingtonpost.com...

Frustrated by the inaction of university leaders and what they described as their school’s “institutional white supremacy,” students at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill stormed a controversial Confederate statue on Monday night — and toppled it with their own hands.

Students reportedly numbering in the hundreds, as well as faculty members and area residents, thronged the statue known as Silent Sam while a group of police officers created a perimeter around them.

Erected in 1913 and funded by the United Daughters of the Confederacy, Silent Sam has been a target of vandalism and protests for decades.

UNC spent $390,000 last year on security for the statue, the News & Observer reported.

damn.

so my thoughts. i really could give a # about these statues. take them down. leave them up. it really makes no difference to me.
cant say everyone feels the same way.

another thought is 390k seems like a damn lot of money to secure some stupid statue.
says it has been vandalized and protested for decades. clearly some people have a problem with it.

should it be removed?

i mean some people have a problem with everything.

in the end though no matter how you slice it, imo it is not cool to take it upon yourself to tear # down.
i dont know what crime that equals. vandalism. destruction of property.
i dont know but in the end the # is not yours so you cant be pulling it down.

aside from that i think this is the kind of # that sparks more outrage and violence. it said there was some people there in their confederate shirts shouting # at the people tearing it down and no violence happened.

well no violence happened this time.

this is the kind of # that causes it though.

maybe it is just because i am pretty much not phased by most of the # i see. meaning i dont get offended and pissed off to the point i fel i ned to protest and pull # down and demand this or that.

if i see something i dont like out in the world or something that bothers me, i point it out to the wife. have a laugh. take a pic. call bull# on it and then go on about my day.

This is admittedly a sore subject for me. I think anyone who attacks a statue on public property should be eligible for capital punishment.

It is a felony in Alabama (thank you Kay Ivey!) and as far as I am concerned, very dangerous if I am nearby. Fools wanting to tear down monuments to my heritage make me want to rip the fools' malfunctioning heads off their fragile little shoulders.

One day they are going to pull this crap around the wrong people... and maybe, just maybe, after the blood stops flowing, people will wake up to the fact that there are some things you just don't do.

TheRedneck

did I read that right, there were faculty members involved? wouldn't it be better for those faculty members to instruct those kids the correct legal process to get things done instead of being part of their criminal activity? but, then, maybe they were instructing them about peaceful protest and things just got out of hand, who knows.
I'm kind of like the op, I don't really care about the statues one way or another, but I do believe that weather they stay or go should be a matter of the communities they are in and the governing bodies over them... my community has it's own little problems and before I am gonna worry about the problems in some other state, I will be working to help solve those in my own community.

a reply to: TinySickTears

now that this statue is down, has racism gone as well?

Boo-hoo. There goes another Confederate participation trophy.

And before someone sets up a false equivalence between Silent Sam and, say, the also-controversial statue of Thomas Jefferson at the University of Virginia, let's remember that Silent Sam wasn't a real person. Silent Sam didn't have any contributions - some good, some bad - to American History.

Silent Sam was a statue paid for by the United Daughters of the Confederacy to memorialize UNC students who fought for the Confederacy. They fought - and lost - a war to preserve the right of one group of people to own another group of people.

Good on the students, good on the faculty, and good on the neighbors. We should never forget our history, but this is one piece that should *not* be celebrated.

a reply to: TheRedneck

You really think vandalism is a capital punishment crime?

What would you suggest for jay walking, life in prison?

originally posted by: TheRedneck
This is admittedly a sore subject for me. I think anyone who attacks a statue on public property should be eligible for capital punishment.

It is a felony in Alabama (thank you Kay Ivey!) and as far as I am concerned, very dangerous if I am nearby. Fools wanting to tear down monuments to my heritage make me want to rip the fools' malfunctioning heads off their fragile little shoulders.

One day they are going to pull this crap around the wrong people... and maybe, just maybe, after the blood stops flowing, people will wake up to the fact that there are some things you just don't do.

TheRedneck

That's what I mean when I say it could spark violence. It is not ok for them to tear the statue down. Equally not ok for you to get all butt hurt and go full tough guy.

See I am more interested in people who react like you. How can it possible bother you that much that it would be dangerous for them if you were around?

I dont get that at all.

And capital punishment?
Wow

originally posted by: TheRedneck
This is admittedly a sore subject for me. I think anyone who attacks a statue on public property should be eligible for capital punishment.

It is a felony in Alabama (thank you Kay Ivey!) and as far as I am concerned, very dangerous if I am nearby. Fools wanting to tear down monuments to my heritage make me want to rip the fools' malfunctioning heads off their fragile little shoulders.

One day they are going to pull this crap around the wrong people... and maybe, just maybe, after the blood stops flowing, people will wake up to the fact that there are some things you just don't do.

TheRedneck

I'm sorry, you'd commit violence against people who are protesting against a memorial dedicated to those who fought to maintain slavery?
I have never understood why people defend the Confederacy in this day and age.

originally posted by: network dude
a reply to: TinySickTears

now that this statue is down, has racism gone as well?

Yup.
It's been eradicated. Like polio

a reply to: TinySickTears

I knew it! So if we topple the Statue of Liberty, we can stamp out illegal immigration!

a reply to: AngryCymraeg

I will do whatever is necessary to preserve my heritage and my culture.

Slavery has been illegal for over a century and a half. Show me one slave left in the United States. Just one. Show me one person in the United States that has been a slave. Just one. Show me one person in the United States whose parents were ever slaves. Just one.

Or you are the racist, wanting to make political points on the backs of a race of humans.

TheRedneck

originally posted by: network dude
a reply to: TinySickTears

I knew it! So if we topple the Statue of Liberty, we can stamp out illegal immigration!

Pretty sure.
I think that's how it works

a reply to: MiddleInsite

In this case... YES SIR, I DO!

Live with that.

TheRedneck

originally posted by: PhloydPhan
Boo-hoo. There goes another Confederate participation trophy.

And before someone sets up a false equivalence between Silent Sam and, say, the also-controversial statue of Thomas Jefferson at the University of Virginia, let's remember that Silent Sam wasn't a real person. Silent Sam didn't have any contributions - some good, some bad - to American History.

Silent Sam was a statue paid for by the United Daughters of the Confederacy to memorialize UNC students who fought for the Confederacy. They fought - and lost - a war to preserve the right of one group of people to own another group of people.

Good on the students, good on the faculty, and good on the neighbors. We should never forget our history, but this is one piece that should *not* be celebrated.

The reasons for war are rarely that clear or well defined as you state. It was brother against brother, much as the emotions of today, conservative against liberal. We should learn from history, not destroy it. Lest we be condemned to repeat it. Don’t burn a book just because you don’t like the lesson.

originally posted by: TheRedneck
a reply to: MiddleInsite

In this case... YES SIR, I DO!

Live with that.

TheRedneck

Damn
That's interesting.

Thanks for being honest.
Wish more people would be

a reply to: TinySickTears

The violence has already been lit. That was done by the first bunch of protestors who chose to go after a people's heritage.

As for my extreme response... I consider myself a peaceable fellow. I will walk away from fights; most things are simply not worth fighting over.

My heritage is.

TheRedneck

a reply to: TinySickTears

Is vandalism a crime?? Absolutely

Should the US and public education institutions have ever let the statues of a bunch of traitors who betrayed their country be put up on government/public property???

Hell no..


What simple minded people don’t seem to comprehend is that the confederacy IS the USA’s version of the swastika..


They betrayed their country because they were afraid after Lincoln’s election he would abolish slavery. Which is just the worst reason ever..


The hilariously disturbing part is that they got demogoged into it. Lincoln had no desire nor did he have the political will to abolish slavery in the south.


The most unpatriotic thing an American can EVER do is fly the flag of people who killed 100s of thousands of US service members.

a reply to: network dude
eh... go for it. my ancestors were the indentured servants and poor that Europe sent over here to do the work needed to build their colonies, you know the revolutionaries that dumped the tea into the harbor and the like and not immigrants. that statue has no part in my history...
does it yours?????

a reply to: TinySickTears

If your a patriotic American you should be offended by the confederate flag..


How many US service members did they kill after being demogoged into thinking they were gonna lose their slaves??