Durham shop defaced with Silent Sam graffiti

A Durham bookstore was defaced with graffiti that referenced a Confederate monument that protesters tore down earlier this past week in Chapel Hill.

Photos of The Regulator Bookshop surfaced on social media showing white lettering that read “Sam was silent. We aren’t” and “Marxists get out.”

The graffiti comes less than a week after protesters toppled Silent Sam, which prompted the statue’s supporters and counter-protesters to gather on the UNC Chapel Hill campus for a demonstration Saturday. Nearly a dozen people have been arrested in connection with Silent Sam protests and rallies since Monday.

A tweet from the Ninth Street Watch, a blog that focuses on Durham’s Ninth Street, said the graffiti happened Saturday night.

While protesters and counter-protesters gathered in Chapel Hill, a group called “Defend Durham” organized a conference on Saturday called “How to Topple a Statue, How to Tear Down a Wall.” The panelists spoke of their goal to remove Confederate monuments and statues across North Carolina.

The toppling of Silent Sam comes just a year after protesters brought down a Confederate statue outside the Durham County Courthouse.

Efforts to reach the owners of the bookshop were unsuccessful, but an employee at the store confirmed the shop had been vandalized. The writing has been removed, she said.

This story will be updated with more information as it becomes available.

This story was originally published August 26, 2018 at 1:33 PM.