Durham Confederate soldiers monument vandalized
A monument honoring Confederate soldiers in the city’s Maplewood Cemetery was vandalized recently.
Cement or some type of hard substance appeared to be smeared on the top of the monument. The gray substance covered sections of the raised lettering on the bronze plaque atop the stone podium.
The monument was erected in 2014 by the Durham camp of the Sons of Confederate Veterans.
A watch commander with the Durham Police Department said the department hadn’t been notified of the destruction as of Sunday around 4:50 p.m., and she planned to send an officer to check it out.
It is at least the second time the monument has been vandalized. In July 2015, cemetery workers found “Black Lives Matter” and “Tear It Down,” painted in black on the memorial, The News & Observer reported.
“It is just aggravating,” said William G. O’Quinn, a member of the N.C. Division of the Sons of Confederate Veterans and the Durham camp of the organization.
The memorial was put up to honor people “that did what they thought what was right,” he said.
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In August 2017, protesters pulled down a Confederate statue in front of the old Durham County courthouse, which is now an administrative building.
A dozen people were initially charged, but the charges were all eventually dismissed.
Some were dismissed early on for a lack of evidence. Charges against the rest were dismissed after three trials in which a judge dismissed three misdemeanor charges against two people and acquitted another. Then District Attorney Roger Echols then announced he would dismiss the charges against the remaining five defendants accused of destroying the statue.
O’Quinn said he isn’t hopeful that the people responsible for the recent destruction would be prosecuted if they are caught.
“Who is going to prosecute a law that is going to make them look bad,” O’Quinn said.
Raul Mauro Jimenez, who was acquitted in the Durham statue case, was one of four people charged with damaging the UNC-Chapel Hill Confederatememorial Silent Sam on Aug. 20.
This story was originally published April 7, 2019 at 7:33 PM.
Virginia Bridges
The News & Observer