Protesters march through UNC, criticizing Silent Sam deal and money to Confederate group
“When black lives are under attack, what do we do? Stand up, fight back!”
“When your campus is under attack, what do you do? Stand up, fight back!”
Those were the chants of protesters who gathered at UNC-Chapel Hill on Thursday and marched to the administration building to criticize the UNC System’s settlement with the N.C. Sons of Confederate Veterans over the fate of the Silent Sam Confederate statue.
About 200 students, faculty and community members met at McCorkle Place, where the monument once stood on campus near Franklin Street. They listened to leaders of the UNC Black Congress and the Black Student Movement express their anger and disappointment with the decision.
Last week, the UNC System announced it was giving the Confederate group the monument and $2.5 million to preserve Silent Sam and build a new facility to display it. That facility could include a new headquarters.
Some UNC students and faculty members were not only outraged by the decision, but also concerned that it’s a threat to campus safety.
Tamia Sanders, a senior at UNC and leader in the Black Congress, told the crowd Thursday that this shows “UNC has negotiated with and invested in white supremacy.”
“We’re protesting the fact that UNC has given Neo-confederates $2.5 million to protect and preserve a statue dedicated to white supremacy, dedicated to the enslavement of black people and threatening black students,” Sanders said. “When UNC has failed to protect and preserve their own student body.”
Students say UNC disrespects them
The decision was finalized the day before Thanksgiving when most students had already left campus for the holiday break.
Julia Clark, a first-year student and leader in the UNC Black Student Movement, said the payment and the timing of the announcement are examples of the pattern of disrespect UNC has shown against students of color, specifically black students.
“They released this information specifically when students were off campus on break to stifle student response, because they wanted us to stay silent and stay complacent in their investment in white supremacy,” Clark said.
She said this decision is a problem now and will hurt other communities in the future because of the university’s monetary investment in the group, which will use the money to further its cause.
“We’re glad that Silent Sam is not on campus anymore, but ultimately this problem is not resolved,” Clark said. “We’re visible, we’re angry and we’re going to have our voices be heard despite the university trying to silence us.”
After a few black student leaders spoke, the group marched through McCorkle Place with signs raised above their heads that said things like “Cops and Klan go hand in hand” and “Pull it up, we’ll tear it down. No Sam here or any town.”
They stopped at the steps of the administration building and continued chanting to show UNC administrators they aren’t going away.
Speakers and participants from the crowd, including alumni and students from other campuses, asked people to stop donating to UNC unless it’s explicitly to support marginalized students. They encouraged people to vote and educate themselves on UNC’s history and policing tactics in order to be better allies to students of color. They explained how these issues affect students’ academic performance and mental health, especially with final exams around the corner. They argued that money could’ve been used for student scholarships or investing in faculty.
University asked to do more for black students
Chris Suggs, a junior at UNC and president of the Black Student Movement, said that although UNC may have already written the check, there is so much more the university can do to support black students and faculty.
“We’re going to continue showing our university administrators and leaders, the university system, the Board of Governors, our North Carolina General Assembly, that we are not going to stand for things like this,” Suggs said. “We are not going to stand for this continuing investment in white supremacy and for our state and university leaders to show they don’t care about students.”
Suggs said university leaders to listen to students throughout the decision-making process, not just in after the fact, last minute meetings.
“We want to have a chancellor and administrators who are engaging students beforehand, being proactive and listening to the feedback and concerns of students so that our decisions and our voices and our ideas are reflected in the university’s decisions and the Board of Governors decisions,” Scuggs told reporters after the event. “That’s the type of feedback and engagement we really need.”
They’re asking the Board of Governors to take a stand against the $2.5 million “gift” that they say further perpetuates violence, hate and bigotry.
Sanders also suggested “since that money is clearly available” that it be used to foster spaces on campus that are for the inclusion of marginalized people and support student activists fighting against racism.
“We’re not going to back down until we get justice,” Sanders said. “And that justice looks like the redistribution of that wealth into something that actually fosters what UNC claims they stand for in equality and inclusion.”
This story was originally published December 5, 2019 at 5:36 PM.
