TO THE EDITOR:
In her Dec. 5 email to the Carolina community, Chancellor Folt expressed a desire to build a stronger campus community that demonstrates our commitment to Carolina’s core values of inclusion and respect.
I passionately support our Chancellor’s ambition. A significant national conversation is taking place surrounding racial issues in America, and UNC has the opportunity to join in on that dialogue.
But talk is cheap. How can we claim to make any serious effort to combat racism when the ultimate emblem of white supremacy towers over onlookers from the Upper Quad? If we sincerely wish to be an active participant in a growing dialogue on inclusion, the time is now for our Chancellor to pursue the removal of Silent Sam from our campus.
The Daily Tar Heel has covered the problematic nature of Sam for years. On Nov. 14 of last year, the paper detailed many points of debate surrounding the memorialized Confederate soldier, ultimately concluding that we should “disavow, debunk, and destroy” the hypocrisy that Sam stands for. Upon basic inspection, there is not much pretense at all about the motivations behind the memorial. At the statue’s installation, Julian Carr sadistically spoke of whipping “a Negro wench until her skirts hung in shreds.” If Carr could see the progressive town that bears his name today, he would be appalled at Carrboro. Yet it should bring Tar Heels great sadness to think that he would feel comforted just down the road, where Chapel Hill embraces the chilling racism that Silent Sam was fashioned to uphold. This is unacceptable.
In defending the statue, the University maintains that Silent Sam memorializes the 321 UNC alumni who died in the Civil War and all students who joined the Confederate Army. Unfortunately, the statue was erected with racial animus by white supremacists in 1913, and symbolizes an army that fought war of secession for the right to own human property. Any student — black or white — should be offended by Sam’s presence on our campus. A war memorial can be reimagined in any number of ways, but a monument to Jim Crow should no longer be allowed to masquerade as such. Our community should answer Chancellor Folt’s call and chart a progressive, tolerant future for the University of North Carolina. Some say that North Carolina earned its nickname as the Tar Heel State because of Confederate soldiers who stuck to their ranks as if they had tar on their heels. Silent Sam has now stood for 102 years, and we should ensure that 2015 is its last. Let’s not drag our feet any longer.
Max Levin
Junior
