Opinion: We must remember the people Chapel Hill forgot

CLARIFICATION: The email interview with Preservation Chapel Hill Executive Director Cheri Szcodronski took place in November 2015. Also, Szcodronski's quote about the unmarked graves was in relation to all 475 discovered.

It is football Saturday in Chapel Hill. Fans from all over the state drive to campus to cheer on the Tar Heels.

As with any football game, many fans choose to tailgate before the game starts. The problem is always finding a spot.

It can be hard to find a spot large enough to accommodate tailgaters, so during the 1980s the African-American section of the Chapel Hill cemetery was opened up for use. It was also used as a parking lot at other times as well.

The University allowed people to park cars on top of the unmarked graves of many of its “unsung founders.”

The University knew people were buried in the region but did not know the exact location of the graves due to the crumbling headstones — many of which were damaged in the 1970s due to vandalism.

For the most part, the graves had remained relatively unnoticed for years. It was not until 2012 that the graves were mapped out with the help of groud-penetrating radar. It was not until last week a marker was placed to honor the people buried there.

The marker reads “Here rest in honored glory 361 American persons of color known but to God.”

Still, no event was planned, no one took time to remember the people buried there. When the marker was unveiled, only a few individuals were in attendance.

This ought to change. An event or some form of remembrance needs to be scheduled to honor the legacies of these people and to discuss how the racial history of our campus impacted their lives and the lives of minority students now.

The Daily Tar Heel editorial board would be interested in teaming up with any campus organization interested in co-sponsoring an event of this nature. Please email opinion@dailytarheel.com if you have any question, thoughts or concerns.

In an email to The Daily Tar Heel in November 2015, Preservation Chapel Hill Executive Director Cheri Szcodronski talked on the need of having an event to recognize all of the unmarked graves.

“Not only were these people excluded and forgotten in life but also in death,” she said. “Although we’ll never be able to put names to these 475 people, we can at least recognize their final resting place and tell their story.”

While we might never know who is buried there, we do know they were somehow linked to this community and to this university. We also know due to the racist history of this community, they were stripped of their right to be properly memorialized.

This part of the cemetery has been ignored and disrespected, but the people buried there deserve to have our respect and attention.

We should not let these people be forgotten again.