From the faculty: take down Silent Sam

TO THE EDITOR:

An open letter to Chancellor Folt, the Board of Trustees and the Board of Governors:

The Progressive Faculty Network and colleagues from across the UNC-CH campus stand with students and other members of the community in opposition to the presence of “Silent Sam.” 

The statue celebrates people who defended slavery, a violation of the most basic of human rights.

Installed 48 years after this country made owning another human being illegal, the monument also implicitly honors the system of racial apartheid that propped up white supremacy after the U.S. Civil War and influenced white nationalists in South Africa and Nazis in Western Europe. 

Beginning in the 1950s, in response to African American-led civil rights activism, some components of legal segregation, particularly in public education, were dismantled. Today, however, racial inequality in this country is maintained by physical, economic, electoral, legal, and cultural violence committed by and on behalf of white people against people of color. 

“Sam,” the gun-toting image of white, masculine power, is neither harmless historical “speech” nor “silent.” Decades of protest and the current student-led demand to take the monument down demonstrate that we hear “Sam’s” anthem to racism loudly and clearly. 

Remove the statue now and you can be on the right side of history.

Karen Booth

Women’s and Gender Studies 

Elyse Crystall

English and Comparative Literature

On behalf of 116 additional faculty members, including:

Sherryl Kleinman, Sociology

Michael Palm, communication

Trude Bennett, Maternal and Child Health (emerita)

Michelle Robinson, American Studies

George Noblit, Education

Maria DeGuzman, English and Comparative Literature

Patricia Sawin, American Studies

Susan Bickford, Political Science

Hong-An Truong, Art

James Thompson, English and Comparative Literature

Rob Hamilton, Communication

Jennifer Ho, English and Comparative Literature

Juliane Hammer, Religious Studies

Jay Smith, History

Cathy Zimmer, Sociology

William Sturkey, History

Karen Hagemann, History

Mark Driscoll, Asian Studies

Michele R Rivkin-Fish, Anthropology

Altha Cravey, Geography 

Ariana Vigil, Women’s and Gender Studies 

Tanya Shields, Women’s and Gender Studies 

Scott Kirsch, Geography 

Renée Alexander Craft, Communication

Susan Ennett, Health Behavior

Dennis Mumby, Communication

Sarah Shields, History

Nisha Gottfredson, Health Behavior

Ruth Salvaggio, English and Comparative Literature

Michal Osterweil, Global Studies

Nadia Yaqub, Asian Studies

Krista Perreira, Social Medicine

Elin O’hara Slavick, Art

Jessica Wolfe, English and Comparative Literature

John Pickles, Geography

Daniel Wallace, English and Comparative Literature

Shelley Golden, Health Behavior

Laura Halperin, English and Comparative Literature

Kurt M. Ribisl, Health Behavior 

Carole Crumley, Anthropology 

Harry Watson, History 

Leslie Ann Lytle, Health Behavior 

Cemil Aydin, History 

Arturo Escobar, Anthropology 

Erica Johnson, Global Studies 

Jonathan D. Lepofsky, Geography 

Edwin B. Fisher, Health Behavior 

William Ferris, History 

Christopher T. Nelson, Anthropology 

Barbara Friedman, Media and Journalism 

Noel Brewer, Health Behavior 

Misha Becker, Linguistics 

Marcie Cohen Ferris, American Studies 

Don Nonini, Anthropology 

Sharon P. Holland, American Studies 

Kathryn Burns, History 

Tony Perucci, Communication 

Eugenia Eng, Health Behavior 

Valerie Lambert, Anthropology 

Rebecca B. Brigham, Social Work 

Ben Frey, American Studies 

Beth Grabowski, Art 

Deborah Stroman, Business 

Courtney G. Woods, Environmental Sciences and Engineering 

Chad Stevens, Media and Journalism 

Margaret Wiener, Anthropology 

Georges Nzongola-Ntalaja, African, African American, and Diaspora Studies 

Crystal Wiley Cené, Medicine 

Rachel Woodson Goode, Social Work 

Daniel M. Cobb, American Studies 

Rupa Redding-Lallinger, Pediatrics

Anne Johnston, Media and Journalism 

Laura Linnan, Health Behavior

China Medel, Communication 

Aimee McHale, Public Health 

Seth Noar, Media and Journalism 

Sara Smith, Geography 

Sandy Smith-Nonini, Anthropology 

Karolyn Tyson, Sociology 

Ligaiya Romero, Media and Journalism 

Iqbal Sevea, History 

Karin Yeatts, Epidemiology 

Emilio del Valle Escalante, Romance Studies

Kate Muessig, Health Behavior 

Lisa Lindsay, History

Joanna Maselko, Epidemiology 

Eileen Carlton Parsons, Science Education 

Sherry Mergner, Social Work 

Adaora Adimora, Medicine and Epidemiology 

Jina Valentine, Art and Art History

Kathy Perkins, Dramatic Art

Tamera Coyne-Beasley, Pediatrics

Danielle Christmas, English and Comparative Literature

Sherick Hughes, Education

Rebecka Rutledge Fisher, English and Comparative Literature

Jamie Cobb, Journalism

Lydia Boyd, African, African American, and Diaspora Studies

Glenn Hinson, Folklore & Anthropology

Jocelyn Chua, Anthropology

Meg Landfried, Health Behavior

Kumarini Silva, Communication

Danianne Mizzy, UNC Libraries

Patricia Parker, Communication

Tara Bohley, Social Work

Patrick Conway, Economics

Mark Fraser, Social Work

Stephen Cole, Epidemiology

Veronica Carlisle, Lineberger Cancer Center and Public Health

Fadi Bardawil, Asian Studies

Gary Nelson, Social Work

Silvia Tomášková, Women’s and Gender Studies and Anthropology

Joanna Maselko, Epidemiology

Lisa Lindsay, History

Kate Muessig, Health Behavior

Elizabeth Havice, Geography

Lisa de Saxe Zerden, Social Work