Silent Sam has become the most controversial figure at UNC over the past year. The statue, which celebrates those UNC students who fought to continue the practice of slavery, has been placed under significant scrutiny after the Charlottesville protests last year.
The consensus among the majority of people at UNC seems to be that Silent Sam should be removed. Some believe that it should be put in a museum somewhere, while some think that perhaps it should merely be disposed of.
Let me begin by saying that I understand that the statue has caused — and is causing — pain to certain members of our community. I also know that I will never fully understand the type of pain that our Black community members go through when they see this type of legacy on our campus.
Despite this, it would be wrong to remove Silent Sam from his place on campus.
Silent Sam is a not merely a symbol of the oppression of slavery but also a reminder of the human propensity for evil. To move him to a museum or to simply throw him away would be to remove a public reminder of our ability to abuse our fellow man. We should not seek to protect ourselves from the painful memories of the past but remember them so as to prevent ourselves from committing future atrocities. For this is what I believe the legacy of Silent Sam should be, a constant reminder of the way that we can abuse our fellow humans.
Some of you might protest with something like this: “Why should our Black community members be forced to be constantly reminded of the pain that racism has brought them so that the rest of our community members might be able to learn the lessons of history? History books and documentaries can remind us of our propensity for evil without inflicting unnecessary pain on certain members of our community.”
I have two responses. First, humanity has preserved some of our worst symbols of human atrocities as a reminder to never again go down such paths. The Nazi concentration camps — for example — exist to remind us of just how evil we can be. The Roman Colosseum still stands as a memory of the multitudes of people who were murdered there in the name of entertainment. These physical representations of some of the worst deeds that humanity has wrought provide a reminder that one cannot merely ignore.
So too, Silent Sam should stand as our reminder.
But secondly, and more importantly, the fact that some of our community experiences pain because of the statue does not trump the fact that we all are capable of great evil — regardless of what identity we have or what our background is or how oppressed we are. You reader — yes you — are capable of the evils of owning fellow humans, or succumbing to the Nazi movement or telling the Roman gladiator to kill his fallen opponent and enjoying it when he slits his throat. And while the memory of racial violence is fresh in our minds now, who is to say that racial differences will define our society like they do now in 1000 years? The enduring reminder of our evil past is the true value of Silent Sam. The fact that it, and its message, will exist long after we have passed away is the true value of such a statue.
