“I made a point to kind of frame my day around it,” she said.
Chigozirim Nwogu, a senior at UNC, said he did not know about the ceremony until he happened to walk by the Pit.
“I just decided to stop by and just see what was happening,” he said.
Curtis said that she really enjoyed the speeches of both Clark and Vann.
“You can tell that they had a lot of time spent with the community and figuring out their wishes and the family's wishes,” Curtis said.
Vann said giving the family peace was a crucial goal of the memorial.
“The most important thing to me today was being able to honor the memory of James Lewis Cates, Jr. and to bring his family an iota of peace,” Vann said.
By contrast to the student speakers, Curtis said that she felt disappointed in the speeches of Hemminger and BOT Chairperson David Boliek.
“It didn't feel like it was really something (the BOT) cared about, more of like a press thing for them,” she said.
Nwogu echoed this disappointment.
Specifically, he said the way Guskiewicz ended his speech by tying it back to the University felt “tone-deaf.”
“I felt like that was a way for him to kind of save face,” Nwogu said.
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Curtis said that she feels the BOT actions oftentimes reflect their own interests instead of student or community interests.
“This situation reflects many situations that students have spoken about and the Board of Trustees' lack of consideration and care for the student body, their wishes and the colored paths that UNC has as one of the first public schools in America,” she said.
Vann said the memorial is a meaningful and necessary step, but it’s difficult to say what exactly will come next.
“But I'm so glad that something's coming next, that we can stop talking about the exact same thing we've been discussing for 52 years straight,” she said.
Vann said that, in past years, the anniversary of Cates’ death has only been marked by a couple of chairs, a few students and some flowers.
“It was really incredible to truly see how much our community cares, to see how many people chose to come out for this today, when it's normally just a handful of folks and his family that come out every year,” she said at the dedication.
Some attendees felt it took the University too long to create and dedicate this permanent memorial and properly acknowledge Cates’ death.
“Why does it take so much pressure applied from student leaders on campus for UNC to do things like this?” Nwogu said.
Negest Kinte, a community member in attendance, was glad that the University installed the memorial but echoes sentiments about the timeline.
“I hate that it took them so long,” Kinte said.
Leah Cox, the vice provost for equity and inclusion and chief diversity officer at UNC, said she wished it could have happened sooner, but the dedication of a permanent memorial for Cates is a move in the right direction.
“Obviously, there's a feeling that we need to do all the right things, and we're getting there,” Cox said.
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