GRAHAM, N.C. (WGHP) — A North Carolina court quashed an appeal to force local leaders to move a Confederate monument from its fenced-in station by the Alamance County courthouse in downtown Graham.
The monument “depicts an archetypal Alamance County infantry soldier serving the Confederacy during the Civil War,” according to court documents. Following a rash of protests at this and similar monuments in the summer of 2020, an 8-foot-tall steel fence surrounding the statue was added in April 2021, according to The Alamance News.
In 2020, more than 50 community leaders, including the mayors of Burlington, Mebane, Gibsonville and Green Level and the president of Elon University, called on the Alamance County Board of Commissioners and Graham City Council to move the Confederate monument. The commissioners replied that, per the board’s attorney, the county does not have the authority to move the statue.
On March 30, 2021, the North Carolina conference of the NAACP, the NAACP Alamance County branch, Down Home NC, Engage Alamance and several individuals filed a lawsuit against Alamance County, the Alamance County Board of Commissioners and Commissioners Steve Carter, William Lashley, Pamela T. Thoms, calling for a court to order the county to move the monument to a “historically appropriate location.”
The trial court ruled against the plaintiffs, and an appeals court upheld the ruling in a decision on Tuesday. The court found that the county leaders do not have the authority to move the monument based on North Carolina’s Monument Protection Law. The law makes it illegal to remove, relocate or alter any monument, memorial or work of art without the approval of the North Carolina Historical Commission.
According to the law, an “object of remembrance,” such as a monument, statue or plaque commemorating North Carolina history, cannot be permanently removed. While these memorials can be relocated due to construction or state-led preservation efforts, the law states that such objects “may not be relocated to a museum, cemetery, or mausoleum unless it was originally placed at such a location.”
The law provides exceptions for highway markers, privately owned objects on public property under a legal agreement between the owner and state, objects deemed by an inspector to be in an unsafe condition and objects commemorating officers with the Wildlife Resources Commission killed in the line of duty.
The plaintiffs attempted to invoke the clause allowing for an exception to the law if “a building inspector or similar official” determined that a memorial “poses a threat to public safety because of an unsafe or dangerous condition.” They argued that, in 2020, the Alamance County manager, a role they suggest would qualify as a “similar official,” asked commissioners to consider removing the monument over concerns about the safety of protestors on both sides of the issue.
The trial court, however, said that the county manager’s role is “a managerial role” and not similar to a building inspector’s, and the appeals court agreed with the ruling.
“Even if they wanted to move the monument, they could not,” the court ruled.
Community Reaction
Former Alamance County NAACP President Barrett Brown says he was disappointed in the decision.
“There were a swath of Confederate statues put up in the 1920s after Reconstruction ended. They were put up as an intimidation factor to keep people from registering to vote, to let people know that the cause of the south will continue to live on,” Brown said.
Mebane resident Araina Shaw feels it should be taken down.
“I think that they [Court of Appeals] should reconsider and listen to the people who live here and take our opinions,” she said.
Graham resident Tracey Rogers believes we should keep the statue up as a reminder of our history.
“So my grandkids can understand … You just can’t eradicate them and get rid of them. We have to learn from our mistakes,” she said.
FOX8 reached out to the Alamance County Board of Commissioners for comment. The county attorney said they have nothing to say right now.
Brown says he’s looking at other avenues to get rid of the statue.
