[VIDEO] UNC Students Protest $5M “Silent Sam” Plan
CHAPEL HILL, NC – On Monday morning (Dec. 3rd), the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC) Chancellor Carol Folt and the UNC Board of Trustees (BOT) proposed a solution to the UNC Board of Governors (BOG) for the disposition and preservation of Silent Sam (the confederate monument).
The solution proposed by the Chancellor Folt and the BOT would tear down Odum Village and build a University History and Education Center to house Silent Sam. It will cost $5.3 million dollars to build this high-tech building and $800,000 dollars annually for operating costs. If accepted by the UNC BOG, the University History and Education is scheduled to be completed in 2022.
Why Odum Village?
According to North Carolina state law,
“An object of remembrance that is permanently relocated shall be relocated to a site of similar prominence, honor, visibility, availability, and access that are within the boundaries of the jurisdiction from which it was relocated. An object of remembrance may not be relocated to a museum, cemetery, or mausoleum unless it was originally placed at such a location.”
One reason Chancellor Folt and the BOT believed Odum Village would be the safest place on campus to re-erect Silent Sam is because of “separation from major streets.” However, Chancellor Folt and the BOT forgot to consider the location of the students the statue discriminates against.
Most Black/African-American UNC students live on south campus near Odum Village. The UNC National Pan-Hellenic Council (NPHC) received official on-campus housing in Taylor Hall (Rams 4) in September. Taylor Hall is a short eight-minute walk from the proposed site for Silent Sam. The walk is ever shorter than that for people of color living in the Craige Community or Rams Village 1-3. The Chancellor and BOT proposed to move a statue that discriminates against Blacks/African Americans closer to where they live.
Demonstration
Frustrated members in the Chapel Hill community congregated in the Peace and Justice Plaza and demonstrated the proposed solution by Chancellor Folt and the BOT on Monday night at approximately 7pm est. After travelling down Franklin St., Colombia St., and Cameron Ave., demonstrators made their way to the boarded-up pedestal where Silent Sam once stood in McCorkle Place.
Demonstrators were met with barricades and law enforcement in riot gear. After exchanging viewpoints with law enforcement officers. The demonstrators marched towards South Building where the protest ended in a poem of solidarity.
Community Response
“When I look at the recommendations and decisions, such as this made repeatedly by university leaders, naturally I think about the Black and Brown student perspective,” UNC senior and Black Student Movement President Qieara Lesesne said.
Lesesne went on to add that,
“It is always our college experience that is the one to be sacrificed. The experience and the education that those before us, slaves before us, broke their backs and prayed night and day for us to have and take advantage of. It is always our classmates, friends and peers who are ashamed and disgusted by the same Carolina Blue we used to love to represent.”
In a time of confusion and frustration over the proposed solution by Chancellor Carol Folt and BOT, all hope wasn’t lost.
“I’m tired, but I’m also a little hopefully because I see a large crowd out here,” UNC Senior, Co-Founder and Co-President of Black Congress Angum Check said. “I’m a little bit hopeful because I know that the administrators and the Board of Governors and the Board of Trustees are nervous.”
Check gave mention to the name change of Saunders Hall to Carolina Hall and how the students at UNC have the power to promote change. Moreover, Check encouraged current underclassman to continue the fight for justice and equality.
“They’re waiting for us to graduate so they can just keep their agenda going,” Check said. “But we can never let that happen. We need to pass down knowledge. New people need to come into the movement. OK! So that is my charge to y’all.”
UNC alumni have also taken notice of the Silent Sam situation. According to a trusted source, professional Tar Heel athletes are upset about the proposed solution for Silent Sam and, moreover, they know sport has always been a vehicle for social change.