North Carolina locals petition to take down a statue honoring "loyal slaves" from its locality.
In Tyrrell County, North Carolina, there's a monument with a Confederate soldier perched on a pedestal. Beneath it is an inscription that reads "In appreciation of our faithful slaves."
A lawsuit filed in the Eastern District of North Carolina by a group called The Concerned Citizens of Tyrrell County accuses the public monument of breaching the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment due to its racially discriminatory message.
The lawsuit claims that the inscription on the statue promotes both pro-slavery and pro-Confederate viewpoints.
Jaelyn Miller, an attorney for the plaintiffs, believes commissioners have a duty to ensure that racist messaging isn't exhibited to the Black community.
"This is the only monument in the nation on public land that textually endorses slavery," Miller said to CNN.
Ian Mance, another attorney for the plaintiffs, argues that the monument's historical record demonstrates that it was erected to convey a specific message.
"It was placed in the front yard of what would soon be Tyrrell County Courthouse, which opened a few months later, to convey to people that the Black community couldn't expect to find justice in that courthouse," he explained.
The lawsuit asserts that the construction of the monument and the county's ongoing maintenance "communicate, on behalf of the local government, the belief that Tyrrell's institutions see Black people's rightful place as one of submission and obedience." It also alleges that the monument has "incited racial hostility" and jeopardized the safety of the plaintiffs.
The monument has stood since 1902 and this legal action is the most recent effort to remove it from the courthouse grounds.
Mance mentioned that the plaintiffs have been at commission meetings since the 1990s and have conducted demonstrations since 2019.
"Litigation was our last resort," said Sherryreed Robinson, one of the plaintiffs, in a news release announcing the suit. "We have peacefully expressed our concerns for years. This monument suggests that our ancestors preferred slavery to freedom. That's a false and painful message for the government to propagate."
CNN has reached out to Tyrrell County Commissioners for their take.
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The Concerned Citizens of Tyrrell County, which includes US residents, are part of the lawsuit against Tyrrell County Commissioners over the controversial statue.
Tyrrell County's commissioners, as part of the US government, have been urged by the plaintiffs to remove the controversial statue due to its racially discriminatory message.
Source: edition.cnn.com
