Protesters tear down statues from Confederate monuments in DC and North Carolina
A protester climbed up and wrapped a strap around the neck of a statue on a Confederate monument in North Carolina and pulled it down.
A second statue on the other side of the monument was also pulled down, according to footage taken by CNN affiliate WRAL on Friday. The statues were at the state capitol in Raleigh. Protesters then marched down the street and hung both statues from a light post on the street.
In Washington, DC, protesters toppled a statue of Albert Pike in the Judiciary Square neighborhood, according to CNN affiliate WJLA. Pike was a senior officer of the Confederate States Army.
These are the latest incidents of Confederate monuments getting removed nationwide in the wake of the George Floyd protests. Protesters in some cases and city leaders in others have taken down contentious statues, which some people say mark history and honor heritage while others argue they are racist symbols of America’s dark legacy of slavery. While some cities have made efforts to remove them, others have passed laws to protect them.
A crowd gathered in the Atlanta suburb of Decatur Thursday night to watch the removal of a Confederate monument after the city argued it’d become a threat to public safety during recent protests. A judge ordered it removed and placed in storage until further notice.
As a large crane pulled down the obelisk just before midnight Thursday, people chanted, “Take it down! Take it down!” Others applauded.
Floyd’s death during an arrest by a White police officer ignited protests against racism and police brutality. The 46-year-old Black man died on May 25 in Minneapolis in an incident captured on video.
Just this month alone, a series of statues have been removed, including Christopher Columbus, another controversial figure in US history. Some Christopher Columbus statues have been tampered with — one thrown into a lake, one beheaded, and another pulled to the ground.
