A group of black residents in North Carolina filed a federal lawsuit on May 21, demanding the removal of a Confederate monument dedicated to “faithful slaves” from outside Tyrrell County Courthouse in Columbia.
The Concerned Citizens of Tyrrell County sued the board of commissioners over their maintenance of the public monument inscribed with “In Appreciation of Our Faithful Slaves.”
“Tyrrell County’s monument communicates, on behalf of local government, the idea that Black people who were enslaved in Tyrrell County preferred their slavery to freedom,” the lawsuit reads.
“The county’s erection and maintenance of the monument communicates, on behalf of local government, the idea that Tyrrell’s institutions regard Black people’s rightful place as one of subservience and obedience,” it added.
The lawsuit states that the county “incite[d] racial hostility” and endangered the plaintiffs’ safety by displaying the monument, which it claims was “projecting a pro-slavery and pro-Confederate message.”
According to the lawsuit, the 1902 monument was gifted to Tyrrell County by the Tyrrell Monument Association, an organization founded by William Fessenden Beasley, a former Confederate Army lieutenant colonel who was born into “a large slave-holding family.”
Years of Efforts Calling for Monument Removal
The complaint states that the plaintiffs have been calling for the removal of the monument from the courthouse grounds for years, publicly voicing their stance through demonstrations, billboard advertisements, and participation in board of commissioners meetings. However, none of these efforts have been successful.“Litigation was our last resort,” Sherryreed Robinson, who serves as the Concerned Citizens’ treasurer, said in a press release.
“We have peacefully voiced our objections for years. This monument says our ancestors preferred slavery to freedom. That’s a false and hurtful message for the government to communicate,” she added.
Attorney Ian Mance, representing the plaintiffs on behalf of the civil rights organization Emancipate NC, said the commissioners “have never offered a substantive defense of its message” throughout the years of debate over the monument.
“The Supreme Court has said monuments at government buildings are a ‘means of expression’ and ‘government speech,’” Mr. Mance said in a statement.
“It’s an offensive, ahistorical, and racist message. Our position is that the Fourteenth Amendment does not allow the county to maintain a monument expressing a racially discriminatory message,” he added.
Attorney Jaelyn Miller, who also represents the plaintiffs, said that Tyrrell County has the authority to resolve the case “by voting to move it away from the courthouse” because it owns the monument.
“The Supreme Court of North Carolina has made clear that counties can own monuments independently of the State, and when they do, they have the authority to move them,” she stated.
North Carolina’s Supreme Court ruled in 2022 that the 2015 law—which was passed by the North Carolina General Assembly to prevent the removal of monuments—only applies to monuments owned by the state, not individual counties, according to the lawsuit.
