RALEIGH, N.C. _ Gov. Roy Cooper decided this weekend to remove three monuments from the Capitol grounds that are "direct tributes to the cause of the Confederacy," his office said Wednesday.
Those Confederate connections explain why those monuments were removed, but not statues of white supremacist governor Charles Aycock and two-time governor Zebulon Vance, who was a U.S. senator and Confederate officer, said Dory MacMillan, a Cooper spokesperson, in an email.
Protesters tore two bronze soldiers off the tallest Confederate monument at the state Capitol on Friday night. The following day, Cooper ordered the rest of the monument removed, along with two other Confederate memorials on Union Square.
Early Wednesday morning, the remains of the Confederate monument were carted away, leaving just the base of five steps.
In 2017, Cooper recommended moving the three Confederate monuments to Bentonville Battlefield in Johnston County, to give them proper context and to address public safety concerns, MacMillan said in an email. But the state Historical Commission, who under the law has a role in monument relocations, rejected the request.
The state Historical Commission now will revisit the issue to decide where the three monuments end up, MacMillan said. Until then, they'll remain in a secure facility, MacMillan previously told The News & Observer.
With Cooper's decision, though, the Republican-led legislature decided to "pause" its consideration of a state-funded monument honoring African Americans: setting aside $2.5 million for an African American monument on Capitol grounds and $1.5 million for Freedom Park a few blocks away.
But Thursday morning, which could be the final day of the legislature's short session, House Rules Chair David Lewis said he anticipates the legislature will approve funding for the Freedom Park project in a budget bill later Thursday. The Senate appears to be in agreement with the House on funding Freedom Park, said Lewis, a Harnett County Republican.
However, that won't include the funds from an earlier bill that would have installed new signs on Capitol grounds, now that the monuments no longer stand.
On Wednesday, Senate Leader Phil Berger said while conversations about the park would continue, Cooper and "the mob have sort of mooted that bill in many respects."
"Because the bill called for contextualization of the (Confederate) monuments, and for, I think, an understanding of the fact that there's not unanimous opinion one way or the other about those monuments _ whether they should be there or what they stand for," said Berger, an Eden Republican.
Berger referred to the Senate's previous vote to provide ample context to monuments on the Capitol grounds.
A 2015 law passed during former Gov. Pat McCrory's administration prevented the statues from being moved. When it passed, the law was seen as a way to protect monuments on public property, particularly to prevent the Confederate statue Silent Sam at UNC-Chapel Hill from being moved.
Protesters toppled Silent Sam in August 2018, and more Confederate monuments have been removed from public streets with more relocations likely.
Cooper wants the 2015 law repealed.
In the past month, international protests and renewed attention to race discrimination after a Minneapolis police officer knelt on George Floyd's neck while arresting him touched off a wave of Confederate monument removals throughout the South. Floyd, who was Black, died in police custody, and the ex-officer is charged with second-degree murder.
In North Carolina, several local governments have responded. The Louisburg Town Council voted Monday to move a Confederate memorial from the middle of Main Street to a municipal cemetery, the N&O reported.
The Salisbury Town Council voted last week to move a 111-year-old Confederate monument, The Charlotte Observer reported.
The Raleigh-Apex Chapter of the NAACP said in a news release Wednesday that other cities and counties should remove Confederate memorials. It praised Cooper for his decision.
The North Carolina Sons of Confederate Veterans issued a statement on June 13 condemning local governments' decisions to move statues, saying they violate the 2015 law.
Rep. Jason Saine, a Lincolnton Republican who chairs the Appropriations Committee, said on Monday the Republican caucus has not made a final decision on any legislative response about the removed monuments, but that conversations were ongoing.
"I watched the actions over the weekend and saw, obviously, passions are high. I think hitting the pause button is probably appropriate and to allow cooler heads to talk and work it out," Saine told The News & Observer on Monday.
