A dozen protesters stood outside the administrative building at UNC-Chapel Hill on Tuesday afternoon arguing against the name of the university's athletic teams, "Tar Heels," because they say it has ties to the Confederacy and white supremacy.
William Thorpe, 52, said the term was re-appropriated during the Civil War to represent Confederate soldiers who held their ground against the "northern aggression" and fought against the values and ideals of this country.
"They stood their ground as if they had tar on their heels," said Thorpe, director of the Union Soldier Campaign.
The group's public petition Tuesday started at Bennett Place in Durham, the site of the last surrender of Confederate troops in the Civil War, and ended on UNC's campus.
The group is calling on UNC Chancellor Kevin Guskiewicz, the UNC Board of Trustees and the UNC System Board of Governors to immediately rename the Tar Heels to the Rams. That name change would allow the university to keep its mascot Rameses, named after legendary football player Jack "the battering ram" Merritt.
Thorpe, a UNC alumnus and Chapel Hill native, said he grew up going to Dean Smith's UNC basketball camps and is probably Carolina's biggest fan. But he's never felt comfortable rooting for the Tar Heels, he said.
"If you call yourself a Tar Heel ... you're cheering for the essence of white supremacy," Thorpe said.
He said it's like saying "Go Confederate soldiers!" or "It's a great day to be a Confederate soldier."
The group is also asking athletes, particularly Black athletes, and fans to take a stand against calling themselves Tar Heels.
It is part of the group's efforts to organize and participate in protests to raise awareness of Confederate monuments and to advocate for recognition of Union soldiers who won the Civil War. Thorpe said the event is also meant to honor the victims of racial violence at the hands of law enforcement and vigilantes.
The petition comes as the university considers removing the names from four campus buildings with ties to racism and white supremacy at its Board of Trustees meeting Thursday. That recommendation came after the UNC board lifted a 16-year moratorium on the renaming of buildings and historical places on campus. The board plans to implement a new policy and procedures to make those changes.
Thorpe said the Tar Heels name change needs to be part of the conversation as the Washington NFL team changes its mascot, NASCAR bans Confederate flags and Confederate monuments are removed from cities across the South.
If the university can remove the Silent Sam Confederate monument from campus, Thorpe said, it can certainly change the Tar Heels name.
