RALEIGH, N.C. _ Confederate statues should be removed from state property, North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper said in a public message Tuesday.
Cooper has asked the state Department of Cultural Resources to find out how much it will cost to remove the monuments and provide options for relocating them to places where they can be "studied in context."
Cooper's statement comes the day after a crowd in Durham toppled a Confederate statute outside the old Durham County courthouse and after the violent white supremacists' rally in Charlottesville, Va., last weekend brought new attention to North Carolina's law protecting monuments and statues.
Cooper also wants that 2015 law protecting monuments repealed.
"Cities, counties and the state must have the authority and opportunity to make these decisions," he wrote.
