CHAPEL HILL, N.C. _ Silent Sam, the Confederate monument at UNC-Chapel Hill, was doused with blood and red ink by a protester Monday, in a defiant act that was broadcast on Facebook Live.
In an email to the media, Maya Little took responsibility for defacing the statue, which has been at the center of intensifying protests during this academic year. Little said she was an organizer for the Silent Sam Sit-In since September. The Move Silent Sam group identified her as a doctoral student in UNC's history department.
In the letter, directed at UNC Chancellor Carol Folt, Little said she was attempting to add context to the statue.
"Silent Sam is violence; Silent Sam is the genocide of black people; Silent Sam is antithetical to our right to exist," Little wrote. "You should see him the way that we do, at the forefront of our campus covered in our blood."
Videos posted to social media showed police dragging protesters away from the monument.
