About 300 demonstrators gathered for a protest and march on the University of North Carolina campus at the base of Silent Sam on Monday night that ended with the statue being pulled down with rope.
The Silent Sam memorial was erected by sculptor John A. Wilson in 1913 and was dedicated to soldiers of the pro-slavery Confederacy killed during the Civil War.
So long #SilentSam pic.twitter.com/lBOkIprCxd
— Ryan Michaels (@RyMiko) August 21, 2018
Today, University of North Carolina police began a criminal probe into the tearing down of the statue, the latest action to dismantle U.S. Civil War symbols amid debate about race and the legacy of slavery.
