Staff Reports
Residents in Tyrrell County, North Carolina, have taken legal action to remove a Confederate monument from the county courthouse grounds. The Concerned Citizens of Tyrrell County filed a lawsuit in federal court, arguing that the monument, which includes an inscription “In appreciation of our faithful slaves,” violates the 14th Amendment’s Equal Protection Clause by conveying a racially discriminatory message.
— Dr. Joel P. Rutkowski- President (@RutkowskiDr) May 23, 2024
The lawsuit contends that the monument endorses a “pro-slavery message and a pro-Confederate message,” causing racial hostility and jeopardizing the safety of the plaintiffs. It further asserts that the monument implies that Black people who were enslaved in Tyrrell County preferred their enslavement and communicates the idea that the county’s institutions consider Black people’s rightful place to be one of subservience and obedience.
The monument, erected in 1902, stands outside the Tyrrell County courthouse, and attorneys for the Concerned Citizens group argue that its placement was intentional, meant to communicate to the Black community that they could not expect justice in the courthouse.
This legal challenge comes in the wake of a recent North Carolina appeals court decision that upheld the placement of a Confederate monument outside a different courthouse. The court cited a state law from 2015 that limits the relocation of “objects of remembrance,” including military monuments, emphasizing that many historical figures represented in government buildings held views that might be considered offensive today.
The Concerned Citizens of Tyrrell County hope that their lawsuit will lead to the removal of the controversial monument and the erasure of what they perceive as a racially discriminatory message from the county courthouse grounds.
