Silent Sam should have never gone up, let’s make that clear.
A statue designed to celebrate those who defended the purity of the “Anglo-Saxon” race is racist and doesn’t deserve a grain of American soil upon which to sit. Good riddance.
From a practical perspective, the toppling of Silent Sam does little. Those who claim that structural white supremacy exists at UNC (it probably doesn’t) will continue to cry out. Students will continue to make ridiculous demands similar to those made in 2015 at a University-held town hall. The administration will most likely be even less willing to listen to the student body even if students are making valid points. The police will be forced to make arrests and, in the process, will open themselves up to even more abuse and criticism. In short, a small band of protesters have managed to take an action that provides short-term catharsis but, due to a lack of pragmatic long-term goals, has deepened the rift between the student body and the administration.
Of course, some blame must also be placed at the feet of our administration. Chancellor Folt has performed the role of a politician and neglected her role as the real leader of UNC. The Board, in conjunction with Folt, have skillfully avoided doing anything of substance about Silent Sam. Their stance has frustrated everyone regardless of opinion.
Yet, this is where my view is perhaps controversial; Silent Sam is more valuable on his pedestal than off of it.
Personally, my vision for Silent Sam has always rested in the distant future — when the presence of slavery in our country is nothing but a distant memory and a chapter in some sort of holographic textbook. In such a future, the presence of statues such as Silent Sam find their true value as the everlasting, unyielding reminders of our past sins and a resounding warning against repeating our former evils. This would have required a rededication, a new context and possibly even a new location. But this is the power of physical reminders of former atrocities: they cannot be ignored.
The Confederate statues in America do little more than further remove the memory of the evils of slavery from modern consciousness. Such ramifications will perhaps not manifest themselves in this generation — or indeed the next. But if we continue to remove these reminders of our misdeeds then we make future generations vulnerable to the withering grasp of Father Time. Given the passage of time, all atrocities lose their power to shock you.
