Increased Police Presence in Raleigh for NC Historical Commission Meeting

RALEIGH – The North Carolina Historical Commission Confederate Monuments Study Committee is meeting Wednesday, followed by a meeting of the full N.C. Historical Commission, at the Archives and History/State Library Building in downtown Raleigh to discuss their authority, and their next steps, as it relates to the removal and relocation of confederate monuments from state government grounds.

The meeting can be live streamed here.

The meeting comes after students and activists on the campus of UNC Chapel Hill took advantage of the local police standing down to unlawfully topple the ‘Silent Sam’ statue. The perpetrators rejoiced, but elected and university system officials roundly condemned the mob action, regardless of their feelings about the statues themselves.

The police presence around the monuments in Raleigh, located on the grounds of the Old State Capitol building, increased as soon as the mob in Chapel Hill became destructive. No crowds of protesters materialized Monday night, but the meeting Wednesday is now under heightened focus and the issue of the confederate statues has been thrust into the spotlight again. Just in time for the home stretch into fall elections.

The commission will be considering whether or not to remove the statues and relocate them to the Bentonville Battlefield State Historic Site in Four Oaks, Johnston County. Protesters did disrupt the first meeting just before its adjournment, after votes were held to confirm next steps in their decision making process.

The Raleigh Police Department and State Capital Police are no strangers to political protests, especially over the past five years. Leftist organizations from the NAACP, Moral Monday, LGBTQ activists, environmental groups, and more have commonly sought to disrupt legislative proceedings of the majority Republican legislature in recent years, leading to hundreds of arrests and lots of stirred up political angst to serve as wind at the backs of Democrats come election time.

So far there is no sign of the usual suspects around the state government complex. However, things can change quickly, and we will bring you the latest if developments warrant our perspective.