An appeals court has rejected the NAACP’s arguments for removing the Confederate monument standing outside the Alamance County courthouse, citing state law that prohibits its removal.
Both the state and Alamance branches of the civil rights group filed suit in 2021, arguing that the 30-foot rebel soldier’s statue is an enduring symbol of white supremacy and should be relocated to a “historically appropriate location.”
The suit followed a nationwide string of protests that saw Confederate statues pulled down in Raleigh, Durham and Chapel Hill, along with numerous Black Lives Matter protests in downtown Graham, including one in 2020 that saw demonstrators pepper-sprayed during a march to the polls.
In their lawsuit, lawyers for the NAACP argued that the monument in Graham violates the state Constitution by ”maintaining and protecting a symbol of white supremacy in front of an active courthouse.”
They further argued that Alamance officials kept the statue in its place out of a spirit of discrimination, which would violate the state’s equal-protection clause.
But the court brushed these arguments aside by invoking the Monuments Protection Law passed by the General Assembly in 2015.
“The record conclusively shows that the Monument is a monument located on public property which commemorates military service that is part of North Carolina’s history,” read the N.C. Appeals Court’s decision. “In so concluding, we note our federal government recognizes that service in the Confederate Army qualifies as “military service. … We conclude that, under the Monument Protection Law, (Alamance County and its commissioners) lack authority to remove the Monument.”
What the NAACP argued
At different points in 2020, both the Burlington mayor and the Alamance County manager asked commissioners to consider moving the statue, calling it a threat to public safety as protests increased.
In their lawsuit, the NAACP argued that this could disqualify the Alamance monument for protection under the state law. Concern from a building inspector counts among the exceptions that allow relocation. But the appeals court judges noted that county managers and building inspectors do not compare.
Finally, the plaintiffs argued that a Confederate statue violates the states Open Courts Clause, which guarantees equal treatment and justice, by displaying a statue that promotes racial degradation.
What the Court of Appeals said
The court’s response:
“We conclude that the Open Courts Clause does not prohibit the placement of an object of historical remembrance in or around a courthouse, though some may find offense. Indeed, in many courthouses and other government buildings across our State and nation, there are depictions of historical individuals who held certain views in their time many today would find offensive.”
A Superior Court judge had already dismissed the group’s lawsuit in 2022. It was not clear Tuesday if the NAACP would appeal further.
Chief Judge Chris Dillon wrote the opinion, which was affirmed by judges Donna Stroud and Valerie Zachary.
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