Originally published on July 2, 2021 4:11 pm
Capital Square in downtown Raleigh looks a lot different than it did one year ago. That’s because one of the most iconic Confederate monuments in the state is gone. All of it.
The 75-foot-tall granite monument overlooked Hillsborough Street since 1895, spurring the erection of similar monuments across North Carolina.
James Williams, the retired chief public defender for Orange and Chatham Counties, chairs the North Carolina Commission on Racial and Ethnic Disparities in the Criminal Justice System (NC CRED). Williams says he enjoys seeing a patch of grass where that monument once stood.
"I know what that statue stood for, what it represented," said Williams, sitting on a bench near the empty space. "Having a monument that speaks to 'slaveocracy,' sends the exact opposite message, particularly to Black people, that they can expect fairness and fair treatment."