WUNC
In this June 12, 2021 photo, the base of a Confederate monument remains planted in the ground in Warrenton, N.C. On the right, a file photo displays the original statue.
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.
Attorney James Williams wants to see Confederate monuments removed in full, including their pedestals.
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.