EXCLUSIVE: There are Silent Sam protests happening on McCorkle Place right now
Follow @thetabunc on Snapchat for live coverage
A pro-Confederacy rally is happening now on UNC’s upper quad. The rally is being met with counter protests from campus organizations including Campus Y’s Down with the Confederacy Counter Demonstration.
The Tab UNC Snapchat (@thetabunc) has live coverage of the protests.
A fence has been set up around the statue and police are present to block any protestors from getting too close.
The pro-Confederacy group Alamance County Taking Back Alamance County is rallying around the Silent Sam statue. In an exclusive interview with The Tab UNC, organizer Gary Williamson, 36, said their intention is to “take back the rights of our history and heritage together as one.”
HK Edgerton, a prominent African American southern rights activist, is in attendance as well.
Many on-campus groups, including the Real Silent Sam movement, have said the statue is a symbol of racism and demand it be removed from the campus.
Students can be heard chanting, “hey hey, ho ho, this racist statue’s got to go.”
Follow @thetabunc for more photos, videos and exclusive interviews.