UNC-Chapel Hill Vandals in Custody
posted by Jessahna Whitney | April 24, 2019 | In NewsOn the campus of UNC-Chapel Hill, early March 31, the Unsung Founders Memorial—a dedication to slaves who built the campus— was found defaced with graffiti racial slurs. A second outdoor art exhibit near Hanes Art Center was also damaged, and a UNC system flag was stolen and replaced with a Confederate battle flag.
The Unsung Founders Memorial is a gift from the university’s class of 2002. The memorial is composed of a black granite tabletop elevated by 300 bronze figurines. An inscription on its surface reads: “The Class of 2002 honors the University’s unsung founders—the people of color, bond and free—who helped build the Carolina that we cherish today.”
Just days later, the vandals were found and taken into custody. Nancy McCorkle, 50, of Newberry, South Carolina, and Ryan Barnett, 31, of Sanford were both charged with “damage to real property and ethnic intimidation,” according to WRAL News. Additionally, Barnett was charged for urinating in public and with a second account of vandalism for stealing a UNC system flag. The flag is valued at about $600, UNC spokesperson Jason Tyson told WRAL.
Later, the vandals were identified as being members of a group called Heirs to the Confederacy. The group’s Facebook page claims its members are “devoted to the preservation of … Southern heritage and traditions, Confederate monuments and memorials, the Honor of [their] flags, and the Cause of the Confederate States of America; freedom, the preservation of the Constitution, and the memory of the Old Republic, America as it was meant to be.” It also states that their goal is “to help coordinate … and promote any properly arranged non-racist, non-violent pro-Confederate/Revolutionary events.”
A motivation behind the vandalisms has not yet been revealed, but the two are scheduled to appear in court on separate dates by the end of April.
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