To the editor:
To all hate groups: we descendants of confederate soldiers beseech you to not show up at the confederate statue in Pittsboro or any confederate monuments in any city. Your very presence is shameful and demeaning to the honor of our ancestors. You dishonor the proud Confederate battle flag by associating it with hate, racism and white supremacy. Confederate soldiers, regardless of the false narratives, were not racist and the only hate they entertained was against the usurpation of the constitution by the Federal government.
I say in all sincerity to Neo-Nazi, KKK, white supremacist and other such groups that we who are descendants of the confederacy have no hate or racism in our hearts, it’s a shame that y’all do. Some of your members are also descendants of confederate soldiers; if so, then they should honor their memory by not dragging their flag in the mud. In fact, we humbly ask you to quit carrying our ancestors’ flag.
The U.D.C. (United Daughters of the Confederacy) obtained a temporary restraining order to prevent officials from removing the confederate statue located at the courthouse square in Pittsboro. A judge will decide whether the county owns the statue or not. Regardless of his ruling, it will have far-reaching consequences and set precedence for the future.
In Gastonia, my current residence, our confederate statue was moved from our old courthouse in 1998 to our new courthouse at the expense of the city; they knew that it was the people’s property. During the renovation of Pittsboro’s courthouse in 2010 and the rebuilding after the fire that prevented further renovation, the city of Pittsboro protected the town’s confederate statue and may have even temporarily relocated it at the city’s expense during rebuilding. Regardless of the judge’s decision, North Carolina’s statute of protection of monuments makes no distinction of who owns a particular monument. As the statue has been a part of the courthouse for 112 years, it may fall within the dictates of North Carolina statute 47-20.6., which makes it the people’s property, i.e. the county.
Alan Petty
Gastonia