Durham Statue Toppling
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Part of a series on Confederate Statue Removals Controversy. [View Related Entries]
Overview
Durham Statue Toppling refers to a protest in Durham, North Carolina in which protestors tore down a statue honoring the Confederate side in the United States Civil War. The event prompted strong reactions online as well as a series of jokes regarding the statue's crumpled form after it fell to the ground.
Background
On August 14th, 2017, two days after the 2017 Unite the Right Rally in which far-right protestors and white supremacists protested the removal of a statue of Confederate general Robert E. Lee, leftist protestors in Durham, North Carolina tore down a statue outside of the old Durham County Courthouse honoring "the boys who wore the gray," referring to the uniform of the confederate army.[1] The statue had stood since 1924, 60 years after the Civil War, and was erected by the United Daughters of the Confederacy.[4] The statue fell to the ground and crumpled (video shown below).
Developments
Following the protest, reactions to the protestor's actions were mixed. Governor Roy Cooper of North Carolina suggested that there is a better way to have confederate monuments removed on Twitter.[2] Charlie Reece of the Durham City Council posted a popular tweet in which he received an email from a person asking him to consider removing the statue, along with his response that the statue no longer stood (shown below).[3] The tweet gained 4,000 retweets and over 13,000 likes.
Some conservatives were appalled by the event. The American Conservative[5] called the event a result of "mob rule," while more left-leaning publications framed the protestors as "heroic."[7] On August 15th, the Sheriff of Durham County Mike Andrews announced that he would be seeking charges on the protestors.[6]
Online Reactions
While some online echoed the appall of some conservatives, the majority of popular online reactions celebrated the protestors. Several popular tweets used the image of the crumpled statue as a reaction image, while others parodied conservative responses to the event by posting different statues, defending them as "conservative monuments" (examples shown below). These jokes were covered by The Fader.[7]
Search Interest
External References
[1] New York Times – Protesters in Durham Topple a Confederate Monument
[2] Twitter – @NC_Governor
[3] Twitter – @CharlieReece
[4] The Atlantic – Durham's Confederate Statue Comes Down
[5] The American Conservative – Mob Rule In Durham
[6] WRAL.com – Durham sheriff to seek charges for Confederate statue vandalism
[7] The Fader – Heroic Protesters Tore Down A Confederate Statue, And Then Twitter Made It Funny
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