City Council Votes to Permanently Remove Two Confederate Statues from Downtown Wilmington
WECT, August 2, 2021
Wilmington’s City Council voted to permanently remove two Confederate statues from downtown public areas during an open session meeting Monday morning.
The statues, which were located at Third Street and Market Street, were put into storage in June 2020 in accordance with state law citing public safety concerns.
According to a news release from the city, Cape Fear 3, a local chapter of the United Daughters of the Confederacy, will take possession of the statues.
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If the city does not own the monuments, then the state statute does not apply to them and they can be removed.
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Although they were removed in June of last year, it took that long for the city to come to an agreement as to what to do with them.
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While public safety concerns were listed as a reason for the temporary and permanent removal of the monuments, Councilman Charlie Rivenbark does not believe that is the reason for the decision.
“Let’s all be clear about this, we’re not doing this because of traffic safety on Third Street or Market Street; thousands of cars have passed by these statues for as long as those roads have been four lanes. So that is bull – we’re taking these down because of mob rule,” he said.
