NC lawmakers ‘pause’ funding for Black monuments in downtown Raleigh

Over the weekend, protesters brought down two Confederate statues on the grounds of the North Carolina Capitol building in downtown Raleigh and Gov. Roy Cooper ordered the rest of the Confederate statues at the Capitol removed as well.

On Monday in the state legislature, Republicans put a pause on discussion of funding monuments to African Americans on the Capitol grounds and another block downtown.

A week after $4 million in funding for the proposed monuments passed the Senate easily in a surprise vote, the money was set to be discussed in a House committee Monday, but was pulled from the agenda.

Rep. Jason Saine, a Lincolnton Republican who chairs the Appropriations Committee, said after the meeting that the Republican caucus is meeting about the monuments and has not made a final decision on any legislative response.

“I watched the actions over the weekend and saw, obviously, passions are high. I think hitting the pause button is probably appropriate and to allow cooler heads to talk and work it out,” Saine told The News & Observer.

Republicans have criticized the Democratic governor’s handling of the monuments — both the police allowing protesters to topple the statues and Cooper’s order to remove them. A state law passed under former Republican Gov. Pat McCrory restricts moving monuments, but Cooper cited the law’s “public safety” exception.

“I do disagree with mob violence. I do disagree with simply relinquishing control of state property regardless of what’s on the property, to be destroyed. It’s going to be a greater discussion,” Saine said.

Saine said it’s not up to him to decide how long that “pause” will be.

“We’re going to go to caucus and we’ll discuss there. I’m sure the other caucus will discuss,” he said, referring to the Democrats.

“First and foremost, all could have been avoided if the governor had followed the law. ... That’s the biggest issue we have before us. It’s terribly concerning the chief executive refuses to execute what’s already in statute and as a matter of fact blatantly ignores that,” Saine said.

“Tensions are high, and so I think me interjecting into that process is not wise to fan flames. That’s not my intent,” he said. Saine said it’s wise for everybody to take a break and talk out what will happen next. He said leaders should be methodical and pragmatic.

Cooper decisions, statue status

A spokesperson for Cooper’s office told The News & Observer via email on Monday that he was not involved with directing law enforcement on Friday night.

“The agencies that responded made decisions on the ground to protect the safety of their officers and the public,” said Cooper press secretary Dory MacMillan.

MacMillan said that after protesters pulled down the statues, Cooper consulted late Friday night with the secretary of Public Safety, who advised that the Confederate monuments had become a threat to public safety. The Department of Administration also concurred that the statues posed a threat to public safety, she said.

MacMillan said the monuments would “be maintained and stored in a secure facility until it can be determined where they should be kept permanently.”

What’s next

In Durham, protesters topped a Confederate soldier in front of the old Durham County Courthouse in 2017. Both protesters and the government have taken down statues across the country in the past few years.

“The momentum is clear, the moment is even more clear,” Rep. Vernetta Alston, a Durham Democrat, said. “I think our responsibility to get rid of these monuments and allocate funding toward [African American monuments] and other issues that promote race equity, promote police accountability, promote the kind of criminal justice reform that we all want to see — is right before us,” Alston said.

Alston called the House committee removing the monument funding bill from its agenda “in the moment pretty inexplicable.”

The money in the stalled bill, which was also part the budget stalemate last year, would give $2.5 million to a monument to North Carolina African Americans on the Capitol grounds. Plans had already been drawn up after years of meetings and feedback, with the focus to be on the most frequent Capitol visitors — school children.

Another $1.5 million would go toward Freedom Park, which would be built on Lane Street on a block between the Executive Mansion and the Legislative Building. Saine is a sponsor of a bill last year to fund Freedom Park, and he said he still wants to push for the funding.

Saine wasn’t the only Republican critical of Cooper over the Confederate statues.

“It’s clear that over the weekend Gov. Cooper allowed for mob rule to take over the State Capitol,” Sen. Warren Daniel, a Morganton Republican, told the N&O via email. “This is beginning to become a pattern, we saw it with the riots and looting following the peaceful protests a few weeks ago.”

“For weeks it seems that Gov. Cooper has been more concerned about appeasing rioters than addressing the state’s historic unemployment and getting North Carolinians back to work safely,” Daniel said.

Cooper has vetoed economic reopening bills sent by the legislature.

Rep. Pricey Harrison, a Greensboro Democrat, said in an interview Sunday that she was glad the monuments are down. She co-sponsored a bill last year to repeal the 2015 law that makes it difficult to move Confederate and other monuments on public property.

She said the legislation protecting them was a mistake. “Unfortunately, we weren’t able to repeal it.”

There’s been pressure for years to take down the statues, she said, and the police killings of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor brought new attention to them.

“The amount of conversation, emotion and movement around this issue has really reached a crescendo,” Harrison said. “The statues became part of the debate and I’m glad they’re gone.”

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