Statement on Statue
We strongly believe that the decision to keep or remove the statue placed on the Pittsboro Courthouse grounds by the Daughters of the Confederacy in memory of fallen Confederate veterans of the War Between the States should reflect the will of the people of Chatham County, and be in accordance with current law and the Constitutions of both North Carolina and the United States of America.
In our representative Republic, elected government officials at all levels should consider both the will of the People and the laws of the Country in all decision-making processes.
In some cases, the will of the People may be over-ridden by the rights and protections afforded all citizens under the law. In other cases, the will of the People will prevail as expressed by their Representatives, provided that all laws are followed and rights of all people are preserved.
We do not approve of the process used by the current Board of Commissioners to reach a decision, as that decision does not appear to follow the law as currently written with regard to public statues on government property as described in a 2015 North Carolina State Law (G.S. 100–2.1) Neither are the Commissioners complying with state laws regarding public meetings as they are refusing to release summaries of minutes for closed meetings during which the statue’s fate was discussed. Elected officials work for us, We the People.
The Chatham County Republican Party believes, based on what official documentation that the County has permitted to be released and on the issues presented in the Poyner Spruill memo to the County Attorney as updated on August 19, 2019 that the statue belongs to Chatham County, and that it is protected by the laws of North Carolina as a historical monument.
We believe that the statue should remain in place to remind all citizens of the terrible war that was fought to maintain the United States of America. This statue, along with thousands of others in courthouse squares, battlefields, and roadside markers across the United States, presents a silent testament to the price of civil war and the value of our Country.
In the words of President Lincoln at Gettysburg: “…that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom – and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.”
Chatham County Republican Party
September 24, 2019
September 29, 2019