Political Media Research Team

In 2015, the NCGOP enacted legislation to protect the 100 (+) Confederate Monuments on public lands in North Carolina. The law passed the NC General Assembly and was signed into law by NC Governor Pat McCrory (R) even though he objected to the law, stating, “While I disagree with the process created in the bill and the overreach into local decision making, the overall goals of the bill merit my signature.” Democrats wanted local authorities and the North Carolina Historical Commission to have that power.

William Fitzhugh Brundage, an American historian and the William B. Umstead Professor of History at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill said: "Let there be no doubt about the intent of this or similar "heritage preservation" laws: They "protect" and perpetuate the racist commemorative landscape that currently exists." 

On Wednesday April 17, 2019 we will conduct a reading and discussion of our investigative report on the history and controversy behind the Confederate Monuments in North Carolina, the current partisan divide, and how race has always played an important role in North Carolina politics.