As the Daily Tar Heel reports, this week a group of protesters on UNC campus used ropes to pull down the controversial Confederate monument known as Silent Sam; the protesters then covered the statue in dirt before it was removed by heavy equipment from McCorkle Place. Chancellor Carol Folt explained in a statement that the monument “has been divisive for years” but criticized the “unlawful and dangerous” act of vandalism. Time magazine published a story about the history of the statue that recounts decades of protests involving Silent Sam and includes excerpts of the speech delivered at the dedication of the statue in 1913 by Julian Carr. Carr’s full remarks, including a personal anecdote where he boasted of violently assaulting a black woman within 100 yards of the site of the monument, are available here. Keep reading for more news.