Mastodawn

Ruby S.May 1, 2024

UNC-Chapel Hill has a long tradition of students speaking out for justice. We historically look back on these movements and are grateful for them overturning the Speaker Ban, standing up for housekeepers and food workers, opposing South African apartheid and the Gulf Wars, demanding the construction of a free-standing Black cultural center, and for taking down Silent Sam. (Just to name a new examples.)

And yet without fail, University administrators have fought against every one of these movements. In 1991, I participated in a Peace Village where we camped in the Pit for over a month to oppose the bombing of Iraq. The only people that bothered us were racist College Republicans.

Now students have camped out in Polk Place to show solidarity with the people of Palestine and to demand that UNC divest from Israeli apartheid. In spite of the fact that they are not disrupting the campus in any way (I was there Sunday and they are not even blocking sidewalks) the Chancellor brought in thugs yesterday to brutalize and arrest these students. The global struggle for human rights comes home again.

In response, a diverse group of alumni composed this letter to UNC administrators, and we have already gotten over 1,000 signatures!

Please share, and sign on ONLY if you went to UNC. Thank you for support! 🩵🍉✊🏽🇵🇸

SIGN & SHARE: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSe0WHg_RADb8bPAkpSQaWHHV0AptGtz1Byb3-9nxDAMqWhP3g/viewform

READ: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1oasmsCkOOGFdL4oennR823ReFjO9sVkblbXdLMza7F4/

#UNC #ChapelHill #studentEncampments #solidarity #divest #Palestine #SilentSam

UNC Chapel Hill Alumni Gaza Solidarity Sign On

April 30, 2024 Interim Chancellor Lee H. Roberts and Provost Christopher Clemens: We write to you as alumni of The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill to express our support for the students, staff, and faculty of the Gaza Solidarity Encampment on Polk Place and their demands for an immediate ceasefire and divestment. We are proud to see the Carolina community carrying on the long tradition of speaking out against injustice at home and abroad–from South African apartheid to Silent Sam and the renaming of Carolina Hall. We reject your characterization of the movement framing the participants as “not members of the Carolina community.” UNC students have led this movement from day one, and we and other members of the Triangle community stand in solidarity with them in standing against genocide and apartheid. We demand that UNC immediately: Call for an immediate and permanent ceasefire in Gaza. Divest from companies profiting from Israel’s oppression of Palestinians in accordance with students demands for disclosure and divestment and the Gaza Ceasefire and Israel Divestment Resolution recently passed by the Graduate and Professional Student Government (GPSG). Stop deploying police forces to disperse peaceful demonstrations and ensure the safety of protesters on campus. Drop all charges and discontinue any other disciplinary action related to the Gaza Solidarity Encampment. Provide fair treatment and avoid retaliation against all students, faculty, and staff protesting against the genocide. Avoid further dangerous mischaracterization of the peaceful demonstrations being conducted by UNC students, staff, and faculty. In solidarity, we intend to withhold donations to the University until the demands of the students are met. Read the full letter here.

Google Docs

doctorow Dec 2, 2019

RT @[email protected]

Everything in the #SilentSam case hinges on the (supposed) fact that the United Daughters of the Confederacy gave UNC a *conditional* gift subject to “reversion.” (Lay translation:UDC gave UNC the monument, but if a key condition changed later the monument flips back to UDC) /1

🐦🔗: https://twitter.com/elmunc/status/1201333842159841280

Eric Muller on Twitter

“Everything in the #SilentSam case hinges on the (supposed) fact that the United Daughters of the Confederacy gave UNC a *conditional* gift subject to “reversion.” (Lay translation:UDC gave UNC the monument, but if a key condition changed later the monument flips back to UDC) /1”

Twitter

Ruby S.Dec 21, 2018

The reason #UNC leaders are so eager to keep #SilentSam is because they answer to Republican state legislators whose fondness for white supremacy and hatred of public education drive their politicized BOT appointments.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/why-is-unc-chapel-hill-spending-dollar5-million-to-protect-a-racist-statue

"An email obtained by a local activist shows the United Daughters of the Confederacy offered to take the statue for free. Why is it being resurrected on campus?"

Why Is UNC-Chapel Hill Spending $5 Million to Protect a Racist Statue?

An email obtained by a local activist shows the United Daughters of the Confederacy offered to take the statue for free. Why is it being resurrected on campus?

Ruby S.Dec 13, 2018

Here's a concrete way you can support the students that are sacrificing so much to hold UNC accountable to us all right now:

https://fundrazr.com/campaigns/SupportUNCActivists/pay

#strikedownsam #antiracist #proworker #NC #UNC #silentsam