Statue of white supremacist Josephus Daniels removed in North Carolina

A statue of former U.S. Navy secretary and white supremacist Josephus Daniels was taken down in North Carolina on Tuesday by Daniels’s descendants, Raleigh’s News & Observer reported.

Daniels had served as publisher of the News & Observer, which he bought in 1894. His heirs sold the newspaper to McClatchy about a century later. 

“The time is right,” Frank Daniels III, a former executive editor of the newspaper and the great-grandson of Josephus Daniels, reportedly said. “I don’t think anyone would say that it’s not the appropriate time to move the statue of Josephus to a more appropriate location.”

Daniels drove from his home in Nashville to watch the removal of the monument from Raleigh, according to the News & Observer. 

The 8-foot statue on a 4-foot stone base was installed in 1985, 37 years after Daniels died, according to the newspaper. 

It was taken down amid calls by protesters nationwide to remove statues of Confederate figures and memorials of segregationists and white supremacists. 

Frank Daniels III said the statue of his great-grandfather had not been seriously damaged amid protests in Raleigh and the family was not under direct pressure from the city or activists to remove the statue, according to the News & Observer. 

Some Confederate statues across the country have been toppled by protesters. In other cases, officials have slated monuments for removal.