North Carolina city council votes to remove two Confederate statues

The city council in Wilmington, N.C., has voted to permanently remove two Confederate statues from the city, CW affiliate WWAYTV3 reported on Monday.

“Wilmington City Council voted to remove two Confederate statues from downtown public spaces following a presentation from the City Attorney in open session meeting this morning,” the city council said in a statement.

Wilmington City Council voted to remove two Confederate statues from downtown public spaces following a presentation from the City Attorney in an open session meeting this morning. Read the full statement here: pic.twitter.com/asdxIYLNif

— Wilmington, NC (@CityofWilm) August 2, 2021

Wilmington’s city council voted in June 2020 to temporarily relocate their statues into storage, abiding by North Carolina law that prohibits state and local governments from permanently removing statues from public places. 

The city is just the latest municipality to move such statues.

The city council noted that the two statues have been a divisive issue for their community recently and said they will work with the ​​“relevant parties to coordinate the removal of the statue bases,” WWAYTV3 noted.

The two statues were owned by Cape Fear 3, a local chapter of the United Daughters of the Confederacy.