NC's Sole Black Woman Historical Commissioner: Confederate Statues Don't Belong at State Capitol
Just two days after protesters tore down the "Silent Sam" Confederate statue at the state's flagship school, the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, the state's Historical Commission voted 9 to 2 to keep Confederate monuments on the grounds of the state Capitol. We speak with the African-American woman who dissented in the vote to keep the three Confederate monuments in place at the state Capitol. She also voted against adding historical context to the monuments. Valerie Johnson is one of only two black members of the North Carolina Historical Commission and the only black woman. She is a professor of women's studies and the director of Africana Women's Studies at Greensboro's Bennett College. She is also the chair of the North Carolina African American Heritage Commission.