1/So it turns out that the Confederate statue that used to be @UNC won’t return to Chapel Hill or any other UNC system campus or county for that matter, which is being seen as a win, in some quarters, but the deal came with a clause: https://twitter.com/renee_ater/status/1200033578991665152

2/“It also requires the university to fund an independent charitable trust — with $2.5 million in money not from the state — to be used for care and preservation of the statue” —this is money given to the org Sons of Confederate Veterans

3/This group says it is not a white supremacist org and that it expels any members who are members of white supremacist orgs, and after living in the US south for 16 years I believe them...sort’ve..let me explain

4/I believe that the Sons of Confederate Veterans believe they are not racist and don’t perpetuate white supremacy—I believe that they believe they aren’t professional racists in the way that the KKK and Richard Spencer are DEFINITELY professional racists

5/I also believe that any org that continues to talk about Union soldiers fighting for the US government as an “invading” and “foreign” presence is living in an antebellum past, which means...

6/Any org or any person who only sees the Confederate flag and symbols of the Confederacy or the history of the Confederacy as separate from white supremacist ideology is hiding in the past and not seeing the reality that symbols of the Confederacy are always inherently ...

7/ WHITE SUPREMACIST. Again, it’s simplistic but this is twitter so let me put it as equation for the 21st C:

Symbols of Confederacy = White Supremacy

8/So this means that @UNC is giving $2.5 million to an organization that by its very existence in promoting the Confederacy promotes white supremacy. Let me repeat this:

UNC Chapel Hill is giving $2.5 million to an organization that perpetuates white supremacy

9/I will always be proud and grateful to have worked @UNC—the faculty, staff, and students I encountered there were exceptional. My understanding of race and racism and its links to Indigenous populations were deepened and heightened from living in the US South.

10/I had the privilege of working with/being friends with some of the most fierce anti-racist and social justice activists I’ve ever met—people who truly understand the intersectional realities of coalition work for human rights and dignity and who love the US South

11/But here’s what I also know from working @UNC for 16 years

12/The narrative of @UNC never having money to do things like hire more faculty of color or do more programming to retain faculty of color and to support students of color was pervasive—there is never enough money for humanities and arts and anti-racism work

13/But @UNC can find donor dollars for $2.5 million to a Confederate/White supremacist org now and it found $4.5 million for last year’s proposal to create a museum to house Silent Samd

14/There were/are buildings on campus with black mold and the staff @UNC are underpaid and aren’t allowed to unionize and there are on-campus food pantries bc we have students and staff who live in food insecure households

15/So to learn that there are donors who will give $2.5 million to preserve a symbol of the Confederacy/white supremacy rather than give $2.5 million for student scholarships, innovative programming to support vulnerable populations on and off campus, faculty retention...

16/...AND a project near and dear to my heart, funding an Asian American student center @UNC because there is NO physical space and no academic space dedicated to Asian American students or Asian American Studies @nguyesea

17/It’s easy to point fingers and criticize. And I know, truly know, how difficult it was to reach this agreement—I know this is what the @UNC admin worked tirelessly to achieve—and they had many roadblocks, not least the NC Republic legislature

18/But it’s the responsibility of those of us who can to speak truth to power. Yes it’s great that in the 21st C a Confederate Statue will no longer stand at the flagship state school/Research I internationally renown university — but it should not have been up in the 21st C

19/ @UNC has an obligation to do better and to understand the more than mixed message this is sending to the campus and alum and the world: UNC will pay $2.5 million to preserve a symbol of white supremacy, so here’s my call/challenge to Tarheel donors/alum/community

20/How will @UNC find $5 million to fund anti-racism initiatives? Who will step up to make UNC a leader in social justice rather than a place that demoralizes POC and Indigenous people and anti-racist allies? When will the Carolina way be the way of leading in anti-racism?