Unintended consequences: a N.C. town attempts to heal radical divides

But ignites confederate supporters

Excerpt: "What started as an effort to promote racial unity in Edenton by reconsidering its most prominent downtown symbol has done the opposite.

The bronze statue representing a Confederate soldier located currently on South Broad Street in Edenton, North Carolina. The statue was originally erected in 1902 at old county courthouse and then moved to it’s present location in 1961.

Confederate supporters arrived first, establishing a Saturday morning base near the town waterfront with “Save our history” signs and Civil War information sheets. Some sported red MAGA hats and shirts that proclaimed “America First,” or, in one case, “If you don’t like Trump then you probably won’t like me and I’m OK with that.”

The opposition showed up about two hours later carrying stark white signs with black letters: “Remove this statue.”

For the next two hours, as they’ve done nearly every Saturday for the past three years, the groups mingled with confused tourists in a seemingly unending fight over a Confederate monument at the heart of this historic town, which is nearly 60 percent Black.

What started as an effort to promote racial unity in Edenton by reconsidering its most prominent downtown symbol has done the opposite. A chapter of the Sons of Confederate Veterans, long extinct locally, sprang to life. The forgotten Confederate Memorial Day was resurrected and commemorated again last month with a wreath-laying and roll call of the rebel dead."