The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the nation’s largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization, today condemned the removal of plaques covering a Confederate flag and a tribute to “Our Heroes of the Confederacy” from a statue outside a courthouse in North Carolina.
Jackson County commissioners removed the plaques, which were installed years ago following controversy over the Confederate flag and the phrase honoring the Confederacy, from the statue in Sylva, North Carolina. The plaques were removed without a vote or any public input.
“We condemn this attempt, without a vote or public input, to renew a tribute to those traitors to our nation who sought to defend slavery, anti-Black racism and white supremacy,” said CAIR National Communications Director Ibrahim Hooper. “The plaques should be put back in place, or the statue should be removed entirely.”
He noted that last month, CAIR condemned an executive order signed by President Trump that seeks to remove “improper ideology” from federal sites and allows the nationwide return of monuments honoring the traitorous and white supremacist Confederacy.
CAIR expressed concern that the order would allow inappropriate government interference in the operations of institutions such as the National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington, D.C.
Hooper said Washington, D.C., based CAIR and the American Muslim community stand in solidarity with all those challenging antisemitism, systemic anti-Black racism, xenophobia, Islamophobia, white supremacy, and all other forms of bigotry.
END
CONTACT: CAIR National Deputy Director Edward Ahmed Mitchell, 404-285-9530, e-Mitchell@cair.com; CAIR National Communications Director Ibrahim Hooper, 202-744-7726, ihooper@cair.com; CAIR National Communications Manager Ismail Allison, 202-770-6280, iallison@cair.com