SBI investigating removal of Confederate monument in Enfield

By Keenan Willard

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    ENFIELD, North Carolina (WRAL) — The State Bureau of Investigation is investigating the removal of a Confederate monument in Halifax County.

Enfield Mayor Mondale Robinson went live on Facebook Sunday evening as a bulldozer brought down a Confederate statue at a local park.

In the video recorded at Randolph Park, Robinson said he first tried to take the monument down with a hammer, but “that wasn’t enough.”

Enfield Police Chief James Ayers said the SBI will try to determine if any laws have been broken in the removal of the monument.

The statue has been located at the park since 1928, Robinson stated in the live video, saying, “Not in my town, not on my watch … no longer will Black kids be playing in this park and have to understand why a Confederate flag is flying, because it is not in this park anymore … it is gone.”

U.S. Census data from 2020 shows 85% of Enfield’s 2,348 residents identified as Black.

As he filmed the statue’s removal, Robinson said they won’t have to wake up to the statue anymore.

The Daily Herald reports town officials voted 4-1 last week to remove the Confederate monument.

The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) released a statement endorsing the move.

“We applaud the bulldozing of this symbol of racism, white supremacy and treason,” said CAIR National Communications Director Ibrahim Hooper. “No public space should honor the traitors and white supremacists of the Confederacy.”

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