A statue of white supremacist, Josephus Daniels, was removed by family in Raleigh, North Carolina.
Josephus Daniels, newspaper editor and publisher to Raleigh’s News and Observer and former Secretary to the Navy was a white supremacist and leading perpetrator to the 1898 Wilmington insurrection/massacre/coup.
Daniels used his highly influential newspaper to propagandize against Black political power. He and others planned and conspired the 1989 “race riots” to overthrow a legitimately elected government. Daniels ran “race-baiting editorials and newspaper cartoons and sensational, fabricated news stories” to generate fear and anger toward Black people1.
On November 10, 1989, the Wilmington insurrection of 1989 happened where white supremacists murdered 60+ people, destroyed Black businesses, and replaced elected government officials. The event was originally described as a race riot caused by Black people but was discovered to be a coup d'état by white supremacists2. The Wilmington insurrection marked a start to the Jim Crow era.
For decades, the perpetrators were casted as heroes and the history was misrepresented until roughly 1998. In 2000, a report on the event was was commissioned by the North Carolina state legislature. In 2006, the 500+ page report was completed and identified Josephus Daniels as a direct perpetrator of the insurrection3.
Family members of Daniels’ removed the statue from Raleigh’s Nash Square on the morning of June 16, 2020 noting that the statue undermines efforts for equality.