Tag Archives: Durham North Carolina

Looking At The People Behind The Action

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On Monday night, a group of people tore down a Confederate monument in Durham, North Carolina. The police stood by and watched as it happened. My first question is, “When vandalism is taking place, do the police normally stand back and watch?” The events were videotaped, and the police have since arrested those involved in the destruction. It is noteworthy that many of those arrested were associated with the communist group, World Workers party. The purpose of that group is to create enough chaos to cause a revolution in America that will usher in communism here. They are definitely on the fringes of American politics, but they are well-funded and have recently become very active.

On Wednesday, American Lens posted an article about the arrests.

So far four people have been charged with the following misdemeanor and felony charges according to the Durham Sheriff’s office:

  • 14-132 Disorderly conduct by injury to a statue (Class II Misdemeanor)
  • 14-127 Damage to real property (statue as a fixture (Class I Misdemeanor)
  • 14-288.2(c) Participation in a riot with property damage in excess of $1,500 (Class H Felony)
  • 14-288.2(e) inciting others to riot where there is property damage in excess of $1,500 (Class F Felony)

The article includes the following statement from one of the people arrested:

Loan Tran, after being released, gave a statement to the Durham Sun:

“The charges are outrageous. The charges are unnecessary,” said Tran.

“But we know that the charges reflect a deeply racist and white supremacist system that is more interested in preserving its relics of white supremacy than actually taking on the issues that so many people in our community are concerned about when it comes to policing or um incarceration or um… education justice or any of the other issues that are impacting our people every single day,” Tran stated.

Wait a minute. We have a video of your actions. You did tear down a statue (property damage). You were disorderly. You did participate in a riot. The damage exceeded $1,500. What does race have to do with these charges? The charges were brought as a result of your destructive actions.

The article concludes:

Tran took aim at the Governor, who has so far refused to condemn the vandalism or name the responsible parties.

“I think clearly in Durham we showed Gov. Roy Cooper that if he didn’t take action, then we would. So to Roy Cooper, we say you’re welcome, because it wasn’t his original idea.”

According to WNCN, Strobino claimed they are all innocent.

“We’re innocent. We demand the charges be dropped. The county and the district attorney should do the right thing and drop the charges,” said Strobino.

 WNCN also reported that Thompson said the movement to tear down all such statutes will keep going. Thompson called these actions “revolutions.”

“There’s revolutions taking place all throughout the country right now and the revolution won’t be stopped,” said Thompson.

The only part of that I agree with is that the actions taken by this group of people were revolting. If being revolting means being part of a revolution, then he is correct. I believe in free speech, but I do not believe in the destruction of property. These people deserve to sit in jail until they learn respect for other peoples’ property and respect for the law.