North Carolina mayor under investigation after livestreaming teardown of Confederate monument

A mayor of a North Carolina town is under investigation by authorities after livestreaming the teardown of a Confederate monument. 

In a Facebook Live video posted on Sunday, Enfield, N.C., Mayor Mondale Robinson livestreamed the teardown of a Confederate monument that had stood in the town for over 90 years, instructing a volunteer driving a tractor to push the main piece of the monument to the ground. 

“Yessir,” Robinson yelled during the live stream. “Death to the Confederacy around here! Not in my town, not on my watch.” 

Earlier this month, the town’s board of commissioners voted 4-1 in favor of removing the 10-foot monument from the town’s Randolph Park area, The Washington Post reported. 

But Robinson, who was elected as Enfield’s mayor earlier this year, may have violated a state law that outlined initial procedures for monument removal. 

North Carolina’s State Bureau of Investigation (NCSBI) confirmed to The Hill on Wednesday that it has received requests from Enfield Police Department Chief James Ayers and its District Attorney Andrew Murray to launch an investigation into the property damage at the park where the monument had stood. 

SBI spokesperson also said that the district attorney’s office will determine whether criminal charges are appropriate in the case after completing its investigation. 

Ayers confirmed to The Hill his request to NCSBI to investigate the confederate monument removal, but declined to comment further on the matter. 

The monument was built in 1928 to honor service members who fought and died in the Civil War and World War I and honored service members who fought in other wars such as World War II, the Korean War and the Persian Gulf War, according to CBS affiliate WNCN.

In a statement to The Hill, Robinson said he has no regrets about the removal of the statue, saying that he did it in the best interest of his town, which has a mostly Black population, and added that he doesn’t understand the reasoning to the NCSBI’s investigation into the matter. 

Robinson also mentioned that he has received racist emails and messages about the removal of the 94-year-old Confederate statue. 

“That is about slavery and that’s all it is,” Robinson told The Hill. “So for me, it’s a no-brainer why the statute had to fall,  It’s a no-brainer why I have no regrets. It’s a no-brainer.”