UNC commission recommends re-naming 4 campus buildings

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. » A commission at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill has voted in favor of a recommendation to rename four campus buildings that currently have ties to slaveholders or white supremacists.

The recommendation from the Commission on History, Race & A Way Forward on Friday will go to school’s chancellor, who can then decide to forward it to the Board of Trustees, the Charlotte Observer reported. The board, scheduled to meet Thursday, is expected to discuss a policy to change the names of facilities on campus.

The four buildings at issue are named after men who “used their positions to impose and maintain violent systems of racial subjugation,” said history professor Jim Leloudis, who co-chairs the commission.

The recommendation comes after the university last month lifted a moratorium that had been in place since 2015 preventing the school from removing names on campus buildings that may be associated with slavery, segregation and white supremacy.

The newspaper reported the Daniels Building is named after former newspaper publisher and lifelong white supremacist Josephus Daniels, while Carr Building holds the name of Ku Klux Klan supporter Julian S. Carr. Carr gave a racist speech during the dedication of the Confederate statue on campus known as “Silent Sam,” which was torn down by protesters in 2018.

Armed homeowners Mark and Patricia McCloskey, standing in front their house along Portland Place confront protesters marching to St. Louis Mayor Lyda Krewson’s house in the Central West End of St. Louis. Authorities executed a search warrant Friday evening, July 10, at the St. Louis mansion owned by the McCloskey’s, a white couple whose armed defense of their home during a racial injustice protest last month made national headlines. said. Joel Schwartz, who is now representing the couple, confirmed on Saturday that a search warrant was served, and that the gun Mark McCloskey was seen holding during last month’s protest was seized.

Protesters demand reopening of Delaware police shooting

WILMINGTON, DEL. » Dozens of people marched Saturday in Wilmington to demand the reopening of the case in the 2015 fatal police shooting of a Black man in a wheelchair.

The demonstration for Jeremy McDole moved through the city, making stops at the Wilmington Police headquarters and a state office building, the News Journal of Wilmington reported. The march was led by the man’s sister.

McDole, 28, was sitting in his wheelchair when he was shot and killed in September 2015 in Wilmington, after police received a 911 call about a man with a gun. A bystander’s cellphone footage showed officers repeatedly telling McDole to drop his weapon and raise his hands, with McDole reaching for his waist area before shots erupted.

A federal judge in 2017 approved the city’s $1.5 million settlement with McDole’s family.

The protesters Saturday shouted, “Justice for Jeremy McDole” and “Shotgun Joe has got to go,” referring to Senior Cpl. Joseph Dellose, who shot McDole.

A report from then-Attorney General Matt Denn’s office concluded that Dellose discharging his firearm created uncertainty among other responding officers who, not knowing where the gunfire came from, also opened fire on McDole. Denn’s office criticized Dellose for “extraordinarily poor police work” and said he should not carry a firearm.

None of the four officers who were involved are still with the Wilmington Police Department.