Well, the UNC Board of Governors is kicking Carol Folt off campus. Instead of waiting until the end of the year, they’ve given her until the end of the month. And they’ve kicked her off campus because she removed a vestige of white supremacy. The whole episode shows why the GOP has so little support among young people and African-Americans. 

Let’s remember, this whole debacle began when the North Carolina General Assembly decided to pass a law preventing the removal of monuments honoring the Confederacy. They did it just weeks after a white supremacist massacred nine African-Americans in a Charleston church. The fall out in South Carolina led to the removal of the Confederate battle flag from the state capitol grounds. Legislators in North Carolina acted quickly to make sure our fealty to the Lost Cause remained intact.

Republicans will try to make the controversy about law and order. It’s not. It’s about race and it’s about one party dog whistling to the racist wing of its base by passing laws offensive to African-Americans. Removing Silent Sam may have legally been an act of vandalism but, morally, it was an act of civil disobedience. The people condemning the toppling of that statue would be the same ones demanding Jesus be arrested for overturning the money-changers’ tables in the temple. 

The Board of Governors has made clear that it comes down firmly on the side of protectors of the monuments to white supremacy. They won’t tolerate dissent, even from top administrators–maybe especially from top administrators. Those authoritarians instincts further alienate the BOG and the legislators who appointed them from the young people looking for a more just and equal society. 

In the back drop to this story, the national GOP is desperately trying to distance itself from Rep. Steve King (R-IA) who publicly defended white supremacy last week. King has a long history of making racist comments and the GOP has a longer history in ignoring and defending them, whether from King or other Republican leaders. However, with an historically unpopular president in the White House who appeals only to an unshakably loyal base of white working class voters, mainly men, the GOP needs to change its image. Running off Carol Folt for taking down Silent Sam is not helping them improve their image. 

The GOP is paying a price for tolerating, if not subtly encouraging, racist behavior and comments. The strategy worked as long as the number of people who overlooked such actions outnumbered the people who were offended by them. That equation has changed and will continue to change over the next few decades. A smart BOG would have removed Silent Sam before Folt had the opportunity. Instead, they’ll share space in history with the White Citizens’ Councils who fought integration during the 1960s.