GASTONIA, N.C. — A Superior Court judge has ruled that a Confederate monument that stands in front of the Gaston County Courthouse can remain for now.
The ruling by Judge Robert C. Ervin on Friday says the monument does not need to be moved at this time, and found it may have at least five of eight exceptions provided by state law regarding such monuments. Thus, Ervin has said any removal regarding the monument is up to the Gaston County Board of Commissioners and not up to him.
The monument, which depicts a nameless Confederate soldier and is located outside of the courthouse building along Martin Luther King Jr. Way, has sparked controversy in recent years. Protests began in 2020, with some believing a compromise could be found with the storage of the monument in a museum. State records show it was built in 1912 and moved to the courthouse in 1998, acting as a tribute to Gaston County members who fought for the Confederate States of America during the Civil War.
County commissioners did form a "council of understanding" to determine a course of action, and protests continued with increased calls to remove the statue. While that council of understanding did vote in favor of moving the monument elsewhere, the board of commissioners asked the county attorney to explore the possibility of the issue being put to voters via referendum.
The county commissioners voted 6-1 in August 2020 to remove the monument and hand it over to the Sons of Confederate Veterans to determine where it could be set. Counter-protests in favor of keeping the monument at the courthouse would spring up after the vote. But the future of the monument became uncertain when opposing interpretations of North Carolina's state law came up in discussions between the county attorney and the SCV. Commissioners then voted to allow more time for discussion of what to do with the monument.
An attorney for the SCV told WCNC Charlotte at the time moving the statue would violate the state's 2015 law regarding monuments, and that it was less of a discussion from commissioners and more of an order. Eventually, a coalition of groups filed suit against the county commissioners to get the monument removed. Commissioners moved in 2021 to get the suit dismissed, but that didn't happen.
Instead, the suit came up for summary judgment, meaning no jury trial was held. In his ruling, Judge Ervin said that the county commissioners had not violated state law by not removing the monument. However, he wrote in his ruling that it's up to the board "to decide what messages they wish to communicate either directly or implicitly" to the public. He also cited the adage that "actions speak louder than words", similarly saying that "It is possible inaction may speak just as loudly."