A federal judge will allow a Tyrrell County group to move forward with its lawsuit against a 123-year-old Confederate monument outside the county courthouse. A court order Wednesday allowed one of two pieces of the lawsuit to proceed.
The Concerned Citizens of Tyrrell County, a group of mostly “elderly Black residents,” filed suit in May 2024 against the county. An amended complaint from September 2024 asked for the removal or covering of one phrase engraved on the monument. It says “in appreciation of our faithful slaves.”
Critics argued that the county’s refusal to address the monument’s offending phrase violated the plaintiffs’ right to equal protection of the laws and the equal right to hold property. Tyrrell County filed a motion in October 2024 to dismiss the lawsuit.
US District Judge James Dever’s order this week allows the equal protection complaint to move forward. Dever dismissed the equal-right-to-hold-property claim.
“[P]laintiffs plausibly allege that the ‘faithful slaves’ engraving has a racially disproportionate impact on black residents of Tyrell County,” Dever wrote. “Tyr[r]ell County provides no contrary argument. Plaintiffs also plausibly allege that an invidious discriminatory intent motivated Tyr[r]ell County to install the ‘faithful slaves’ engraving in 1902.”
Dever rejected the county’s argument that a 2024 state court ruling about a Confederate monument in Alamance County prevented any action to remove or change the Tyrrell statue.
“The North Carolina Court of Appeals held that a county commission had no power to relocate Confederate Civil War monuments under North Carolina’ s Monument Protection Law,” Dever wrote. “Here, plaintiffs challenge ‘Tyrrell County’s public, textual expression of appreciation for “Faithful Slaves” and nothing more.’ Alamance County does not bar Tyr[r]ell County from covering or altering the ‘faithful slaves’ engraving, which is plaintiffs’ requested relief. Thus, Alamance County does not help Tyr[r]ell County.”
While the lawsuit can proceed, Dever offered no hint about the case’s final outcome. “Whether plaintiffs’ claim will survive summary judgment is a question for another day,” he wrote.
The judge rejected monument critics’ arguments that the offensive language impaired their equal right to hold property.
“[P]laintiffs fail to plausibly allege that Tyr[r]ell County impaired a personally held property interest of Concerned Citizens or its members,” Dever wrote. “The United States Supreme Court has only recognized equal-right-to-hold-property claims where a plaintiff has plausibly alleged that a defendant has impaired a plaintiff’s personally held property interest.”
“Plaintiffs fail to plausibly allege that the ‘faithful slaves’ engraving impairs any property interest owned by Concerned Citizens or its members. Moreover, plaintiffs fail to plausibly allege that they own a personally held property interest in the courthouse grounds,” the order continued.
“Here, plaintiffs contend that they are ‘demoralize[ed]’ and ‘stigmatiz[ed]’ by the ‘faithful Slaves’ engraving because it is a ‘physical badge of slavery,’” Dever wrote. “Plaintiffs, however, fail to plausibly allege that these harms rise to ‘more than an inconvenience’ or have more than a ‘minimal effect’ on their hypothetical property interests.”
Dever rejected the county’s argument that it has “legislative immunity.” “According to Tyr[r]ell County, decisions concerning the ‘faithful slaves’ engraving are subject to ‘local legislative powers’ and deserve vicarious legislative immunity,” he wrote. “The Fourth Circuit squarely rejected this argument three decades ago.”
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