Takiyah Thompson, a 22-year-old student
activist who participated in tearing down a Confederate statue during a
protest in Durham, North Carolina has been released from jail. Thompson
is now one of four people as of Wednesday afternoon who have been
arrested for damaging the monument, a move that many are calling out as
unjust.
On Monday, Thompson and several other demonstrators removed a
Confederate Soldiers Monument in front of local government offices in
Durham, North Carolina during a public protest. The demonstration was in
response to the “Unite the Right” rallies held by white supremacists in
Charlottesville, Virginia over the weekend.
Thompson, a student at the historically black college North Carolina
Central University, was arrested by police on campus after admitting to
tying the rope used to pull the statue down during a press conference on
Tuesday. The Herald Sun reports that Thompson was charged with two
misdemeanor and two felony charges which include disorderly conduct by
injury to a statue, damage to real property, participation in a riot,
damage in excess of $1,500 and inciting others to riot where there is
property damage in excess of $1,500.
During the 4 p.m. press conference after which police arrived to
apprehend her on Tuesday, Thompson maintained that her actions and the
actions were justified, telling ABC News 11, “We are tired of waiting on
politicians who could have voted to remove the white supremacist statues
years ago, but they failed to act. So we acted.”
The student activist was showered with support online, with several
crowdfunding campaigns launched to help her with bail and legal fees.
Singer Solange Knowles also voiced support on Tuesday, tweeting before
deleting her Twitter account:
“Deleting my twitter soon, but before I dip when we gonna pull up? &
what we got to do to get my new hero Takiya Thompson free?”
Thompson has since been released from jail on bail, but the charges
against her have not been dropped. She could face 25 months and 41
months in prison for each felony charge.
Meanwhile, CBS news affiliate WFMY reported on Wednesday that three more
people have been arrested in connection with pulling down the monument.
They are Durham residents 35-year-old Dante Emmanuel Strobino,
39-year-old Peter Gull Gilbert and 24-year-old Ngoc Loan Tran. The pair
is charged with the same misdemeanor and felony charges as Thompson.
|
|