Council, commissioners to take next step Dec. 7-8

 
The Vance Monument Task Force on Nov. 19 voted 11-1 to recommend the removal of the controversial Vance Monument, a 75-foot-tall granite obelisk located in the heart of downtown Asheville.

Prior to the vote, the task force spent 12 weeks delving into educating its members on Vance’s true history, as well as listening to public input and being open to public engagement.

The one dissenting vote was cast by Asheville attorney Ben Scales, who proposed repurposing the monument. Scales noted that he moved to Asheville 18 years ago because he was drawn to the city’s unique architecture and worked on historic preservation.

Architect Richard Sharp Smith designed the Vance Monument. Smith is billed by www.ncarchitects.lib.ncsu.edu as “a talented and eclectic English-born architect” who “came to Asheville in 1889 as the supervising architect of Biltmore House, established a private practice in 1895, and became one of the city’s most prolific and influential architects during the first two decades of the 20th century.”

During the Nov. 19 meeting, Deborah Miles, a co-chair of the task force, said after the vote, “In the words of John Lewis’ blessed memory, I thank you for your good trouble,” Asheville television station WLOS (News 13) reported.

Also participating in the Nov. 19 meeting were Asheville City Council members and Buncombe County commissioners.

“I know this has been an extremely difficult task,” Asheville Mayor Esther Manheimer told the task force, according to News 13.

Meanwhile, Brownie Newman, chairman of the Buncombe County Board of Commissioners, added, “On behalf of county commission thank you for service,” News 13 noted.

If, as expected, the task force’s recommendation is approved by Asheville’ council and Buncombe’s commissioners in separate Dec. 7-8 votes, the monument will be removed. Located in the heart of downtown Asheville, it has stood as a symbol of the city for 124 years.

The monument was built in honor of North Carolina Gov. Zebulon Vance, a native of Weaverville, who, his detractors have noted, was also a slaveholder (with reportedly six slaves in 1860) and a Confederate officer during the Civil War.

However, others have praised him for his life’s accomplishments and attributed his attitudes toward slavery and blacks as a reflection of the prevailing attitudes of the white elite in the South in his era.In its ongoing research on Vance, the Daily Planet found an April 10, 2013 posting by geneologist Michael Gabbard contending the following:

“A Buncombe County solicitor at 21, state legislator at 24, congressman at 28, Confederate colonel at 31, governor at 31, three times governor of North Carolina, and United States senator for 15 years, Zebulon Baird Vance (1830-1894) was the most popular political leader that the state has produced.”

However, other research by the Daily Planet turned up a darker statement — reportedly from the young Vance and given on the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives — as follows:

“Even the mind of a fanatic recoils in disgust and loathing from the prospect of intermingling the quick and jealous blood of the European with the putrid stream of African barbarism.”

“The task force was appointed in June, after a week of unrest in downtown Asheville with crowds of protesters calling for racial justice,” News 13 noted. “Public comments from a commissioners’ meeting over the summer showed not everyone had been in favor of the removal of the Vance Monument.”

News 13 added, “The task force’s other co-chair, Oralene Simmons, is the great-granddaughter of a slave and the first African-American to attend Mars Hill College...

“Simmons and Miles said the call from the African-American community was clear: remove the monument. They said they hope this begins a healing process for people of color,” News 13 reported.

“Our nation is at a challenging crossroads as we work to find shared narratives and symbols that meet the needs of this century and the next,” Miles said

Following the vote, task force co-chairs Oralene Simmons and Deborah Miles issued the following prepared statement:

“Black and African-American residents, as well as other residents of the city of Asheville and Buncombe County, have issued a clear call to remove the Vance Monument due to the harm it continues to impose on our community.

“By removing the monument, we are joining Southern cities from Richmond to Raleigh to New Orleans to address the symbols that linger from the Civil War and Jim Crow that foster hate and racial terrorism. 

“We want black and African-American residents and visitors to feel welcomed in our downtown. 

“We hope that the removal of the Vance Monument will begin the healing process for the black, African-American and indigenous individuals in Asheville.”