Editor’s note: This article has been updated to include a statement from the Buncombe County Sheriff’s Office, the Department of Natural and Cultural Resources, and Asheville Black Lives Matter regarding the vandalism at the Vance Birthplace State Historic Site.
The holiday season is generally a time of celebration for residents of Western North Carolina — a chance to come together and enjoy the arrival of winter, observe religious holy days and welcome a new year.
In 2017, however, the political and racial turmoil that has captured headlines for much of the year is making its presence felt this holiday season, as several recent incidents across WNC illustrate.
In Haywood County, attendees at the town of Canton’s Christmas parade on Dec. 7 were met with a new display that had nothing to do with the holidays. According to a resident who attended the parade and spoke on condition of anonymity due to safety concerns, the parade route down Canton’s Main Street was speckled with recruitment flyers for Identity Evropa, a white supremacist group that has ramped up its activities in the region lately.
In March, Western Carolina University’s campus was peppered with the group’s recruitment flyers; on Aug. 21, incoming students at Appalachian State University in Boone were greeted by an Identity Evropa banner hung from a bridge above Rivers Street as they arrived on campus for the new semester. The Southern Poverty Law Center identifies Identity Evropa as a white nationalist group with an estimated several hundred members across the country.
At UNC Asheville, recruitment flyers for the group were found on campus earlier this fall. Now, it appears the group has expanded to efforts to small-town holiday parades.
According to Xpress’ source, the Canton Police Department has been alerted about the flyers. Flyers could still be found hanging along the parade route in Canton several days after the parade. The Canton Police Department did not respond to Xpress’ requests for comment. Efforts to reach a representative with Identity Evropa for comment were not successful.
Polarizing historic site draws graffiti
Meanwhile, in Buncombe County, dawn rose on Dec. 9 to reveal more than a fresh blanket of snow at the Vance Birthplace State Historic Site near Weaverville. The side of a building was graffitied with the words, “Black Lives Matter,” according to a separate anonymous report to Xpress.
The Buncombe County Sheriff’s Office released the following statement regarding the incident:
“Saturday, December 9, 2017 at approximately 9:55 a.m., the Buncombe County Sheriff’s Office was contacted reporting vandalism at Vance Birthplace. Sheriff’s deputies went to the site and found ‘Black Lives Matter’ painted in red on the original home place structure.”
The case remains under investigation, according to the sheriff’s department. Anyone with information regarding the incident is encouraged to call the Buncombe County Sheriff’s Office at 828-250-6670 or Asheville-Buncombe Crime Stoppers at 828-255-5050.
Sharon Smith, a member of the Asheville Black Lives Matter education committee, says no members of Asheville BLM were involved in the vandalism at the Vance Birthplace. “We are more interested in policy change than making public spectacles,” she says.
The incident comes as the historic site was set to host a performance of “An Appalachian Christmas Carol,” developed in tandem with the Asheville-based American Myth Center. The program puts a spin on the Charles Dickens classic A Christmas Carol by telling the story through the eyes of Venus, an enslaved servant of the Vance family, and other enslaved persons who lived on the site, with Zebulon Vance in the role of Ebenezer Scrooge. The Vance Birthplace posted on the afternoon of Dec. 9 that performances of “An Appalachian Christmas Carol” were rescheduled to Friday-Saturday, Jan. 19-20 due to inclement weather.
East Tennessee State University’s Dr. Steven Nash, who has written extensively on Reconstruction and the history of race relations in Southern Appalachia, says the vandalism detracts from efforts like “An Appalachian Christmas Carol” to tell the story of the African-Americans who lived there. He encourages the community to consider the important role the Vance Birthplace played in local African-American history. “The African Americans who lived at the site now known as the Zebulon Vance Birthplace do matter,” says Nash. “Zebulon Vance may have been born there, but he moved away when he would have barely been out of diapers. The site is not, and cannot, be accurately and fully interpreted from Zeb Vance’s perspective.”
Rather, the site speaks to the complex legacy of the enslaved people who made the farm successful. “Their lives are a central component of the daily interpretation of the site,” adds Nash. “‘Black Lives Matter’ and black history matters; so does the history of Zebulon Vance’s family and the larger historical context in which they all lived. Those histories are deeply intertwined. I would encourage people to visit the site, hear the stories of all the men and women who breathed life into that place, and ask questions.”
Historic sites and monuments dedicated to Vance — who served part of his long political career as Confederate governor of North Carolina during the Civil War and espoused a white supremacist view of African-Americans throughout his life — and other Confederate officials have come under fire across the state this year. Protesters have called for the removal or recasting of Confederate monuments located on public property and universities. In several instances, protesters have defaced or attempted to remove various monuments.
“It’s sad anytime something like this happens at a historic site,” says Neel Lattimore, director of communications for the N.C. Department of Natural and Cultural Resources, noting that his agency is working with the police to find those responsible for the graffiti.
“We should be able to express ourselves without damaging property,” Lattimore says. “We’re smarter and we’re better than this. Hopefully, we can put an end to this kind of behavior.”
This is a developing story. Check back at Mountainx.com for updates.
Have any tips or information regarding this story? Please contact Xpress at mhunt@mountainx.com.
LOL, so Identity Europa is the culmination of years of liberal directives against mainly whites of European descent. And these people shouldn’t stand up for themselves even though the narrative now is to slowly cull the white race via government sponsored soft genocide? Welcome to reality.
“…the narrative now is to slowly cull the white race via government sponsored soft genocide? ”
Sorry, but you’re going to have to explain that “reality.”
IE and others are right about stopping immigration, which is a threat to abortion rights like in Nicaragua, but wrong about everything else. If antiracists can’t lead the fight against immigration, racists will win.
With respect to this latest recontextualization of the Vance birthplace, let us not fall into the easy trap of judging yesterday’s vandalism by today’s lofty standards of morality. However we may feel about the legality of tagging, the rebels who carried out this raid acted in accordance with their consciences and did their duty as they saw it at the time. Indeed, in one gesture of self-righteous and unlawful defiance, they expressed more support for racial justice – and did so with more eloquence – than Zebulon Vance mustered in his entire life. To erase their efforts now would privilege soap bucket and squeegee over history and heritage. Besides, it’s just like the Vance Monument and all those racist street names. We would have to remove all graffiti everywhere before we could clean up one, visibly prominent instance of it, no matter how many observers that big one insults and no matter how bad it makes the community look. That’s just common sense.
So, whatever becomes of the tagger, let his or her words stand forever– without judgment or condemnation – as a testament to how people who could get away with it imposed their particular vision on everyone else at an historic moment in time. That’s what Confederate monuments are all about, isn’t it?
Thanks Peter. Well-said.
Kudos Peter!
To the author of this article, I’m entirely offended (and I imagine others would be too) by this coverage of “vandalism.” The taggers who wrote “Black Lives Matter” on the side of the “historic” Vance birthplace are not “vandals.” They did what they did in the name of Love. To relate this group in any way to Identity Evropa is a sign of ignorance, though perhaps unintended. This is an organization that promotes hatred and division. Until this country gets clear on Hate Speech laws we will be lost as to what is right and wrong. You can look to France for how they have accomplished this. Hate Speech should not be a first amendment right. We can only see the damage these days that allowing Hate Speech has done. And to me, the “taggers” of Black Lives Matter are artists, not vandals. To the author of this article, please think more deeply. It’s your responsibility.
PS – I retract my statement on hate speech laws – it would be very dangerous to even touch the first amendment. I just want to make a distinction between the 2 groups, in this case, and in this article….
You seriously think BLM are any different than the kkk or neo nazisor antifa?! Have u even heard their speaches or have any idea what they want? Obviously not bc u wouldnt say such a dumb thing if u did. BLM are just as racists white hating thugs as any other hate group. They just get away with it bc they are black. Pathetic
Kudos Nina, especially your corrected version.
Thank you for voicing your concerns and thoughts regarding the article, Nina. My intention was not to draw a parallel between the two instances, where the motivations were obviously different. However, as we’ve seen throughout 2017 (and really the past couple years), I would argue that the two incidents highlight the overarching tensions that have gripped discussions here in WNC and across the country over racial disparity and identity.
In regards to the idea of vandalism, while one can argue the merits and motivation of the actions taken by the taggers at the Vance Birthplace, the law is fairly clear in regards to what it considers vandalism. As a reporter, my job is to report the news, not insert my personal opinion of how people should interpret this act. I prefer to allow readers to draw their own conclusions, as it appears that you have.
Max, as usual, a great, objective job of reporting facts. There are many writers who will never comprehend the concept of actual journalism. I always enjoy and appreciate your articles – even those I don’t completely agree with.
Max – I don’t wish to engage the folks who are currently commenting, but I must say, I’d give my eyeteeth and my Granny’s paisley shawl if it turned out that the vandals were either a truckload of drunken rednecks on a dare or some leather-clad skinheads trying to wave a false flag to stir the pot yet again…..
The hypothetical circumstances described in the comment above might alter how people feel about the tagggers, but they would not change the historical significance of their rebellious act. Like their ancestors in the nineteenth century, our modern-day rebels would still be lawless. They still would be morally repugnant, though acting in accordance with what they saw as their duty at the time. The words they spray-painted on the wall would still express an objective sentiment with which many, if not most, of their contemporaries agree. And they would still be imposing their own self-serving narrative on others for all time to come, regardless of the damage inflicted on the contemporary community’s shared sense of aesthetics, purpose and values. What’s past is past, as they say, and it would just be so wrong to make any critical distinctions when choosing which miscreants from our history to lionize for their infamous deeds and which to downplay.
And so as we recontextualize the Vance birthplace and other monuments to the great man, let us remember that drunken rednecks or neo-fascist vandals posing as Black Lives Matter activists would still qualify as significant historical figures worthy of remembrance – at least as worthy the old Confederate and white supremacist who currently hogs the places of honor all to himself. Trying to destroy a country by soaking its soil with blood and then trying to keep an entire race in subjugation by denying its members equal rights may not be exactly the same thing as trying to deface a building by spraying paint on one side. But you have to admit it’s kinda bad.
Brilliant. Every word.
Just because the law agrees with your personal definition of the word “vandalism” doesn’t make it anything other than your personal opinion you lying reporter, like all reporters lie when they claim there is any such thing as human objectivity. All human speech is the personal opinion of the speaker, NO EXCEPTIONS! Certainly none for “reporters”!
Thank you for the enlightening treatise, Mr. Ditmore, though I’m a little confused as to how one can claim there is no objectivity, while simultaneously calling me a liar and proclaiming absolutism in the same statement.
I wonder what Mr. Ditmore’s response would be if another citizen with a different political viewpoint were to spraypaint “White Lives Matter” on the homeplace of Martin Luther King or Frederick Douglass…or “The Holocaust Didn’t Happen” on the Holocaust Museum in DC – or even “EW Grove was a capitalist robber baron” on the Grove Arcade. Would such historic sites and/or public properties also be “improved” by such a paint job?
Most of them, yes. In general, free paint protects the underlying surface. plus I I generally support individual will over collective will.
I support individual liberty over the tyranny of the majority – but I am not so sure about “individual will” – especially when the “will” of some individuals is reminiscent of an unrestrained toddler pitching a fit. And sometimes that “will” ought to be checked – especially when it conflicts with reasonable behavior and law. You sound a bit like an anarchist to me….
I cannot speak for others, but I certainly did not condone vandalism to the Vance birthplace. I condemned this tagging as a selfish act of destructive rebellion and then, in the best traditions of the South, honored the perp with placement in the rouges’ gallery alongside Zeb himself, his fellow Confederates and white supremacists, and their later-day well-wishers who built monuments and named landmarks to remind everyone who was back in charge. I did this as a public service, since I’m sure we can agree there is nothing worse than listening to outrage whose volume has not been properly modulated.
If you want, Phil Williams, to make up your own imaginary spray-paint miscreants and situate them in the Hall of Fame, be my guest. I don’t own a trademark on the idea. But do try to keep up. As Mr. Ditmore just demonstrated, irony has a way of speeding by some people, especially super-geniuses.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YIPr23xyoZg.
As Marx spelled out, all reporters claim godlike powers of objectivity and then expect us to believe the next thing out of their mouths. Your credibility was permanently and totally blown the second you made that claim.
“all reporters claim godlike powers of objectivity and then expect us to believe the next thing out of their mouths. Your credibility was permanently and totally blown the second you made that claim.”
Thank you again for explaining my own motives and assumptions to me, Mr. Ditmore. For the record, I’m not claiming to do anything but my job, which is to carry out the mission of Mountain Xpress and facilitate community dialogue on local issues. “Godlike” isn’t really my style, nor is telling other people how to think (or what they think).
Mr. Ditmore has a valid, if brashly stated, point. Too often, “objectivity” in journalism means merely reporting what he said and she said without any critical investigation into whether what either of them said is plausible or supported by fact. http://archives.cjr.org/feature/rethinking_objectivity.php.
I notice, for instance, that the Xpress’ notion of objectivity permitted it to report, without challenge, the claim of a Black Lives Matter spokesperson that members of the group were not involved in this act of vandalism. How, if one might dig a little below the surface, does she know that? Did she gather sworn statements? Does she have windows into men’s souls? Does the group even distinguish between formal members and informal supporters? The spray-painted handiwork on the birthplace building certainly appears very similar to the “Black Lives Matter” tagging done two years ago on the Vance Monument. Examine the photos and you’ll see that both efforts use all capitals and that the second “T” in “MATTERS” is crossed just below the first in both instances. The heart shape on the birthplace effort also would appear to suggest a mindset at least somewhat sympathetic to the cause. I’m guessing that’s not the sort of detail a malevolent impostor would risk capture by tarrying to add. I would actually be very surprised if this tagging were not the work of someone who was trying, if misguidedly, to advance the group’s agenda. But, more to the point, I wouldn’t let people speculate about it without evidence.
Thank you for your thoughts, Mr. Robbins, and suggestions as to how I can do my job better in the future. I understand your and Mr. Ditmore’s concerns, and apologize if my efforts to report on the incident are insufficient or biased in your eyes. I do the best I can with the resources and time alotted to me. As I noted in the original online post, this is a developing story, and I am trying to follow it to the best of my ability.
Ms. Smith was asked to offer a comment on the incident in her capacity as a member of the local BLM movement. She obliged us. As neither the Sheriff’s Department nor other entities looking into the incident have provided evidence that would contradict her statement, I feel it would be irresponsible to offer speculation on the veracity of her claims without supporting evidence. Commenters and the community are always free to form their own opinions. Thank you for contributing yours to the conversation.
Aye Lordy, Max – seems a man can’t win for losing when you are up against such self-proclaimed experts in journalism, humor and handwriting! They are ‘way too clever for the likes of me, anyhow.
Your article provided direct quotations from the parties directly concerned – BLM, the Sheriff’s Department, the State personnel connected with the historic site, and a Professor with some apparently relevant insights – looked pretty darned objective to me – at least in that I couldn’t tell that you were playing favorites with either side of the issue, or inserted your own passions, sympathies, leanings or prejudices.
Of course, I never know when these other commentors are being serious or just being “provocative” – I reckon I am too thick to “get” any intended satire, I suppose, being one of those creatures who pretty much tries to say what he means instead of playing word games.
And as for Mr. Robbins’ zinger about “Super Geniuses” – which appears to have been directed at me – I don’t believe that I have ever claimed to be smahtah than anyone else. Whereas Mr. Robbins’ comment from “A Modest Proposal for the Vance Monument” seems to speak for itself – “And I’m sorry, Phil Williams, if I come across as too smart. We all have our faults, and I’ve struggled with that one all my life”
Thank you for your comments, Phil, and for contributing to the conversation. I understand that as a reporter, I’m held to a high standard to produce the best content I can. I try to meet that challenge to the best of my ability, in the context of the fast-moving world of modern journalism.
That certainly doesn’t mean I can’t do better, and I appreciate members of the community offering their ideas and analysis of my work, as it helps me to become a better journalist. I hope my future work will reflect my efforts to take such critiques into consideration.
I will continue to update this story as more information comes to light.
Here’s another tip, Max: don’t bury the lede. The story was the vandalism.
And here’s another piece of advice one of my professors in journalism school used to proffer: “If your mother says she loves you, check it out.” I checked out that expression online just now, and come to find he didn’t make it up himself.
Finally, I suspect, Phil Williams, that Alan Ditmore was pulling your leg when he extolled the protective benefits of spray paint on historic houses. Possibly not; he can speak for himself. But I thought he ran rings around you when, coyote-like, you set your verbal trap for him, and I felt he deserved a shout-out for his efforts. I always appreciate wit. I’ll leave it to you to figure out whether I myself was joking on an earlier thread when I apologized for my apparent brilliance. I’m sure everyone has an opinion about that.
One of my criticisms of you, Peter, has been that you often read a bit much into statements – and, lawyer-like, you are doubtless a far more nimble “arguer” than I could possibly be. I did not try to set a “verbal trap” for Mr. Ditmore – I asked him what I thought was a direct question – no trap there – I just wanted to know what his thoughts were – and, according to you, he must have given a frivolous answer.
And nobody really answered it – unless Mr. Ditmore was indeed being serious. My honest guess is that most folks who don’t think graffiti on the old Vance Place is a big deal would most likely NOT think it “art” or acceptable expression if a memorial not connected with the Confederacy or slavery were vandalized – even if that vandalism did not take the form of epithets or racist symbols.
I also think that his calling Mr. Hunt a liar was in extremely poor taste, even if meant in jest. Mr. Hunt and I do not agree regarding several aspects of Vance, Southern history, or the Civil War – and probably on several political issues, but I find his writing interesting and sincere.
I assume that your comment about “listening to outrage whose volume has not been properly modulated” was directed either at the article or at me – I would only ask you to point out where either the article or I voiced any outrage…unless you consider calling vandalism what it is a passionate display of temper.
Seriously? You made a great show of not engaging with the other commenters on the thread and then you complain that only Alan Ditmore answered a query that was addressed solely to him? I won’t answer your attempted analogy because you were so rude to everyone. But you might reflect on whether Martin Luther King and Zebulon Vance led parallel lives when it comes to civil rights (or any other civic virtue), as well as whether the slogan “Black Lives Matter” sits the same way with folks as a neo-Nazi counterpart. That’s not inconsistency; that’s evaluating the circumstances on a case-by-case basis, as them lawyers say, and placing the resulting balance of values on a continuum.
I agree, as I said before, that Mr. Ditmore was over the top in the way he criticized Max. But Max, too, was out of line when he responded sarcastically to Alan, and I do love to take the side of the underdog. Journalists have more power than average people, and sometimes they have to bite their tongues. It’s one of the disadvantages of the trade.
More importantly, I’m not sure that Max understood what I said at all. I didn’t say or even imply that his article lacked objectivity or displayed bias. Just the opposite. I said that too much emphasis on objectivity can undermine other values in journalism, like digging for the truth and putting people on the spot when they are saying something dubious. The same point is made, much better than I could, in the Columbia Journalism Review article to which I linked. The ongoing debate about this tension is especially important these days — when for the first time journalists have to figure out how far they can go in calling out a President who really is a pathological liar and not just a strategic one like Nixon or some other more traditional scoundrel. I suspect that Mr. Ditmore was getting at some fancier line of philosophical reasoning that may start, I think, with Kant and the subjective turn. (I don’t know for sure; I ditched most of that class to work on the student newspaper.)
And with that, I really am done. The last word, if you want it, is yours.
I can really have the last word? Well, to quote Dickens’ Ebenezer Scrooge, “Thank’ee kindly” – but I am afraid I will believe that when I see it! I must say, getting called rude by your good self is quite an achievement! So – if the last word really and truly is to be mine, I will use it to wish you the compliments of the season and a prosperous New Year!
And a nimble all-ey ga-roo to you. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SL0lPcNwRqQ.
When I see posters like the one for ‘Identity Evropa’, well-designed and printed, and in large numbers, I wonder who is paying for them. The SBI should be keeping an eye on this group and their source of funding.
IE is entirely funded by membership dues and the donations of hardworking Americans, unlike many leftist groups, funded by Soros.
Stick to immigration law and leave monuments alone IE! You are right on exactly one issue, stopping immigration, QUIT DIGRESSING!
There is no defense of the Identity Evropa people, but they seem to be using flyers and banners that do not damage property. The Vance birthplace is a State of North Carolina historic site. It just adds to the problem of what to do about historic sites with ties to slavery when people go with destruction of property.
My problem with Max Hunt’s story about WNC social movements was that when I watched the WLOS reporter’s video of the September Charlottesville solidarity rally at the Vance monument what I guess were black clad ANTIFA people they were yelling at APD officers saying, “Black lives matter, blue lives don’t!” I hope someone still has access to the reporter’s video because the bulk of the attendees were there in quiet solidarity with signs that shared important but nonviolent messages.
I think Max’s stories on the Chemtronics Superfund site were important as are other things he writes. I understand the following story was an effort to show a range of alternative to common Dem and GOP politics.
The ANTIFA folks would stand in front of the people as though the ANTIFA message was the group message. Individual ANTIFA folks would start chants that were designed to raise the sense of antagonism. Racism and racism are things to get antagonistic around, but what is better than what folks like Trump have to offer? Free speech in a liberal democracy is ideally about sense-making… like the MLK model.
One white apparent ANTIFA person had a communist revolutionary flag with a red star and AK-47 on him like a cape. He can do that, but like spray painting the Vance home with graffiti it doesn’t up the ante to better civilization. Also despite our problems the US has a long history of anti-fascism. The ANTIFA folks on the video at least of that day showed a display of ludicrous thinking and action, not anything to point to as cogent, ethical leadership.
I also agree it is time to rename the Vance monument. But who in WNC history has a 180 background to Vance that is worthy of going on this iconic device? Destroying the Vance monument would be the easy alternative… just like driving our to Weaverville with a spray paint can is easier than generating something transformative on the WNC justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion front in a nonviolent manner.
https://mountainx.com/news/local-activists-strive-for-social-change/
The Vance property was not destroyed, it was improved, by the citizens who own it, just as you might repaint your own house, the Vance painters painted their own house, as is their right.
Agreed.
The taggers, like all taggers, also helped make nearby housing more affordable and helped prevent gentrification and speculation. IF YOU PICK UP LITTER, THEY’LL RAISE YOUR RENT!
Holidays can only be improved by political graffiti and would totally suck without it, I would die of boredom! The word “mar” in the headline is a total lie, as reporters always lie.
“The site is not, and cannot, be accurately and fully interpreted from Zeb Vance’s perspective.”
So, uh, why call it the Vance Birthplace? Why not rename it the Vance Slaveholding Household or the Vance Family Estate and Slave Quarters, so as to promote a more accurate and full interpretation? You can’t fool folks with misleading advertising and then blame them for being tricked.
Kudos Peter.
Better yet, we could call it the Old Mountain Place and pursue the social-history theme without any Zeb baggage at all. Everybody wins!
Or we could sell it with unlimited unit density in return for 10% AFFORDABLE HOUSING!
The names of national parks, forests, reserves, etc. are created by Congress in the law that creates the park and can only be changed by another act of Congress. I imagine it’s pretty similar at the state level. So, the people to talk to would be your representatives :)
Never known a mountain pale faced person able to see their own flaws…ever..
After all…land development and racism are how this backwoods tourist mecca keeps those rich pale faced afloat.
We’ve known this since 1838.
,expect empathy from elitists and be disappointed.
Truth!