As for the statue in Winston-Salem, “We’ve already had two instances of vandalism and, with the potential for violence, it is (Carmon’s) belief that the statue does create a public nuisance and therefore we are directing the Daughters of the Confederacy to remove it, and if they don’t, we’re prepared to file legal action to achieve that removal,” Joines said after the Emancipation Proclamation ceremony.

Carmon sent a letter to representatives of the United Daughters of the Confederacy on Monday afternoon requesting the statue’s removal, she said.

“Given the number of incidents involving vandalism, the intensity of the most recent message left by vandals and the concern for public safety, I asked that they look at removing the statue by the end of January,” she said. “I indicated a concern about potential breaches to the peace and the strong likelihood that, given the intensity of the message, that breaches of peace are likely to occur.”

In August 2017, black paint was sprayed onto the statue. The vandal or vandals painted words on two sides of the statue near its base. Black paint also partially covered the inscription, “Our Confederate Dead.” Police cleaned all of the writing and most of the paint from the statue.