Third And Final Confederate Monument To Leave Asheville’s Pack Square

WUNC | By Anita Rao,

Published December 9, 2020 at 12:19 PM EST

The Vance Monument in Asheville's Pack Square in 2012. The Asheville city council voted Tuesday to accept a task force recommendation to remove the monument from the square.

The Asheville City Council voted to remove the third and final Confederate monument from Asheville’s Pack Square Tuesday night. The 65-foot Vance Monument commemorates Zebulon Vance, North Carolina’s governor during the Civil War and U.S. Senator during Reconstruction who opposed civil rights for Black people. Host Anita Rao talks with Blue Ridge Public Radio news director Matt Bush about the removal of a third Confederate monument from Asheville's Park Square.

The Buncombe County Commissioners also voted to remove the monument Monday, following a recommendation for removal from a task force created by the city council and the county commissioners. The task force was created in June to decide whether to remove and relocate the obelisk or leave it in place and recontextualize it. During the summer, the city removed a plaque bearing Robert E. Lee’s likeness in Pack Square and a memorial to Confederate soldiers outside the Buncombe County courthouse. Blue Ridge Public Radio’s news director Matt Bush joins host Anita Rao to talk about the history of the monument and next steps for removing it.

Anita Rao

Anita Rao is the host and creator of "Embodied," a live, weekly radio show and seasonal podcast about sex, relationships & health. She's also the managing editor of WUNC's on-demand content. She has traveled the country recording interviews for the Peabody Award-winning StoryCorps production department, founded and launched a podcast about millennial feminism in the South, and served as the managing editor and regular host of "The State of Things," North Carolina Public Radio's flagship daily, live talk show. Anita was born in a small coal-mining town in Northeast England but spent most of her life growing up in Iowa and has a fond affection for the Midwest.

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Kaia Findlay

Kaia Findlay is a producer for The State of Things, WUNC's daily, live talk show. Kaia grew up in Minneapolis, Minnesota, in a household filled with teachers and storytellers. In elementary school, she usually fell asleep listening to recordings of 1950s radio comedy programs. After a semester of writing for her high school newspaper, she decided she hated journalism. While pursuing her bachelor’s in environmental studies at UNC-Chapel Hill, she got talked back into it. Kaia received a master’s degree from the UNC Hussman School of Journalism, where she focused on reporting and science communication. She has published stories with Our State Magazine, Indy Week, and HuffPost. She most recently worked as the manager for a podcast on environmental sustainability and higher education. Her reporting passions include climate and the environment, health and science, food and women’s issues. When not working at WUNC, Kaia goes pebble-wrestling, takes long bike rides, and reads while hammocking.

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