A crowd of activists toppled a Confederate statue in Durham, North Carolina, on Monday, just two days after the deadly white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia. As the crowd shouted “We are the revolution,” a college student named Takiyah Thompson climbed up a ladder, looped a rope around the top of the Confederate Soldiers Monument in front of the old Durham County Courthouse and then pulled the statue to the ground. She was arrested the following day on two charges of felony inciting a riot and three misdemeanor charges, including defacing a statue. Thompson was released last night on a $10,000 unsecured bond.
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.
She could face 25 months and 41 months in prison for each felony charge.
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?”