Confederate monument vandalized in NC cemetery

A Confederate monument in a North Carolina cemetery was vandalized recently, a local newspaper reported Sunday.

The statue honoring Confederate soldiers in Durham, N.C.’s Maplewood Cemetery had cement or another hard substance smeared on top of it, according to The News & Observer.

Durham police say the vandalism was reported Sunday.

{mosads}This is not the first time the statue, erected by the Sons of Confederate Veterans in 2014, has been vandalized.

In July 2015, cemetery workers found “Black Lives Matter” and “Tear It Down” painted in black on the memorial, according to the Raleigh, N.C., newspaper.

The vandalism comes as activists have increasingly targeted monuments that memorialize the Confederacy across the South.

According to a report from Southern Poverty Law Center last year, more than 100 of the statues have been removed since 2015.

North Carolina is a unique, however, because a 2015 state law prohibits the removal of historic monuments from state property.

A Confederate statue was torn down in 2017 outside a historic Durham courthouse.

Last year, protesters also tore down a Confederate monument named “Silent Sam” at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill.

Winston-Salem, N.C. moved a Confederate statue from the grounds of a historic courthouse earlier this year.