STATE OF NORTH CAROLINA COUNTY OF IREDELL IN THE GENERAL COURT OF JUSTICE SUPERIOR COURT DIVISION CASE NO. ___________________ CHRISTOPHER A. “SKIP” McCALL; REV. ROBERT WRIGHT LEE IV; NORTH CAROLINA STATE CONFERENCE OF THE NAACP (NATIONAL ASSOCIATION FOR THE  ADVANCEMENT OF COLORED PEOPLE); NATIONAL ASSOCIATION FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF COLORED PEOPLE (NAACP) STATESVILLE BRANCH #5454; NATIONAL ASSOCIATION FOR THE  ADVANCEMENT OF COLORED PEOPLE (NAACP) SOUTH IREDELL BRANCH #5476; IREDELL CLERGY FOR HEALING AND JUSTICE, INC.

 Plaintiffs

, v. IREDELL COUNTY; IREDELL COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS; and COMMISSIONERS JAMES B. MALLORY III, MELISSA NEADER, MARVIN NORMAN, GENE HOUPE, and SCOTTIE BROWN, in their official capacities

 Defendants

.

COMPLAINT AND PETITION FOR DECLARATORY JUDGMENT AND INJUNCTIVE RELIEF

 

 

 

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 Plaintiffs, through counsel, allege as follows:

INTRODUCTION

1.

 

This lawsuit is brought by a multi-racial coalition of Iredell County residents and supporting groups because County officials refuse to remove a monument (the “Confederate Monument”), which overtly celebrates slavery, secession, and white supremacy, from in front of the former Iredell County Courthouse (now the Iredell County Government Center). This multi-story Monument—topped with an armed white man, and bearing inscriptions to “OUR CONFEDERATE DEAD” and to a “cause, though lost, still just”—poses a threat to public safety, drains the public purse, and stands in violation of multiple provisions of the North Carolina Constitution. Many Iredell County residents have called for the Monument’s removal, recognizing the continuing threat to public safety it poses and the continuing pain to Iredell County’s Black residents it inflicts. The Iredell County Manager has admitted that protests over the Confederate Monument have turned “violent,” and an Iredell County Commissioner has acknowledged the unique burdens the Confederate Monument is placing on Black residents and he advised “those that think the statue wasn’t affecting anyone” to “talk to African Americans one-on-one.” The Board of Commissioners recognized the legitimacy of these concerns when it voted 4-1 on March 2, 2021 to remove the Monument from public land. But the Board has broken its promise and now refuses to follow through on its vote. 2.

 

The North Carolina Constitution and decisions of the Supreme Court of North Carolina allow for this lawsuit. Taxpayers can bring suit to challenge the unconstitutional or otherwise illegal expenditures of public funds by local officials,

 

 

2

 and North Carolinians can sue directly under the North Carolina Constitution when individual rights protected by that fundamental and supreme law are violated. 3.

 

Plaintiffs ask this Court to declare that the maintenance of the Confederate Monument (current photo below) on Iredell County property violates the North Carolina Constitution, and to order the Defendants, who have both the power and the obligation to rectify this constitutional violation, to remove the Confederate Monument from its current location and to not allow the Monument to be put on public display on any property owned or controlled by Iredell County. Credit: Ben Gibson, Statesville Record & Landmark