Is taking down Confederate statues a violation of Free Speech?

Back in 2018 there were times of civil unrest as the United States was involved in a racially divided country. Earlier that year, innocent African Americans were being killed by white police officers what seemed to be every day.

As a result of this, talk of the Civil War came up, and with it the reminders of confederate generals in the south. Many southern states, including North Carolina, were scrutinized heavily for keeping confederate statues in place. Even the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill was under fire for one of its statues as well.

"Unrest continues this week on the campus of North Carolina's flagship university after university leaders proposed a new, $5 million building to display the Confederate monument known as Silent Sam. The monument stood at the entrance to UNC campus until protesters tore it down in August (2018)."

This move was so controversial as the "Silent Sam" statue had stood at UNC for almost a century, with little to no problems while it was there.

After the situation had cooled off, the statue was put back in its place, and life continued like normal. But one question still remains, did this act of tearing down the statue violate free speech?

In one word, Yes. The tearing down of the statue was infringing on the rights of those who support the confederacy to this day. Without the statues, they lose that voice in stating their opinion on the matter and can only use their words, not symbolism.

While this act was not done directly by the government, tearing down the statues still negatively affected how and where supporters of the confederacy could state their opinions.