ENFIELD, N.C. — The mayor responsible for the demolition of a Confederate monument in Halifax County has decades of memories that led up to the pivotal decision back in August.
Mondale Robinson was born and raised in Enfield before choosing to run for mayor earlier this year. He said the experiences in his own childhood are what made him determined to change the future for children growing up in the town today.
“Knowing that little Black kids are going to grow up feeling like I felt, hearing different stories but very similar to the same ones I heard,” Robinson said. “They can't do anything more than kill my soul, and I think just allowing the status quo to continue in this town would kill my soul.”
He takes full responsibility for the demolition of the monument in Halifax County, but in order to understand his reasoning, he took us centuries into the past where he said generations of oppression and trauma began.
“So when you tell me it's not racist, it's Southern heritage, I'm telling you I'm as Southern as you are and that ain't my heritage, that ain't our history,” Robinson said. “We can know our history and not all of it is something you should be proud of.”
While there is still conflict in the town over the removal of the marker, he said he hopes it ends up being a catalyst for change. His goal in removing the monument was to make it part of the solution to give everyone in the town a better future.
“Maybe there's a way that we end white supremacy in this country, and I think radical rethinking of public health and public safety might be the way that we get there,” Robinson said.
He sees the fear in older residents of Enfield and his own family members that comes from their personal experiences living as Black people in the area. Those stories have weighed heavily on his conscience his entire life.
“When people talk about why I'm making things about race or why the statue had to go, it's all connected,” Robinson said. “You're talking about a statue — my mom and my dad remember not being able to use that park, not being able to swim in that park.”
Once the town's council voted in favor of removing the monument, he refused to let more than a week go by where he didn't act on what he said he would do upon taking office, even if he never believed he would see the monument fall in his own lifetime.
“When I was tearing down the monument my aunt almost had a heart attack, 'Don't go out there, they gonna lock you up. Don't do that, you gonna make them people mad,'” Robinson said. “Them people ... them people should be us. The town voted it away, we acted on that vote.”