May 16 2008
$1 Million for Monument
RALEIGH — Gov. Mike Easley has thrown his support behind a proposed monument on the State Capitol grounds honoring the African-American experience in North Carolina.
The governor will ask the General Assembly for $1 million for the N.C. Freedom Monument Project as part of his proposed budget released earlier this week.
State legislators approved $100,000 in planning money for the project last year. The $1 million in the proposed budget will pay for more planning, monument design and preparation of the site, governor’s spokesman Seth Effron said.
I think this is a complete waste of taxpayer money. History is important, of course, so as to learn from it and not repeat the mistakes of the past, but we also have to live in the present. The wounds of past events are never going to heal as long as people continue to live in the past rather than the present and look forward towards the future.