In the context of Silent Sam, explain the 1990–2009 of the Controversies and protests.
Students gathered by the statue to speak out after Los Angeles police officers were found not guilty in the 1992 Rodney King trial. In 1997, a Martin Luther King Jr. Day march focusing on issues facing UNC housekeepers ended at the monument.In 2003, Gerald Horne, at that time director of the Sonja Haynes Stone Center for Black Culture and History, in a letter to The Daily Tar Heel, called the monument "an eyesore".
Rodney King Daily Tar Heel Los Angeles Gerald Horne The Daily Tar Heel eyesore Tar Heel Sonja Haynes Stone Center for Black Culture and History Martin Luther King Jr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day