CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. — Six weeks after a white nationalist rally and counter protests in Charlottesville, residents of the community are still trying to come to terms with the deadly violence.
WTOP spoke with residents about the violence and the fate of the statues at the heart of the protests during Sunday night’s “A Concert for Charlottesville” at the University of Virginia’s Scott Stadium.
The free event was organized by hometown favorite the Dave Matthews Band in an effort to bring people together after the violence.
Nine-year-old Makhi Gilmore, who is black and lives near Charlottesville, said children at his school are talking about the protests.
“People talk about how some of their parents and grandparents and aunts and uncles and cousins were there — on both sides,” he said.
Gilmore said he watched news coverage and video of the violence, and it made him mad.
“We’re all equal. It doesn’t matter what religion or what race you are in. We’re all humans,” Gilmore said.
Courtney Hildebrand, who was born and raised in Charlottesville, said there’s more healing to be done, but “Charlottesville really rallies behind its own people.”
Opinions vary regarding what should happen to the statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee in Emancipation Park.
“If they want to put it in a museum, that’s cool. But if it’s bothering that many people in a democracy, then we should take it down,” said Stephen Pollock, who was born in the city.
Another Charlottesville native, Christopher Smith, would prefer to keep the statue in place, but shrouded.
He said removing it would cost too much money.
“Charlottesville is constantly a community in need of funds for our underclass, our underprivileged. And I would rather see those moneys go there rather than spend an inordinate amount of money to remove a statue,” Smith said.
The city’s plan to remove the statue, which has been slowed by a lawsuit, is one of the reasons white nationalists came to Charlottesville in August.
