Residents not worried Charlottesville violence could lead to violence in Southside

Confederate monument controversy caused significant tension in Danville in 2015

DANVILLE, Va. – Outside the Pittsylvania County Courthouse is a monument paying homage to the county's Confederate history.

While efforts are underway in Kentucky and Florida to remove monuments, and while efforts to remove a statue of Robert E. Lee in Charlottesville sparked a deadly demonstration there Saturday, Pittsylvania County resident Shane Mize has no problem with the statue outside the county's courthouse.

"Absolutely. I think it should stay up," said Mize. "(The only reason) is, it's history. You shouldn't be able to take away history."

He says if the monument outside the courthouse were to be removed, he believes people would fight to try to keep it up.

But he doesn't agree that fight should become violent like it did in Charlottesville.

"I think both sides were wrong," Mize said.

Robert Mitchell also believes the monument should stay up, but he doesn't believe any fighting that may be done to try to keep it up if it were to be removed would boil over into violence.

"Thank the Lord we live in a little quieter neighborhood," said Mitchell. "Been in Chatham all my life, so I think it should just stay on up."

Wyatt Wells believes the violence in Charlottesville has created a negative perception of monuments like the one that stands outside the courthouse.

"That statue doesn't represent anything that those people were standing for in Charlottesville at all," he said.

In Martinsville, a similar monument stands outside the historic courthouse.

Some residents WSLS spoke to off camera there said it should stay up. Others simply said the issue is complicated.

Aside from the Third National Flag of the Confederacy being taken down from the flagpole outside the Sutherlin Mansion in Danville in 2015, which caused considerable controversy, there has not been any talk of removing any monuments in Southside.