PITTSBORO — Another Saturday in downtown Pittsboro was disrupted by protests regarding the Confederate statue at the Historic Chatham County Courthouse, with this past weekend’s crowds — and level of anger and vitriol — reaching new levels.
About 200 anti-confederate protesters — a mixture of local and out-of-county activists — gathered early on Saturday and conducted a “unity march” from Main Street Station in Pittsboro to the circle and then gathered at the parking lot at the Blair Building. Those supporting the confederate statue, numbering about 60 mostly out-of-county activists, gathered at the site of the recently erected confederate flag across from Horton Middle School, named after the famed slave poet George Moses Horton and the previous home to the African-American High School.
Within the ranks of both groups, those from outside the county out-numbered those who resided in the area, according to multiple local people who took part. Those supporting the statue on Saturday included members of organizations identified as “hate groups” by the Southern Poverty Center, including the League of the South, the Hiwaymen and the Proud Boys, in addition to pro-confederacy groups such as Heirs to the Confederacy and ACTBAC NC.
Many of those opposed to the monument included activists who participated in the protests surrounding Silent Sam such as Maya Little, a UNC-Chapel Hill PhD student who was charged with pouring blood and red paint on the now removed statue at UNC-Chapel Hill, Black Lives Matter and Redneck Revolt. Many members of the local community who support removing the monument identified themselves by wearing a cloth heart pinned to their shirts. (Little was subsequently arrested Monday protesting at an unrelated anti-abortion protest at UNC-Chapel Hill.)
“Given the conflict across the nation after Charlottesville what is playing out in Pittsboro was unavoidable. We’re the next logical place,” said Randy Voller, the former mayor of Pittsboro and former North Carolina Democratic Party chairman who attended the event.
Voller said that community sentiment became even more charged when a Confederate flag was erected across from Horton Middle School, asserting the “flaggers” were using “negative iconography” as “leverage” to get the county to back down from its position to remove the statue.
After a couple of hours Saturday, a majority of the anti-confederate protesters, many dressed in black, began to make their way to the sidewalk across from the confederate flag where confederate supporters were gathered. At first, the scene was calm with the occasional barb hurled from across the street. The traffic on Sanford Road seemed to keep the two groups safely separated for a time.
At around 1 p.m., the calm was broken as a backhoe, draped in confederate regalia, driven by a man wearing a mask and sunglasses attempted to drive south on Sanford Road towards the two groups. The man was later identified as Pittsboro resident Sam White, who was recently cited for a violation of town ordinance for a confederate flag erected on his property. White, who has previous convictions on drug and weapons charges, was also found guilty of assault on a female this past May.
A local activist whose identity has not yet been confirmed independently sat in front of the equipment, preventing it from moving any further. The street began to fill as members of both protest groups ran toward the scene, blocking traffic in both directions. Shouting between the two groups commenced, with a confederate supporter spitting at one of the anti-confederate protester. A shoving match followed with a confederate supporter ending up on the ground.
Law enforcement officials at the scene separated the groups, directing the backhoe into a laundromat parking lot at the corner of Pittsboro Elementary School Road and to turn around and return, allowing traffic to return to flow. No arrests were made at the time, but all incident information was turned over to the Pittsboro Police Department for investigation. At press time, the department had not released any information about charges.
Law enforcement officers present described the scene as extremely dangerous. Tensions were high and members of the pro-confederacy group were seen with holstered guns even during the scuffle on Sanford Road. Carrying a weapon at a demonstration, even if properly permitted, is against North Carolina law. The pro-confederacy groups were able to keep their weapons as they mainly kept themselves sequestered on private property.
Following the scuffle, the two groups shouted at each other, with insults and racial epithets flying back and forth. On occasion, a member of one group would cross the street and taunt the other side only to retreat. Each time, the confrontation provided fodder for their cause, regardless of the side.
While a significant number of the more vocal protesters were from outside of the county, members of the local community were present though more were identified as participating in the “unity march.” However, some of the rhetoric from the outside groups concerned the local residents who support removing the monument. Chants equating the police department with the Ku Klux Klan disturbed many attendees who asked them to stop, saying, “We like our officers,” and “This is not what we’re about.”
“I can understand and empathize with the general concerns and reasonable critiques that citizens have with public safety officers across the nation,” Voller said. “In the more specific case of Chatham County and Pittsboro, protesters [from outside of the county] should consider that the local public safety officers in Chatham County are likely a bit different than other locales and reflect a broader community based policing model then their brethren in other places. There are a lot of issues with police to work on and improve, but wearing tee shirts to a rally that say “Eat police, save a pig” are more than likely not a positive step in a direction to improve public safety performance. Are the local police perfect? No. But they are not the issue here. The issue is the insult of the Confederate flag across from Horton Middle School and the massing of out of towners pushing their version of a lost cause in our community.”
The protests are likely to continue until a final decision is made about the fate of the confederate statue. The Chatham County Board of Commissioners gave the United Daughters of the Confederacy a deadline of Oct. 31 to remove the statue or else it will be deemed trespass. As the days countdown to the deadline, Pittsboro residents and local businesses continue to struggle to get around each weekend. With next week’s Pittsboro Street Fair, an annual art and craft fair that has occurred for about 30 years, town officials are weighing their options to ensure safety. At the town’s board meeting last week, Pittsboro Town Manager Bryan Gruesbeck noted that he was working with Pittsboro Police Chief Percy Crutchfield to determine whether to have the event.
Reporter Casey Mann can be reached at CaseyMann@Chathamnr.com.