Peace vigil planned in Goldsboro tonight for the victims in Charlottesville, Virginia
By John Joyce
Published in News on August 13, 2017 2:22 PM
A gathering is planned this evening at the Veterans Memorial in downtown Goldsboro to remember the lives of a protester and two state troopers killed in Charlottesville, Virginia, Saturday.
The event is scheduled to take place from 6 to 6:30 p.m. at the Wayne County Veterans Memorial at 239 E. Walnut St.
Organizers have said this will be a non-partisan vigil for peace, and is in no way a protest.
Charlene Clarkson, 57, of Goldsboro, said she has a daughter and a bi-racial grandchild in Charlottesville. Neither were harmed this weekend when members of the Alt-Right marched into town carrying torches Friday night or during the "Unite the Right" rally that descended into violent confrontations Saturday that culminated in one man slamming his car into the back of another vehicle injuring several people and killing a woman.
"You know this is the second time that they have gathered in recent months in Charlottesville," she said.
"It's because Charlottesville has decided to remove the Confederate statues.
A statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee is slated to be removed from a park ---- pending the outcome of a court battle.
The park, also formerly named for Lee, has since been renamed Emancipation Park.
Other cities across the South, such as New Orleans, have also removed statues or are considering doing so.
"I think that is the bone of contention ... and it is horrifying to me," Clarkson said.
She shared a story of a recent visit she made to Charlottesville to visit her daughter, a U.S. service member stationed there who is also caring for her mixed-race, 3-year-old child.
"We went to a little gift shop, and the cashier at the gift shop began to tell me how upset she was that they were removing these statues," Clarkson said.
"I don't know who she assumed I was, and so I told her that 'I don't agree with you, not everyone feels the way that you do,'" she said.
Clarkson believes the statues are a part of history and should either be displayed in museums or on people's private property.
"Whoever wants them should take them and put them on their own property. Private property, not public property."
That kind of interaction is not exclusive to Charlottesville. Clarkson said her daughter grew up most of her life living in Goldsboro.
"She is the best representation of, how can I say, maybe how it should be, but it's everywhere. This (Charlottesville) just brought this right out," she said.
Clarkson and the other organizers of tonight's vigils ---- she said there are many planned around the country and she knows for sure, several across the state ---- hope the gatherings will show unity.
"I believe that it will show unity for people that don't support this, the KKK and the other groups that were there, " she said. "I think it will show support to people like my daughter who live there. She has no choice but to live there at this time."
---- This story will be updated with coverage from tonight's event.