Join Aaron Keck every Tuesday afternoon for Chatham County Roundup, a recurring series that shines the spotlight on Chatham County through engaging discussions and interviews with locals, newsmakers, officials and more. 

This week on Chatham County Roundup, join 97.9 The Hill’s Aaron Keck for a conversation with Randall Rigsbee — writer for the Chatham News + Record — for a discussion about his two-part piece concerning race relations in Chatham County, from the roots of modern divisions to the continuing protests surrounding the recently-removed Confederate monument in the center of Pittsboro.

“This is a longstanding issue, it’s just changed its face,” said Rigsbee. “Of course, there are no longer segregated drinking fountains — at least not I know of. And so, we’ve made strides. We’ve made improvements as far as race relations go overall. However there are still issues in Chatham County — and everywhere, really.”

In the course of researching and writing about race relations in the Chatham County community, Rigsbee discovered quite a bit about the county’s history — and the not-too-distant past of the people who populate the land.

“Certainly, interviewing half a dozen or so people on this topic opened my eyes to a lot of things too,” said Rigsbee. “For example, Del [Turner] spoke of lack of access. She says racism is a social construct to her, what’s important is that lack of access. And …  certainly not isolated only to something like the court system, but I think that’s a very good example.”

According to Rigsbee, the experience provided a new — and welcome — refreshment of perspective.

“A little bit of it depends on who you’re talking to at a given moment,” said Rigsbee. “But overall, I did come away from it myself with a sense that there is optimism and hope — tinged with, you know, a realistic sense of where we’re at.”

Listen below for the full conversation, and tune in weekly for more conversations about Chatham County happenings, people, news and more.

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