Charlottesville, VA: This town has been buzzing through the air, throughout social media and the White House more than ever before since the events that occurred in the small university town on Saturday, Aug. 19.

After a large group of white supremacists and neo-Nazis marched through the town in protest of the removal of the Robert E. Lee statue that sat in the middle of it, another large group of anti-fascists counter-protested. Riots broke out, and a car drove into the crowd of counter-protesters, killing one woman and injuring dozens more.

The headlines didn’t stop there after President Donald Trump took three days before completely acknowledging the events and then stated that “there’s blame on both sides. You had a group on one side that was bad and you had a group on the other side that was also very violent.”

Since then, news sites and social media have been brewing with various opinions and views from all sides.

“I agree, (Trump) was late to acknowledge what had happened,” said senior Trump-supporter Drew Berthlett. “As for who was to blame? I’d blame the (man) who drove and injured many innocent lives.”

The removal of Confederate statues throughout the country is brewing anger among many people who believe it is destroying the history of America.

“Sad to see the history and culture of our great country being ripped apart with the removal of our beautiful statues and monuments,” tweeted Trump. “You can’t change history, but you can learn from it. Robert  E. Lee, Stonewall Jackson—who’s next, Washington, Jefferson? So foolish!”

While alt-left protestors have these statues torn down, alt-right and hate groups across the country are taking action. According to the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), the number of hate groups in the United States has been on the rise for a second year in a row. This includes anti-Muslim, anti-immigrant, anti-LGBT, white nationalist, neo-Nazi, neo-Confederate and black separatist groups.

“It’s just mind-blowing that people try to defend them,” said junior Alex Joseph. “It’s just sad. Terrifying.”