‘Unite the Right 2’: White supremacists gather for day of hatred
A YEAR after a white supremacist rally turned deadly, hundreds have taken to the streets, with more protests planned for the capital.
AMERICA is bracing itself for another violent clash outside the White House as protests in Charlottesville to mark the anniversary of last year’s deadly rally went largely peacefully.
Images of bodies flying through the air on that fateful day a year ago are seared into the minds of people across the world.
And to mark the first anniversary, hundreds of protesters took to the streets of the Virginia university city.
Made up mainly of students and left-wing activists, the gathering was peaceful — kept largely in check by a massive police presence.
But the resentment that still exists could still be felt, as protesters chanted “Cops and Klan go hand in hand” and some asking police, “Why are you in riot gear? We don’t see no riot here.”
On this day a year ago, the supposedly liberal city of Charlottesville became an emblem of American white supremacy, as a far-right protester drove his car into a crowd, killing a young woman and injuring many more.
American white nationalist Jason Kessler, who organised last year’s deadly rally, last month withdrew his application to stage another far-right rally in Charlottesville, instead focusing his efforts on a Sunday protest outside the White House. The Unite the Right 2 rally was expecting thousands of both white supremicists and counter-protesters were expected to descend on the presidential residence in Washington DC from 3pm on Sunday.
Attendees at the far-right rally have been told to bring Confederate flags and bodycams.
The city of Charlottesville and Virginia’s governor Ralph Northam have declared a “state of emergency” ahead of the weekend.
Mark Lance, one of the counter-protest organisers in Washington DC, told news.com.au that “the very idea that neo-Nazis would come to our city to celebrate” racism and murder was “an outrage”.
He said demonstrators would show their unity and diversity in a rally in the city from 3pm “in the face of this hate.”
A Black Lives Matter march will confront the white supremacists while anti-fascist and queer groups stage other events.
“We find their presence here unacceptable,” Mr Lance said.
“We have to be prepared for anything. There’s obviously a very serious potential for violence by these folks so for the last few weeks we’ve been organising security and doing everything we can to keep people safe.
“People are nervous for sure. These people invaded Charlottesville a year ago with automatic weapons and torches and surrounded synagogues. It would be foolish not to be concerned about that. But we’re not being cowed by it either, we’ll be prepared for them.”
HOW IT STARTED
Modern Charlottesville was seen as a progressive place to live, but like many cities in the US, it had a history entrenched in slavery, racism and segregation.
The violence of last year began when the city council voted in favour of removing three controversial Confederate statues from public spaces.
The move caused fury, triggering hate mail and death threats. The council was sued by several parties and the statues’ removal was put on hold.
The Ku Klux Klan protested in July last year, and on August 11, white nationalists brandishing torches marched through the University of Virginia, chanting racist and homophobic slogans. “Our blood, our soil!” they shouted, and, “Jews will not replace us!”
The following day, tempers flared as neo-Nazis and white supremacists clashed with counter-protesters, with fights breaking out and chemicals sprayed while police stood back and tried not to intervene.
That’s when Nazi sympathiser James Fields Jr ploughed through a crowd of anti-racism demonstrators, killing Heather Heyer, 32, and seriously injuring others. He is awaiting trial on first-degree murder charges and federal hate crimes, for which he could face the death penalty.
The statues are still standing.
‘ALLIES IN THE WHITE HOUSE’
Donald Trump caused outrage when he said afterwards that there was fault on “both sides” for the violence.
But this year he has learnt from last year’s reaction, posting a tweet condemning “all types of racism”.
The riots in Charlottesville a year ago resulted in senseless death and division. We must come together as a nation. I condemn all types of racism and acts of violence. Peace to ALL Americans!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 11, 2018
“These groups have been around for many years but obviously the election of Trump has made them feel they have allies in the White House, has made them feel they can be open,” Mr Lance said.
“There was a long time when you could argue these were fringe groups that were best ignored, now they feel for very good reason that they have an ally in the White House that recognises their interests.”
In the months after the tragedy, the city’s police chief and city manager left their jobs, with the first African American, female mayor appointed.
Councillor Kathy Galvin wrote of her Facebook page this week: “The city can’t weather a hurricane or a civil disturbance like August 12, 2017 without strong law enforcement, emergency service delivery and city government administration. Going into the week before the first anniversary of August 12, we now have all three. We are prepared.”
Zyahna Bryant, who started a petition to have a statue removed when she was just 15, told Vice in February that she was not surprised by the President’s response.
“This city is rooted in white supremacy,” she said. “We had more than enough evidence to know that really bad things were gonna happen and people were gonna die at this rally. People should have been more realistic from the get-go.
“This was not an isolated issue for activists who are here on the ground working for racial equality.”
Ms Heyer’s mother Susan Bro will be standing alongside the anti-racism protesters this weekend, after starting the Heather Heyer Foundation in her daughter’s memory.
She said people of colour have been fighting inequality for many years. “This is not news to them,” she told USA Today. “Unfortunately, we’re still at such a racial divide that it took a white girl dying for white people to wake up and pay attention.
“I turned my attention to carrying forth her message. You don’t get to silence my kid and get away with it.”
‘WE WERE NOT PREPARED’
In the lead-up to the march this weekend, everyone was on edge. Some said the neo-Nazis were struggling to organise, and that counter-protesters would far outnumber them — but of course, that’s what was expected last year, before America’s largest white-supremacy gathering in decades.
Congregate Charlottesville, which held a service on Saturday, wrote on its website: “We honour and celebrate those who used their bodies, their voices and their resources to resist white supremacy and fascism.
“The struggle continues. We’ve spent the last year organising in Charlottesville to resist ongoing threats of white supremacist violence, to challenge the racist legal system, and to support our immigrant neighbours.”
Pastor Brenda Brown-Grooms warned: “We do well to remember that, try as some of us did, we were not prepared for August 11 and August 12.
“We do well to remember that the police, hired to serve and protect this community, stood down and did not protect us. We do even better to remember that white supremacy is a lie, which we must no longer allow ourselves, our community, our religious organisations, or our laws to be infected by.
“We can do better, be better, if we remember, and work together, to take off our masks, in beautiful, ugly Charlottesville, Virginia.”
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