U.S. officials have opened a civil rights investigation into the circumstances of the deadly car attack in Charlottesville, Va., Saturday.A car plowed into a crowd of people protesting a white nationalist rally in the Virginia college town, killing a 32-year-old woman and ratcheting up tension in an increasingly violent confrontation that injured nearly three dozen people.The 20-year-old male driver, James Alex Fields Jr. of Ohio, was arrested and later charged with second-degree murder, three counts of malicious wounding and one count related to leaving the scene. A bond hearing is scheduled for Monday.”When such actions arise from racial bigotry and hatred, they betray our core values and cannot be tolerated.”
White nationalist flyers removed from university campus
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — Two days before white supremacists gather for a conference an hour to the west, flyers advocating one white nationalist group were removed from the University of Tennessee-Knoxville after they were found in violation of campus policy.
“The most precious possession you have in the world is your own people,” the flyers read. They include the cog and pitchfork symbol associated with the Traditionalist Worker Party, a white nationalist group.
The flyers were posted in the Humanities and Social Sciences Building and were removed Thursday because they were found to be in violation of the campus’ literature distribution policy, university spokeswoman Karen Simsen said.
The policy requires any posted literature to be affiliated with a student organization or on-campus department. It does not say anything about hate speech or restricting the types of messages that can be distributed or posted.
The flyers were removed because no one from the university appeared to have posted them and no affiliation was included in the material, Simsen said in email.
“I can’t speculate on the ‘what ifs,’ but we have a process for evaluating materials (that are compliant with our literature distribution policy) while ensuring that we uphold the First Amendment,” Simsen said in response to a question about whether hate speech propaganda would be allowed to be distributed if it met the affiliation requirements.
The incident comes as the role of free speech on college campuses is being debated nationwide, and as universities are grappling with a rise in hate speech incidents.
The issue came to the forefront following a deadly protest Aug. 12 in Charlottesville, Va., where hundreds of white supremacists gathered that day and the night before near the University of Virginia campus to protest the city’s decision to remove a statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee.
Charlottesville, Donald Trump, and the dark side of American populism
Charlottesville, Virginia is home to the University of Virginia, founded by Thomas Jefferson; he was a slave owner, but today stands as a symbol of the US’s egalitarian ethos and political myth. But on August 12, some seven months into Donald Trump’s presidency, Charlottesville saw a far uglier side of the US on display: a Unite the Right rally bringing together people and organisations who resented the proposed removal of a statue of Confederate Civil War general, Robert E Lee.
On the eve of the rally, the university’s Charlottesville campus became the site of a march of torch-bearing white supremacists, evoking the Klan rallies seen throughout the 20th century. Tense clashes between marchers and counter-protesters ensued, and the next day, the rally itself turned violent.
Radical right marchers turned up along with citizen militia groups (their guns on full display thanks to open carry legislation) and clashed with anti-fascist and other groups who stood up to them. Then 20-year-old James Alex Fields Jr ploughed his car into a group of protesters, and has now been charged with the second degree murder of Heather Heyer, who died after he ran into her.
The context for these events is as old as the US itself. The country was borne of violence: a revolution that overthrew British rule, violent suppression of the Native American population, a violent Civil War that took over 600,000 lives, and a philosophy of “manifest destiny” that expanded the American nation across a continent.
Much of this violence was social and political. The Civil War has been seen as the true American revolution; it pitted a social and political order based on rugged individualistic capitalism against one of plantation economics and strong social hierarchy, including the system of slavery. The southern model was defeated, the slaves emancipated, and Confederate leaders and sympathisers left to mourn their project as a “lost cause”. But the culture of white supremacy was far from defeated, and radical right-wing social movements and organisations have troubled the US ever since.
Civil rights probe launched after clashes at white nationalist rally in Virginia leave 1 dead
U.S. officials have opened a civil rights investigation into the circumstances of the deadly car attack in Charlottesville, Va., Saturday.
A car plowed into a crowd of people protesting a white nationalist rally in the Virginia college town, killing a 32-year-old woman and ratcheting up tension in an increasingly violent confrontation that injured nearly three dozen people.
The 20-year-old male driver, James Alex Fields Jr. of Ohio, was arrested and later charged with second-degree murder, three counts of malicious wounding and one count related to leaving the scene. A bond hearing is scheduled for Monday.
The civil rights investigation was announced late Saturday by officials of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Virginia and the Richmond field office of the FBI.
In a statement, U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions said U.S. Attorney Rick Mountcastle had begun the investigation and would have the full support of the Justice Department.
“The violence and deaths in Charlottesville strike at the heart of American law and justice,” said Sessions.
“When such actions arise from racial bigotry and hatred, they betray our core values and cannot be tolerated.”
Anti-communist group says it is planning Charlotte torch march, rally in December
An anti-communist group that describes its mission as defending communities against “leftist terrorists and rioters” said it plans to hold a torch march and rally in uptown Charlotte on Dec. 28.
Anticom is encouraging its members to take their “torches, guns, armor, gear and flags” to Charlotte. “Stay nonviolent, and we’ll have a great time,” Anticom said in its announcement on Facebook and Twitter.
An anti-communist group that describes its mission as defending communities against “leftist terrorists and rioters” said it plans to hold a torch march and rally in uptown Charlotte on Dec. 28.
Anticom is encouraging its members to take their “torches, guns, armor, gear and flags” to Charlotte. “Stay nonviolent, and we’ll have a great time,” Anticom said in its announcement on Facebook and Twitter.
An anti-communist group that describes its mission as defending communities against “leftist terrorists and rioters” said it plans to hold a torch march and rally in uptown Charlotte on Dec. 28.Anticom is encouraging its members to take their “torches, guns, armor, gear and flags” to Charlotte. “Stay nonviolent, and we’ll have a great time,” Anticom said in its announcement on Facebook and Twitter.An anti-communist group that describes its mission as defending communities against “leftist terrorists and rioters” said it plans to hold a torch march and rally in uptown Charlotte on Dec. 28.Anticom is encouraging its members to take their “torches, guns, armor, gear and flags” to Charlotte. “Stay nonviolent, and we’ll have a great time,” Anticom said in its announcement on Facebook and Twitter.An anti-communist group that describes its mission as defending communities against “leftist terrorists and rioters” said it plans to hold a torch march and rally in uptown Charlotte on Dec. 28.Anticom is encouraging its members to take their “torches, guns, armor, gear and flags” to Charlotte. “Stay nonviolent, and we’ll have a great time,”
Trump says violence by anti-fascists proves him right on Charlottesville
President Donald Trump on Thursday stood by his belief that both sides were to blame for violence in Charlottesville, Virginia, between white supremacists and counterprotesters last month.
Trump had drawn criticism for not initially condemning white supremacists who organized the event on Aug. 12, with even some of his fellow Republicans expressing dismay at his opinion.
Trump spoke to reporters aboard Air Force One a day after a meeting with South Carolina Republican Senator Tim Scott, an African-American who had expressed concern about Trump’s comments.
“We had a great talk yesterday,” he said of his meeting with Scott.
“I think especially in the light of the advent of antifa, if you look at what’s going on there. You have some pretty bad dudes on the other side also. And essentially that’s what I said.”
President Donald Trump on Thursday stood by his belief that both sides were to blame for violence in Charlottesville, Virginia, between white supremacists and counterprotesters last month. Trump had drawn criticism for not initially condemning white supremacists who organized the event on Aug. 12, with even some of his fellow Republicans expressing dismay at his opinion. Trump spoke to reporters aboard Air Force One a day after a meeting with South Carolina Republican Senator Tim Scott, an African-American who had expressed concern about Trump’s comments. “We had a great talk yesterday,” he said of his meeting with Scott. “I think especially in the light of the advent of antifa, if you look at what’s going on there. You have some pretty bad dudes on the other side also. And essentially that’s what I said.” “I think especially in the light of the advent of antifa, if you look at what’s going on there. You have some pretty bad dudes on the other side also. And essentially that’s what I said.”
A brief history of the Catholic Church’s fight against racism.
Catholic bishops from around the country recently condemned the white nationalism at rallies in Charlottesville, Virginia.
But what might be lesser known is that the Church has spoken out against racism through the centuries, and still calls for conversion from it.
“If we want a different kind of country in the future, we need to start today with a conversion in our own hearts, and an insistence on the same in others,” Archbishop Charles Chaput of Philadelphia said after the Charlottesville rallies.
White nationalists had held a “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville, Va. from Aug. 11-12, to protest the city’s planned removal of a statue of Confederate General Robert E. Lee.
White supremacists from various extremist groups like the Ku Klux Klan and neo-Nazis participated in torch-lit rallies on Friday night and a daytime rally on Saturday, chanting racist messages like “Jew will not replace us,” and “blood and soil,” a historically white supremacist slogan used by the Nazi Party in the days of Hitler.
A diverse coalition of counter-protesters, from religious leaders to members of “Black Lives Matter” to the anarchist group Antifa, formed around the white supremacist rally.
Violence broke out between the rally and the counter-protest, culminating with a 20 year-old man from Ohio driving a car into the counter-protest killing one woman and injuring 19. The man was eventually charged with second-degree murder.
In the wake of the racist rally, Catholic bishops spoke out against violence but also specifically condemned racism, including a joint statement by Cardinal Daniel DiNardo of Galveston-Houston, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, and Bishop Frank Dewane of Venice, Fla., chair of the bishops’ domestic justice and human development committee, condemning “the evil of racism, white supremacy and neo-nazism.”
From the earliest days of the Church, Christian teaching has opposed the promotion of one person above another because of their genetic or ethnic background.
In his letter to the Galatians, Saint Paul wrote that “through faith you are all children of God in Christ Jesus. For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free person, there is not male and female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus (3:26-28).”
As the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace explained in its 1988 document on racism, “The Church and Racism: Towards a More Fraternal Society,” early in the history of the Church, distinctions were made between people on basis of religion, not race.
That began to change with the discovery of the “New World,” the letter said, as nations colonizing the Americas tried to “justify” the killing and enslavement of indigenous peoples with a “racist theory.”
Pope Eugene IV issued a papal bull in 1435, Sicut Dudum, condemning the enslavement of African Christians in the Canary Islands, a year after his bull Creator Omnium threatened excommunication for those enslaving Christians. Thirty years later, in Regimini Gregis, Pope Sixtus IV excommunicated those aiding in the transport of Christian slaves from Africa.
After Charlottesville, Black Republican Tim Scott gives Trump a lecture on racism
Tim Scott, the lone black Republican in the Senate, delivered a pointed history lesson on America’s “300-year” legacy of racism to President Donald Trump on Wednesday in response to what he called Trump’s “sterile” response to the riots in Charlottesville, Virginia, last month.
The president invited Scott, a conservative from South Carolina who had expressed disgust with Trump’s equivocal reaction to the white supremacist protests that left one woman dead, to the Oval Office for what Trump’s staff described as a demonstration of the president’s commitment to “positive race relations.”
When a reporter asked the senator after the meeting if the president had expressed regret, a pained look flashed on Scott’s face. He paused for a few seconds and replied, “He certainly tried to explain what he was trying to convey.”
Tim Scott, the lone black Republican in the Senate, delivered a pointed history lesson on America’s “300-year” legacy of racism to President Donald Trump on Wednesday in response to what he called Trump’s “sterile” response to the riots in Charlottesville, Virginia, last month. The president invited Scott, a conservative from South Carolina who had expressed disgust with Trump’s equivocal reaction to the white supremacist protests that left one woman dead, to the Oval Office for what Trump’s staff described as a demonstration of the president’s commitment to “positive race relations.” When a reporter asked the senator after the meeting if the president had expressed regret, a pained look flashed on Scott’s face. He paused for a few seconds and replied, “He certainly tried to explain what he was trying to convey.” When a reporter asked the senator after the meeting if the president had expressed regret, a pained look flashed on Scott’s face. He paused for a few seconds and replied, “He certainly tried to explain what he was trying to convey.”
IS FACEBOOK THE NEW SAFE HAVEN FOR NEO-NAZIS?
During the now-infamous Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Va., last month, members of the so-called alt-right movement marched past the local Reform synagogue, Congregation Beth Israel, holding flaming tiki torches and yelling “Jews will not replace us” and “Sieg Heil!” In the aftermath of one of the most public displays of anti-Semitism and white supremacy in years, condemnation came from far and wide. And on social media, the response was also swift: Facebook reacted by removing or restricting some of the most extreme groups that were using its platform.
And yet, even amid the clampdown, racist and anti-Semitic groups and individuals in Canada continue to spread hateful messages and organize demonstrations on Facebook.
The “alt-right” movement, which contains white nationalist, white supremacist and neo-Nazi groups, emerged out of websites like 4chan, Reddit and the neo-Nazi news and the comment site Stormfront – platforms that are largely anonymous and thus make it difficult to trace individual contributors. But on Facebook, the situation is quite different. A lot of individuals associated with the “alt-right” have been using the site to form groups and organize events. And as the “alt-right” movement moves from an online subculture to a political force that’s staging public demonstrations, social media, and specifically Facebook, has become their go-to destination.
During the now-infamous Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Va., last month, members of the so-called alt-right movement marched past the local Reform synagogue, Congregation Beth Israel, holding flaming tiki torches and yelling “Jews will not replace us” and “Sieg Heil!” In the aftermath of one of the most public displays of anti-Semitism and white supremacy in years, condemnation came from far and wide. And on social media, the response was also swift: Facebook reacted by removing or restricting some of the most extreme groups that were using its platform.
Commentary: How Trump mainstreamed hate
Shocked by the violence recently perpetrated by racist protesters in Charlottesville, Virginia and other liberal-leaning towns across the United States, many Americans see the rise of “white nationalism” on the political landscape as a sudden, nasty surprise. In truth, it’s been around a long time, coalescing after the triumph of the Civil Rights Movement in the late 1960s as an alliance of various hate movements that seek, often through violence, to avoid racial mixing, and preserve what they view to be the true culture of the United States: white and European, exclusive of Jews and Muslims.
Ousted Trump strategist Steve Bannon put it in context in his first interview since leaving the White House last month – and his first TV interview ever. Bannon, told Charlie Rose on the September 10 episode of CBS’s “60 Minutes” that America’s neo-Nazis are simply “getting a free ride off Donald Trump.” In reality, Trump and Bannon are riding the winds of the nation’s rising white supremacist movement.
Shocked by the violence recently perpetrated by racist protesters in Charlottesville, Virginia and other liberal-leaning towns across the United States, many Americans see the rise of “white nationalism” on the political landscape as a sudden, nasty surprise. In truth, it’s been around a long time, coalescing after the triumph of the Civil Rights Movement in the late 1960s as an alliance of various hate movements that seek, often through violence, to avoid racial mixing, and preserve what they view to be the true culture of the United States: white and European, exclusive of Jews and Muslims. Ousted Trump strategist Steve Bannon put it in context in his first interview since leaving the White House last month – and his first TV interview ever. Bannon, told Charlie Rose on the September 10 episode of CBS’s “60 Minutes” that America’s neo-Nazis are simply “getting a free ride off Donald Trump.” In reality, Trump and Bannon are riding the winds of the nation’s rising white supremacist movement.
Charlottesville, Neo-Nazis and the Challenge to Higher Education
The march across the University of Virginia campus in the summer of 2017 by a thousand or more white supremacists, neo-Nazis, and other right-wing extremists offered a glimpse of the growing danger of authoritarian movements both in the United States and across the globe, signalling a danger that mimics the increasingly forgotten horrors of the 1930s. The image of hundreds of fascist thugs chanting anti-Semitic, racist, and white nationalist slogans such as “Heil Trump” and later attacking peaceful anti-racist counter-demonstrators makes clear that radical right-wing groups which historically have been on the margins of American society are now more comfortable in public with their nihilistic and dangerous politics. They appear especially emboldened to come out of the shadows because elements of their neo-fascist ideology have found a comfortable if not supportive place at the highest levels of the Trump administration, especially in the initial and telling presence of Steve Bannon, Jeff Sessions, and Stephen Miller, all of whom embrace elements of the nefarious racist ideology that was on full display in Charlottesville.
As is well-known, Trump has not only supported the presence and backing of white nationalists and white supremacists, but he has refused to denounce their Nazi slogans and violence in strong political and ethical terms, suggesting his own complicity with such movements. It should surprise no one that David Duke, a former imperial wizard of the Ku Klux Klan, told reporters in the midst of the events that the Unite the Right followers were “going to fulfill the promises of Donald Trump…to take our country back.” Nor should it surprise anyone that Trump initially refused to condemn the fascist groups behind the horrifying, shocking images and violence that took place in Charlottesville. His silence made elements of the far-right quite happy. For instance, The Daily Stormer, a white supremacist website, issued the following statement: “Refused to answer a question about White Nationalists supporting him. No condemnation at all. When asked to condemn, he just walked out of the room. Really, really good. God bless him.”