Charlottesville - 5 years later
Some thought and observations on a tragedy
Hard to believe, right? - five years ago.
“[L]et us remember what actually happened that day. Heather Heyer was murdered by a terrorist for protesting a white supremacist extremist rally in the heart of her city. That is what happened. The ideals that she lost her life standing up for — democracy, community, pluralism, inclusion — should animate both the means and the ends of all future efforts to counter terrorism and violent extremism in its online and offline manifestations, whether international or domestic.1”
Donald Trump, a mere 178 days into his presidency, set the tone for the rest of presidency in the aftermath, defending white supremacists as “very fine people.”2 Okay, that’s not fair — he said many of the neo-nazis were “very fine people” and conceded many of the counter-protestors were as well.
By including the “United the Right” counter-protestors, Trump’s messaging was clear — he intended to attack and delegitimize anyone on the Left who dared to oppose him.
The day after the tragedy, President Trump sent out 8 tweets about the tragedy3. Not once did he mention Heather Heyer by name.
At 7:25 p.m., he tweeted this:
“Condolences to the family of the young woman killed today, and best regards to all of those injured, in Charlottesville, Virginia. So sad!”
The tweet highlighted Donald Trump’s inability to emote in 23 words. Even insincere Christian hypocrites offer “thoughts and prayers.”
35 minutes earlier, he had sent out “deepest condolences” to the two Virginia state troopers who had died in a helicopter crash in Charlottesville and extolled them in the same tweet as “among the best this nation produces.”
Heather Heyer was a 32 year old paralegal, who was taking classes at night, and working a second job. She was a good decent person4 went to the counter-protest to stand up against racism and stand with others in solidarity5. She was also "among the best".
The "Unite the Right" participants have not fared well in the aftermath6. One notable participant, Timothy "Baked Alaska" Gionet, infamously had himself filmed making phone calls from Nancy Pelosi's office on January 6th.
The Unite the Right rally and the counter-protestors were idealists to a large extent fighting over racial socio-political symbolism, i.e. taking down statues of military leaders in the C.S.A. — notably Robert E. Lee. Nihilists saw political opportunities to rewrite the narrative, e.g. "they’re stealing/erasing our heritage/history”; and pragmatists, typically, were too frozen in their mindless “common ground” tactics to see hesitancy plays into racists’ hand - they love it when people seem conflicted.
For realists, it’s another lesson in the fallout of COINTELPRO, our legal system’s tolerance of white supremacists, and the Nihilist GOP’s affinity for the phrase “the enemy of my enemy is my friend.”
I highly recommend reading this entire article. https://www.justsecurity.org/82645/five-years-after-unite-the-right-reflections-on-charlottesville-for-todays-threat-landscape/
The entire press conference: https://www.politifact.com/article/2019/apr/26/context-trumps-very-fine-people-both-sides-remarks/
https://www.thetrumparchive.com/?dates=%5B%222017-08-11%22%2C%222017-08-16%22%5D&results=1
https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heather_Heyer#:~:text=Heather%20Heyer%20(May%2029%2C%201985,Right%20rally%20in%20Charlottesville%2C%20Virginia.
https://www.thecut.com/2017/08/what-heather-heyer-knew.html
https://www.splcenter.org/hatewatch/2022/08/11/unite-right-5-years-later-where-are-they-now