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Unite the Right

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“”By all means, compare these shitheads to the Nazis. Again and again. I'm with you.
—Mike Godwin himself[1]

Unite the White Right (UtR) was an alt-right rally-turned-riot performed by a blend of Republicans, neo-Confederates, neo-Nazis, white nationalists, Klansmen, white supremacists, antisemites, Kekistanis, self-proclaimed red-baiting anticommunists, and Identitarians on August 11 and August 12, 2017. UtR ended with three people dead: one killed directly by one of the UtR participants, and the other two killed indirectly in a police-helicopter crash. The "protest" ultimately ended in failure, with public opinion turning against the alt-right, the Daily Stormer getting kicked off Google, the arrest of some UtR protestors, and mass crackdown and suspension of alt-righters.

UtR originated when the city of Charlottesville (which includes much of the University of VirginiaWikipedia) planned to remove a statue of Robert E. Lee. Predictably, this act upset white supremacists, who organized the rally in response. A counter-protest was also formed by various anti-racist groups. The alt-right earlier had held a rally on May 14, 2017, with a torch parade similar to the August 11 brawl, and the Ku Klux Klan had held their own rally on July 8.

The prequel[edit]

There was actually a similar, lesser-known rally in Charlottesville, Virginia prior to the Unite the Right rally. This took the form of a tiki-torch march, too, and occurred in May 2017. This event was led by Richard Spencer, and cheered on by David Duke.[2]

Scheduled speakers[edit]

The scheduled speakers for the event were the following:[3]

The protesters/rioters[edit]

Unite the Right poster, depicting the component organizations: Kekistani (K), Anti-Communist Action (AC), Libertarians (L),[note 1] Nationalist/White Nationalist (N), Identitarian/Identity Evropa (I), Southern Nationalist (SN), National Socialist/Vanguard America/Traditionalist Workers Party (NS) and Alt-Right (AR).[6]
  • American Guard, self-proclaimed "Constitutional Libertarian" American nationalist organization led by former Vinlanders Social Club skinhead Brien James
  • Anti-Communist Action/Anticom, describes itself as "the right's response to Antifa" and claims it is not racist, even though members were found to have come up with making bombs against counter-protesters and some expressing neo-Nazi views
  • ARM (Alt-Right Montreal) and Hammer Brothers, the Canadian-based alt-right group from Montreal
  • The Daily Stormer/Stormer Book Clubs (TDS/SBC), the ever notorious neo-Nazi troll website
  • "The Detroit Red Wings", a Detroit based alt-right group misappropriating the name of the NHL hockey team of the same name
  • Fraternal Order of the Alt-Knights (FOAK), Proud Boys militia affiliate.
  • Identity Evropa (IE), self-described "American Identitarian" group.
  • The Ku Klux Klan (KKK), the notorious American hate group, including former grand wizard David Duke.[7]
  • League of the South (LS), "Southern Nationalist" neo-Confederate organization.
  • National Policy Institute (NPI), Richard Spencer's "think tank"
  • National Socialist Movement (NSM), America's oldest neo-Nazi group
  • Nationalist Front (NF), a coalition of neo-Nazi, neo-Confederate, neo-fascist and alt-right groups.
  • Rise Above Movement (RAM), a violent Southern California fight club
  • Traditionalist Workers Party (TWP), neo-Nazi organization.
  • The Right Stuff (TRS), neo-Nazi and proclaimed fascist group.
  • True Cascadia, a group of Pacific Northwest alt-righters
  • Vanguard America (VA), the group that James Alex Fields belonged to. It has had an internal squabble for leadership between Dillon Ulysses Hopper (a.k.a. as Dillon Irizarry) and Thomas Rousseau.[8] Rousseau later reformed the group as "Patriot Front".[9]

The counterprotestors[edit]

“”The people who stood up to the nazis in Charlottesville were students, activists, a trans woman — the very people disparaged by elite opinion as fragile, sensitive babies. Those were the brave people who faced down the torch march in Charlottesville.
—Elle Reeve[10]:247-248

Murder of Heather Heyer[edit]

Senator Tim Kaine at the site of Heyer's murder.
See the main articles on this topic: James Alex Fields Jr. and Blaming the victim

A guy who sent a Hitler pic to his mom[11] thought it would be a good idea to drive a car through a crowd of the counter-protesters, killing a woman named Heather Heyer and injuring 19 other people. The attack was livestreamed by counter-protesters.

Neo-Nazi internet rag The Daily Stormer (TDS) called Heyer a "fat childless slut"[12] (as a result, GoDaddy, Google, and Zoho decided not to maintain TDS's DNS),[13][14] and foreign "skeptics" such as Sargon of Akkad promoted the white nationalist canard that she died of a heart attack.[15][16]

Lawsuit[edit]

In 2021, a civil trial began for 24 alleged Unite the Right participants were sued under the Ku Klux Klan Act of 1871.[17][18] The alleged defendants in the suit are:[17]

Default judgments were held against 7 of the defendants for refusing to comply with court orders.[18] All defendants were found liable for more than $26 million in total damages under Virginia state civil conspiracy law, but no verdict could be reached on simultaneous federal conspiracy charges that required a higher level of evidence.[19]

4chan trolling[edit]

See the main article on this topic: 4chan

Following the attack, /pol/ started "researching" who the driver was, falsely concluding the driver to be Joel Vangheluwe.[20] Sadly, certain media outlets took the bait. Vangheluwe, being an innocent man, was not arrested, but he was mercilessly harassed.[21] Instead, a neo-Nazi named James Alex Fields Jr. has been convicted of second-degree murder in the case.[22] Fields had been seen at the rally wielding a Vanguard America shield, although the organization later claimed not to be associated with Fields.[23]

These media groups took 4chan's bait and propagated the false accusation against Vangheluwe.

Other violence[edit]

It wasn't just the killing of Heather Heyer. There were other violent acts committed by the UtR protestors, such as the beating of a black man named DeAndre Harris, the shoving of shields into counter-protestors who were obstructing them entering the park by a Florida division of the League of the South and members of the National Socialist Movement and Traditionalist Workers Party, and a Ku Klux Klan Grand Wizard shooting a gun.

Jason Kessler, the man responsible for organizing the rally, was sentenced to 50 hours of community service for punching James Taylor.

Jacob Scott Goodwin, who was a member of neo-Nazi Billy Roper's Shieldwall Network and Traditionalist Workers Party and who wore an "88" pin and TWP pin during the rally, was convicted of maliciously wounding DeAndre Harris at the rally.[30]

In September 2018, four California men were charged with violating the federal rioting law by traveling to Charlottesville "with the intent to … commit violent acts in furtherance of a riot."[31] The indicted men, "Benjamin D. Daley, 25, of Redondo Beach; Thomas W. Gillen, 34, of Redondo Beach; Michael P. Miselis, 29, of Lawndale; and Cole E. White, 34, of Clayton," are members of the racist and anti-semitic Rise Above Movement.[31]

N31VA crash[edit]

B. M. Bates

The helicopter which crashed was piloted by Lt. Jay Cullen, who was accompanied by Trooper Berke M. M. Bates, who was operating a video camera and taking aerial surveillance footage of the rally. Bates filmed the Dodge Challenger pressing the Toyota Camry from behind into the rear of the maroon-red Honda Odyssey which had been parked in the middle of 4th Street several minutes prior by Lizete Short, blocking the southern and only legal exit (onto Water Street) of the one-way street, which had no legal northern exit.

The helicopter then pursued the Challenger and filmed the arrest. This footage was introduced into evidence by the prosecutor Joseph Platania's assistant Nina-Alice Antony in December 2017, in combination with ground footage taken from the window of the Red Pump Kitchen restaurant. Both of these videos were then sealed for a reason left out of the court transcription, but which Judge Robert Downer and replacement defense attorney Denise Lunsford agreed to. When the FBI took over the case in 2018, the two videos remained sealed and banned from public viewing.

The helicopter had previously crashed on 11 May 2010[32] and its final crash is officially called ERA17FA274.[33]

The crash happened 3 hours after the Challenger hit the Camry, as the helicopter was rerouted to aid in escorting the vehicle of the Governor of Virginia.

Responses[edit]

Slow POTUS[edit]

“”Racism is evil. And those who cause violence in its name are criminals and thugs, including the KKK, neo-Nazis, white supremacists, and other hate groups that are repugnant to everything we hold dear as Americans.
—Donald Trump, August 14, 2017 (reading a statement)[34]
—Donald Trump, August 15, 2017 (impromptu news conference)[35][36]

President Donald Trump's response was quite delayed and insidious; rightfully, this pissed people off.[37] It is fairly certain that white nationalists, neo-Nazis, and alt-right activists voted for Trump, if they voted for anyone in the 2016 Presidential election. "President Trump is rarely reluctant to express his opinion, but he is often seized by caution when addressing the violence and vitriol of white nationalists, neo-Nazis and alt-right activists, some of whom are his supporters."[38] Indeed, none of the other candidates for president ever displayed sympathy for any of these aforementioned ideologies, while Trump had done so on many occasions.[39] The maker of the parade torches used in the march, Tiki® Brand, in contrast to the President, was quick to disassociate itself with the pro-Confederate-statue crowd.[40]

Five days after the murder of Heather Heyer, members of ISIS carried out a similar terrorist attackWikipedia in Barcelona, Spain. Predictably, since the perpetrators were brown Muslims, Trump was quick to condemn the attack, which contrasted sharply with his slow, dishonest, and half-assed condemnation of white nationalist domestic terrorism.[41]

Things got even worse after Trump's massive criticism of the peaceful protests of black NFL players taking a knee during the national anthem (to raise awareness of racism and police brutality, by the way), slamming them by saying they should all be fired.[42]

By 2019, Trump himself, Scott Adams, Morton Klein (head of the Zionist Organization of America) with the help of Louie Gohmert, Steve Cortes (Trump advisor/sycophant and Fox News hack), Breitbart, and Prager "University"[43] have attempted to whitewash Trump's false equivalence of racists with anti-racist protesters.[44][45]

Anonymous[edit]

The hacktivist group Anonymous, in response to Unite the Right, has supposedly hacked multiple alt-right websites, even saying they are going to shut down The Daily Stormer. However, many think this is being faked by said websites for attention, since everybody hates them even more now and they may want to feign weakness so the mob/"freeze peach!" crowd comes to defend them.[46] The Daily Stormer in particular reportedly had gotten notice of being shut down soon by their webhoster before the "hacked" message appeared.

Unite the Right was a false flag operation to discredit the alt-right[edit]

See the main article on this topic: False flag operation

Some people on the Conservapedia talk pages ranted about UtR being a false flag by teh leebrals in an attempt to discredit the right.[47][note 2] They claim that since this happened at the same time as the "Democrat Party" was involved in controversy, the left manufactured it to distract the MSM. The false flag conspiracy theory has also been propagated by Infowars, and US House Republican Paul Gosar of Arizona.[48] Gosar also brought up the debunked claim that George Soros was a Nazi collaborator.[48]

Miscellaneous idiocy[edit]

A couple weeks later, for a UVA football game ESPN decided to pull an announcer for happening to have the name Robert Lee.[49] Unsurprisingly, being of Asian descent, he was not actually named for the Confederate general.[citation NOT needed]

Indictments[edit]

Six years after the rally, a grand jury in Virginia indicted an as yet unknown number of people on felony charges for carrying torches during the rally with the intent to intimidate.[50]

Images from the rally[edit]

  • A poster announcing the scheduled speakers

  • The Tiki Torch parade

  • Militia members patrolling Emancipation Park in Charlottesville

  • A motley crew prepares to march

  • Counter-protesters with clergy

  • A variant of the paper, scissors, stone game

  • Fashy haircut gets punched

  • Skirmishing

  • Poster showing the "You Will Not Replace Us" chant used at the rally, and curiously showing iconography that is reminiscent of the Chinese Cultural Revolution

  • Hitler worshiper next to a loser with a Vanguard America shield

  • A man carrying a Confederate flag and a sign saying "JEWS ARE SATANS [sic] CHILDREN … JOHN 8:31-47 … JOHN 10:22-33." Chapter 8 of the Gospel of John is considered a primary source for antisemitism among Christians.[51][52]

See also[edit]

External links[edit]

Notes[edit]

  1. ↑ Though depicted in the poster, there is no evidence that libertarians appeared at the rally in any organized way, although Austin Gillespie, aka Augustus Sol Invictus, did make an appearance.
  2. ↑ Sound familar?

References[edit]

  1. ↑ Mike Godwin: Man who devised internet Hitler law says 'Call these Charlotteville s***heads Nazis', The Independent
  2. ↑ Bill Morlin (May 15, 2017). "Richard Spencer Leads White Nationalists at Torch Rally". Hatewatch (Southern Poverty Law Center).
  3. ↑ A Guide to Who’s Coming to the Largest White Nationalist Rally in a Decade by Spencer Sunshine (August 10, 2017) Political Research Associates.
  4. ↑ The Internet of Hate: After Charlottesville, Nazis, white supremacists, and the alt-right have become a lot less welcome on the web. So they’re building their own. by April Glaser (Aug. 30, 2017) Slate.
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 League of the South Board members
  6. ↑ Flags and Other Symbols Used By Far-Right Groups in Charlottesville: The so-called “Unite The Right” rally organized by white nationalist Jason Kessler in Charlottesville, Virginia, has succeeded in drawing out a diversity of far-right groups ranging from white nationalists to armed "Patriot" groups. (August 12, 2017) Southern Poverty Law Center.
  7. ↑ Nelson, Libby (August 12, 2017). ""Why we voted for Donald Trump": David Duke explains the white supremacist Charlottesville protests". Vox. 
  8. ↑ Vanguard America Anti-Defamation League.
  9. ↑ White Supremacists Stage Bizarro Rally in Downtown D.C., Find Themselves Stranded: Though they intended to “reclaim America,” members of Patriot Front had more than enough trouble reclaiming their own ride. by Blake Montgomery & Zachary Petrizzo (Dec. 04, 2021) The Daily Beast.
  10. ↑ Black Pill: How I Witnessed the Darkest Corners of the Internet Come to Life, Poison Society, and Capture American Politics by Elle Reeve (2024) ISBN 1982198893.
  11. ↑ Charlottesville suspect sent mother Hitler picture days before rally, prosecutors say by Amir Vera (Posted: 3:48 AM, December 04, 2018; Updated: 3:48 AM, December 04, 2018) CNN via WLSL (archived from 7 Apr 2019 22:50:35 UTC).
  12. ↑ Ong, Thuy (August 14, 2017). "Neo-nazi site Daily Stormer threatened by hosting providers and possible hackers". The Verge. 
  13. ↑ Lee, Timothy (August 14, 2017). "Google Domains, GoDaddy blacklist white supremacist site Daily Stormer". ArsTechnica. 
  14. ↑ Lomas, Natasha (August 15, 2017). "After Charlottesville, more web service providers ditch The Daily Stormer for TOS violations". Tech Crunch. 
  15. ↑ "‘Sargon Of Akkad’ Cites White Nationalist Propaganda, Reveals His Alt-Right Sympathies" - Jared Holt for Right Wing Watch (December 13, 2017)
  16. ↑ "Sexist 'Alt-Right' Conspiracy Surrounding Heather Heyer's Death Persists Despite Ruling From Medical Examiner" - Michael Edison Hayden for Newsweek (Oct 17, 2017)
  17. ↑ 17.0 17.1 Sines v. Kessler (Sines v. Kessler) Casetetxt.
  18. ↑ 18.0 18.1 Far-right figures in Charlottesville court over deadly violence of 2017 by Edward Helmore (7 Nov 2021 03.00 EST) The Guardian
  19. ↑ Spencer, Kessler, Cantwell and other white supremacists found liable in deadly Unite the Right rally by Ellie Silverman et al. (November 23, 2021) The Washington Post.
  20. ↑ Archived /pol/ thread
  21. ↑ Man misidentified as Charlottesville driver had to flee home; plans to sue far-right sites by Oliver Darcy (August 16, 2017: 6:13 PM ET) CNN Media.
  22. ↑ James Alex Fields found guilty of killing Heather Heyer during violent Charlottesville white nationalist rally by Minyvonne Burke and Marianna Sotomayor (Dec. 7, 2018) NBC News.
  23. ↑ "Charlottesville Car Attack: Who Is Accused Suspect James Alex Fields Jr.?: The Two-Way". NPR. Archived from the original on August 17, 2017. Retrieved May 24, 2018. 
  24. ↑ http://freedomdaily.com/truth-terrorist-drove-charlottesville-riot-crowd-revealed-who-was-supposed-to-die/[a w]
  25. ↑ http://www.politifact.com/punditfact/statements/2017/aug/14/puppetstringnewscom/charlottesville-hit-and-run-driver-was-anti-fascis/[a w]
  26. ↑ http://ariseresist.com/news/social-media-also-makes-it-clear-he-hates-donald-trump/[a w]
  27. ↑ http://thecount.com/2017/08/12/jerome-vangheluwe-charlottesville-protesters-accident-update/[a w]
  28. ↑ https://studionewsnetwork.com/police-news/breaking-charlottesville-car-terrorist-is-anti-trump-open-borders-druggie/[a w]
  29. ↑ UPDATE: #Charlottesville Driver Who Struck Crowd In Custody—Stay Tuned (Aug 12, 2017) Gotnews.com (archived from 13 Aug 2017 00:01:47 UTC).
  30. ↑ White supremacist is guilty in Charlottesville parking garage beating of black man by Ian Shapira (May 2, 2018 at 9:30 AM) The Washington Post.
  31. ↑ 31.0 31.1 Four members of militant group charged in 2017 'Unite the Right' rally in Charlottesville by Paul Duggan (October 2 at 2:40 PM) The Washington Post.
  32. ↑ https://www.ntsb.gov/about/employment/_layouts/ntsb.aviation/brief2.aspx?ev_id=20100512X45440&ntsbno=ERA10TA261&akey=1
  33. ↑ https://www.ntsb.gov/_layouts/ntsb.aviation/brief.aspx?ev_id=20170813X82426&key=1
  34. ↑ Trump's statement on the Unite the Right riot (Archive)
  35. ↑ Full text: Trump's comments on white supremacists, ‘alt-left’ in Charlottesville (08/15/2017 04:48 PM EDT; Updated 08/15/2017 06:16 PM EDT) Politico.
  36. ↑ President Donald Trump On Charlottesville: You Had Very Fine People, On Both Sides (Aug 15, 2017) CNBC via YouTube.
  37. ↑ Johnson, Ted (August 15, 2017). "Trump Again Blames ‘Both Sides’ for Charlottesville Violence in Combative Press Conference". The Verge. 
  38. ↑ "Trump’s Remarks on Charlottesville Violence Are Criticized as Insufficient" - Glenn Thrush and Maggie Haberman (August 12, 2017). The New York Times. Archived.
  39. ↑ Trump's entry on Right Wing Watch
  40. ↑ "TIKI Condemns Neo-Nazis For Using Their Torches" - Mass Appeal. Archived.
  41. ↑ Trump’s Quick Response To Barcelona Attack Makes His Charlottesville Reactions Look Even Worse by Paige Lavender (08/17/2017 02:30 pm ET) HuffPost.
  42. ↑ Trump on X: "...our Great American Flag (or Country) and should stand for the National Anthem. If not, YOU'RE FIRED. Find something else to do!" Posted at 6:18 PM on September 23, 2017. Archived.
  43. ↑ Watch Shaun's refutation to PragerU's video here
  44. ↑ Trump Supporters Now Claim He Didn't Call Charlottesville Neo-Nazis 'Very Fine People': Trump supporters have seized on the idea that it's unfair for the media to say Trump said there were ‘very fine people on both sides’ when referring to white supremacists. by Will Sommer (04.11.19 2:59 AM ET) The Daily Beast.
  45. ↑ Trump tries to re-write his own history on Charlottesville and 'both sides' by Aaron Blake (April 26, 2019 at 10:27 AM) The Washington Post.
  46. ↑ YourAnonNews, while an unproven source, is considered the best source of news regarding Anonymous. They think it's a hilarious joke performed by TDS to gain publicity.
  47. ↑ cp:Special:MobileDiff/1367476
  48. ↑ 48.0 48.1 Arizona congressman repeats bogus claim that Charlottesville violence was left-wing plot by Derek Hawkins (October 6, 2017 at 5:24 AM) The Washington Post.
  49. ↑ http://money.cnn.com/2017/08/23/media/espn-robert-lee-uva-game/index.html
  50. ↑ White nationalists who carried torches in Charlottesville in 2017 indicted: Recently unsealed indictments come almost six years after gathering that resulted in violent clashes with counter-protesters (19 Apr 2023 08.56 EDT) Associated Press via The Guardian.
  51. ↑ Cast Out of the Covenant: Jews and Anti-Judaism in the Gospel of John by Adele Reinhartz (2020) Fortress Academic. ISBN 1978701195.
  52. ↑ Signs Of Trouble: A Pennsylvania Gubernatorial Candidate Decorated His Yard Signs With An Obscure Bible Passage. Was He Sending A Message Of Religious Intolerance? by Robert Shaffer (Feb 28, 2023) Church & State Magazine.
  53. ↑ The Mormon Church Condemned White Supremacists, and This Mormon White Supremacist Mom Is Very Mad About It by Ruth Graham (Aug. 18 2017 12:34 PM) Slate.
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