Politics and Government

Charlottesville And The White Supremacists

WAMU 88.5

Published August 14, 2017 at 9:06 AM CDT

Rescue workers and medics tend to people who were injured when a car plowed through a crowd of anti-facist counter-demonstrators marching through the downtown shopping district in Charlottesville, Virginia. The car plowed through the crowed following the shutdown of the "Unite the Right" rally by police after white nationalists, neo-Nazis and members of the "alt-right" and counter-protesters clashed near Lee Park, where a statue of Confederate General Robert E. Lee is slated to be removed.

What began as a rally by white supremacists in Virginia this weekend ended in terror Saturday as a car slammed into a group that was protesting the rally, killing at least one person and injuring 19 others.

The tension had been high since Friday, when a group of torch-bearing white nationalists (some giving a Nazi salute) descended on the University of Virginia campus to protest the potential removal of a statue of Confederate General Robert E. Lee.

After Saturday’s deadly violence, President Donald Trump said, “we condemn in the strongest possible terms this egregious display of hatred, bigotry and violence on many sides … on many sides.” The response was met with criticism, with members of the president’s own party labeling it too vague.

We should call evil by its name. My brother didn’t give his life fighting Hitler for Nazi ideas to go unchallenged here at home. -OGH

— Senator Hatch Office (@senorrinhatch) August 12, 2017

Very important for the nation to hear @potus describe events in #Charlottesville for what they are, a terror attack by #whitesupremacists

— Marco Rubio (@marcorubio) August 12, 2017

Mr. President – we must call evil by its name. These were white supremacists and this was domestic terrorism. https://t.co/PaPNiPPAoW

— Cory Gardner (@SenCoryGardner) August 12, 2017

Beyond condemnation, what action will follow the spilled blood in Charlottesville?

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GUESTS

Sarah McCammon, Mid-Atlantic and Southeast reporter, NPR; @sarahmcammon

Jameta Barlow, Assistant professor, Department of Women’s and Gender Studies at Towson University; @allaboutafya

Meredith Clark, Media studies professor, University of Virginia; @MeredithClark

Rich Benjamin, anthropologist and cultural critic; senior fellow at Demos; author “Searching For Whitopia: An Improbable Journey to the Heart of White America”; @IAmRichBenjamin

Gary Shapiro, University of Virginia professor of philosophy and Tucker-Boatwright Professor of the Humanities, Emeritus

For more, visit http://the1a.org.