To see photos of the demonstration, check out the Virginia Defender's album here.
This past Saturday, I attended a counterdemonstration opposing a Klan rally in Charlottesville, Virginia. A segment of the Ku Klux Klan from Pelham, North Carolina held a rally in Charlottesville's Justice Park, in front of the Robert E. Lee statue, to protest the city's decision to sell its monuments honoring Confederate leaders. To my understanding, the group Showing Up for Racial Justice (SURJ) Charlottesville called this specific counter-demo, but there were a ton of groups with a presence, and various events earlier in the day. Lots of Richmonders were there in solidarity.
There were about 2,500 counterdemonstrators, around 100 police officers from the city, county, and state, and approximately 30 to 40 Klan members. There were also a handful of Klan supporters in the crowd, but they were a tiny minority who mostly stayed clustered near the police.
Police erected barriers to allow the Klan to move in and out of the park; a couple of activists tried to prevent their entry, and were arrested. The Klansmen ultimately entered at about 3:45, guarded by police in riot gear, and stood around shouting racial slurs and doing Nazi salutes for a while— I'm certain they spoke, also, but they were drowned out by boos and chants. When they were eventually ushered out, still under heavy guard, another group of counterdemonstrators tried to block their egress and were arrested. The police then issued an order to disperse, declared the gathering unlawful, and used three tear gas canisters. Mayor Mike Signer is now saying that police were provoked when protesters attacked them with pepper spray, but there's no evidence, video or otherwise, that this actually happened. Black Lives Matter Charlottesville has a write-up confronting this claim here.
Throughout the course of the event, 23 anti-Klan activists were arrested. You can contribute to their legal fund here.
Prior to the demonstration, anti-racist activists in the area faced police surveillance and unannounced visits to homes and workplaces from detectives wanting information on their activities and affiliations. Al-Jazeera recently published an article on the disparate reaction of Charlottesville police to left groups vs. far right groups like the Klan.
Groups like the Klan hold events like these for two reasons: to intimidate, and to recruit. When you show up to oppose them in numbers like Charlottesville did this weekend, you prevent recruiting and show them for cowards. For all their posturing, they were only able to show up and scream racial slurs from behind a line of riot cops.
That said, let's get ready for Round 2: a local white supremacist has called a larger "Unite the Right" rally on August 12th, at Charlottesville's Emancipation Park. More details on that in another post.
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