Racism and Fascists in Charlottesville

DSA nationally echoes our Charlottesville chapter’s call for solidarity on this anniversary and we urge all of our members to join with organizations working on the ground to stop the Unite the Right rallies planned in Washington and other cities around the country. 

One year ago Heather Heyer was murdered and many others were injured and scared by the vicious right-wing attack in Charlottesville. DSA members from Virginia, Maryland, and DC were among those who went to Charlottesville to confront the right, among many other small groups of members, and individuals. 

We stand with our chapters who took up the call for solidarity last year, inspired by their memories and bravery. 

Since Donald Trump’s election, the fascist movement in our country has grown more bold, drawing energy and support from Trump’s xenophobic comments, but at the core of the Right’s agenda is an old racism. While the South has a special history related to race, we know that racism is rampant throughout the United States and must be confronted everywhere. Racism drives the right, both the alt-right and the 'mainstream' right represented by the GOP in congress. This is no accident. Nixon's Southern strategy has resulted in a GOP populated by racists.

We stand with all people of color, immigrants, and communities attacked by the racist current in our country. 

Whether in the streets, by going door-to-door, organizing in the workplace, or even confronting injustice in the home, on this anniversary we urge our members to heed the last words of legendary labor activist Joe Hill --

“Don’t mourn, organize!”

Maria Svart

DSA National Director

The following statement was originally published by Charlottesville DSA on August 9th, 2018.

Charlottesville: Race and Terror – VICE News Tonight on HBO

Hundreds of white supremacists marched with torches in an American city Friday night. They arrived the next day brandishing weapons and armor. One white supremacist allegedly murdered an anti-racist protester in the street with his car and injured several others. This is what really happened when you peel back all the rhetoric flying in the aftermath, and after you tune out the first reprehensible response from the President of the United States, and his subsequent update to it that was two days late and a dollar short.

Vice News, to the outlet's immense credit, was on the ground to document the events in Charlottesville this weekend. Reporter Elle Reeve even embedded, for a time, with white supremacist leader Chris Cantwell. What she found speaks for itself, but keep an eye out for the little things. Like, say, how many guns these white supremacists have.

Trump's Response to Charlottesville

What Trump’s  first response to the Charlottesville carnage says about his moral compass

BY SASHA ABRAMSKY

 From the  The Bee

AUGUST 13, 2017 11:00 AM

President Donald Trump’s moral compass isn’t working. The needle’s spinning wildly, but the leader of the free world just can’t find moral north.

The latest example of his moral senility came in the wake of the white nationalist and Nazi atrocities in Charlottesville this weekend. On Friday night, torch-wielding supremacists descended on the college town, chanting slogans such as “Jews will not replace us,” many of them giving the Nazi salute.

The event looked like a hybrid of a KKK lynch mob and a Nazi book-burning ceremony. The tweeter-in-chief’s response was … silence. The next morning, hundreds of heavily armed white supremacists descended on the town again. From the loud-mouth president … more silence.