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RICHMOND, Va. – A planned rally of white nationalists in Charlottesville "Unite the Right" has erupted into chaos: a violent street brawl, racist chants, smoke bombs and, finally, a car traveling at top speed in a crowd of counter-partners, killing one and wounding dozens of others.
Subsequently, President Donald Trump ignited racial tensions by claiming that "the two sides" were to blame, a comment that some have described as refusal to condemn racism.
Fifteen months later, while the man accused of driving the car to the hearing for murder, the injuries are still alive. In Charlottesville, few believe that the lawsuit will go a long way toward addressing the country's racial divide or the community.
"I hope this will signal a chance for healing, although I'm not quite optimistic about it because the whole culture in which we live is so steeped in white supremacy and white nationalism that violence becomes less and less an exception to American practice. " democracy and more like a brutal demonstration of it, "said Lisa Woolfork, a professor at the University of Virginia, who was part of a crowd of counter-partisans when the car appeared out of nowhere on August 12, 2017 .
Heather Heyer, a legal assistant and a civil rights activist who was walking about 100 feet from Woolfork, was killed. The death toll was raised to three when a state police helicopter monitoring the event crashed, killing two soldiers.
The rally was organized in part to protest the planned withdrawal of a statue of Confederate General Robert E. Lee. Hundreds of members of the Ku Klux Klan, neo-Nazis and other white nationalists – emboldened by the Trump election – flocked to the university town to attend one of the largest gatherings of white supremacists of the decade. The group's show of strength included dressing in combat gear, shouting racial slurs and attacking counter-protestors.
James Alex Fields Jr., a 21-year-old Ohio man, known in high school for his fascination with Nazism and for his idol of Adolf Hitler, is on trial in Charlottesville on Monday. His lawyers declined to comment and provided no indication as to what his defense will be.
Fields had been photographed hours before the attack with a shield bearing the emblem of Vanguard America, one of the hate groups participating in the rally, although the group denied any association with him.
The preliminary hearings gave little explanation of Fields or his motivation. A police inspector from Charlottesville testified that, as he was detained after the car accident, Fields said he was sorry and that he had sobbed when he learned that a woman had been killed. Later, Fields told a judge that he was being treated for bipolar disorder, anxiety, depression, and ADHD.
Prosecutors watched a surveillance video showing Fields' Dodge Challenger head towards the candidates, then backing off before heading quickly to the candidates.
Star Peterson, whose right leg was almost crushed by the Fields car, underwent five surgeries and still uses a wheelchair and a cane. She was unable to return to work and received assistance to pay her rent and other bills from Heal Charlottesville, a fund created to help the injured.
Peterson said prosecutors had told her that she would be called to testify at the Fields trial.
"I feel it's something I can do for Heather," she said. "I will testify on his behalf."
The white nationalist Richard Spencer, who coined the term "alt right", said he had never had contact with Fields and that he had not had the chance. intent to attend his trial. He said that he hoped the trial would not paint all members of the movement as violent.
"This is a deeply troubling incident, and the fact that this incident may symbolize things that I believe in and millions of people believe it would be very unfortunate, but I do not think it will," he said. -he declares. .
"I'm not judgmental of the guilt or innocence of James Fields, I only ask that he be judged fairly."
Instead of strengthening the right wing movement, the rally turned out to be a disaster. The leaders of the movement are fighting against lawsuits and have been launched on traditional Internet platforms. An anniversary gathering near the White House attracted only 30 white nationalists.
Susan Bro, Heyer's mother, created the Heather Heyer Foundation to pay tribute to her daughter and offer scholarships to students in law, legal studies, social work, social justice and education.
Bro said that she doubts that the trial brings her a sense of closure. Fields is also facing a separate trial on charges of federal racist crime.
"I'm not obsessed with him," she says of Fields. "I have the impression of having entrusted it to the justice system.It is their problem, not mine."
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