Counterprotesters dwarf ‘Unite the Right’
Thousands of counterprotesters descended on the nation’s capital yesterday, dwarfing the second “Unite the Right” demonstration during a largely peaceful day, marking a dramatic change from a year ago when a woman in Charlottesville, Va., was killed in race-fueled violence.
“We want to make sure the city, the country, the world knows that blatant white supremacy will not be tolerated in the public sphere,” said Maurice Cook, a co-organizer for the March for Racial Justice, which organized one of several counterprotests yesterday.
“We will not go back. We’re still here, we’re still fighting,” he said.
Jason Kessler, the lead organizer of last year’s “Unite the Right” event, scheduled what he called a white civil rights rally yesterday afternoon in Lafayette Square in front of the White House. Kessler said in his permit application that he expected 100 to 400 people to participate in his event, though the actual number was closer to 30, according to reports.
“We haven’t even seen them,” Cook said of the Unite the Right group.
Counterprotesters assembled in Washington ahead of the rally’s scheduled start. By midafternoon, more than 1,000 people had gathered in Freedom Plaza, also near the White House.
Cook, 47, of Washington, D.C., described the day as a “delightful festival-type environment,” with “thousands” of people of all ethnicities, and political perspectives coming together.
The atmosphere Cook described was worlds away from the violence in Charlottesville last summer, where Heather Heyer, 32, was killed when a car plowed into a crowd of counterprotesters.
“They’re two totally different things,” Cook told the Herald. “Today, we came together in love to celebrate each other. There, it was chaos.”
Heyer’s mother, Susan Bro, visited the site of the attack yesterday. She laid flowers at a makeshift memorial and addressed a crowd that gathered around her in downtown Charlottesville, thanking them for coming to remember her daughter but also acknowledging the dozens of others injured and the two state troopers killed when a helicopter crashed that day.
“There’s so much healing to do,” Bro said. “We have a huge racial problem in our city and in our country. We have got to fix this or we’ll be right back here in no time.”
President Trump was at his golf club in New Jersey during the protests, but he tweeted about the rally Saturday.
“The riots in Charlottesville a year ago resulted in senseless death and division. We must come together as a nation,” Trump wrote. “I condemn all types of racism and acts of violence. Peace to ALL Americans!”
Vice President Mike Pence released a statement as well, remembering the “tragic events” that took place in Charlottesville and mourning the loss of Heyer’s life that day.
“Bigotry, racism and hatred run counter to our most cherished values and have no place in American Society,” Pence said. “We will also continue to pray — in these too divided times — that Americans will come together in new and renewed ways.”
Cook called the Washington demonstration an “incredible success.”
“It was a beautiful day,” Cook said. “America should be proud.”