2017 in america: white supremacists with torches rallied over the weekend in charlottesville, va

Charlottesville, VA. was a disturbing sight this weekend when self-proclaimed white nationalist Richard Spencer led a group of misguided, white-shirted white people in two drum-banging, Confederate flag-waving, torch-carrying, klan-style protest against the high-profile removal of a Confederate monument. The second of two Saturday protests that Spencer held in the UVA college town, where he once attended school, only lasted ten minutes before counter-protesters and police arrived and dispersed the scene, but it was long enough for local news to capture footage of Spencer and friends chanting things like “You will not replace us” and “Russia is our friend,” and the Nazi expression, “Blood and soil.”

During the daytime drum-banging march, Spencer was captured yelling, “What brings us together is that we are white, we are a people, we will not be replaced!“ I’m guessing Spencer is in the rage/denial stages of grief.

On Sunday night, members of the Charlottesville community gathered in counter-protest against the white supremacist group, draping a “Black Lives Matter” banner across the doomed monument.

By Erin White*, AFROPUNK contributor

Sunday night’s counter-protests, both photo via Ryan M. Kelly/The Daily Progress

Saturday night’s torch-carrying Alt-Right protest, photo via Shaun King

Peep the white women

*Erin White is an Atlanta-based writer and AFROPUNK’s editorial and social media assistant. You can follow her on Tumblr or friend her on Facebook. Have a pitch or an inquiry? Shoot her an email at erin@afropunk.com.