Cville was brutally expensive, but since the Nazis were defeated in
their attempt to hold a racist rally with speakers our forces won by
definition as the defenders. The effect of this victory however
expensive was profound. Up until that time Richard Spencer’s suit and
tie Nazi alt-right faction seemed to be growing stronger by the week.
After that terrifying torch march, the brutal battle, and that
DAESH/ISIS style terrorist attack they were forced to retreat in
disarray. Spencer’s own involvement in public Nazi politics was finished
off for good the following spring, when his failed university speaking
tour came to a humiliating end in another battle at the University of
Michigan.
After Cville, the remnants of American Vanguard (which had included
Heather Heyer’s murderer James Fields) reorganized into Patriot Front.
The collapse of Spencer’s hard alt-right opened a vacuum into which the
Proud Boys grew into another new and dangerous force. Many former Proud
Boys are now ICE agents.
Now for my own experience: I had planned to deploy to Charlottesville
but was strongly urged not to go because I was still way too hot from
the Deploraball/stink “bomb” fracas of Jan 19 2017. A good friend who
was already going shot video in my place and got footage I would not
have been able to get as I would not have been able to get that close
and still be able to spare one hand from fighting for the camera. About
80% of the video below is that footage.
The following day, still waiting for my friends to return, I was in the
DC emergency march from the WWII Memorial to the Albert Pike statue.
This foreshadowed the events of three years later when protesters tore
it down on Juneteenth 2020.
The video below from Cville was delayed until Aug 14th because my
cameraman was not back until the evening of the 13th because of the
terrorist attack. I got the footage (about 80% of this finished edit)
after the march from the WWII Memorial to the Pike Statue. While the
footage was copying to my laptop, a drunk driver DROVE ONTO THE SIDEWALK
right at us! I yelled “heads up!” but was sitting on my feet and could
not move fast. I thought I was toast. The drunk driver went around us
and lurched back into the street. That’s when I realized he was only a
drunk driver.
Video below is the DC emergency response to Charlottesville on Aug 13 2017, nine years ago today.
This is from a longer video, starts with us marching past what was then
Trump Hotel, descending on the Albert Pike statue and chanting “tear it
down!” This was three years before protesters did exactly that on
Juneteenth 2020.
The march originated at the WWII Memorial but grew as it passed through
the streets, especially during an intermediate rally at the White House.