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See the facts about the Charlottesville riot. You decide what they mean.

Larry Kummer, Editor

Summary: The riot at Charlottesville’s “Unite the Right” event is trivial by historical standards. But it is rich with insights into modern America. This street fighting, like that of the Weimar Republic, might be a milestone on America’s path to an ugly future. Here are the facts about what happened, fairly showing both sides in action. You decide their significance. At the end you will see my proposed solution.

“Where are the police?” shouted a man shortly before noon.”
— From the NYT. We still don’t know the answer. Officials refuse to answer.

Contents

  1. About the events in Charlottesville.
  2. About the police response.
  3. About the armed militia!
  4. An “F” for the police response.
  5. Journalists have their big story.
  6. We’re victims. It was their fault!
  7. The bad news. And a solution.
  8. For More Information.

(1)  What happened in Charlottesville?

Fourteen people were injured in the riot on April 12 at Charlottesville, VA, not including victims of the car crash.

“Cable news replayed a seemingly endless loop of the early violence at Emancipation Park, which police in riot gear had surrounded {the protesters} on three sides, although they seemed to watch as groups beat each other with sticks and bludgeoned one another with shields. Many on both sides came dressed for battle, with helmets and chemical irritants. At one point, police appeared to retreat and then watch the beatings before eventually moving in to end the free-for-all, make arrests and tend to the injured. Gov. Terry McAuliffe (D) declared a state of emergency about 11 a.m. and activated the Virginia National Guard.” {Source: WaPo.}

Maggie Astror of the NYT gives a version of events for children: “A Guide to the Violence in Charlottesville.” It’s almost fact-free; a big chunk of it criticizes Trump.

The NYT also provides a thrilling photo montage which gives near-zero information about what happened: “A Far-Right Gathering Bursts Into Brawls” by Hawes Spencer — “A white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Va., became a scene of a constant stream of projectiles as attendees and counterprotesters clashed.” Spencer gives a classic example of burying the lede. Deep into the article we read ““Where are the police?” shouted a man shortly before noon.” We don’t get an answer from Spencer.

We learn more from one of the best accounts of the riot: “Police Stood By As Mayhem Mounted in Charlottesville” by A. C. Thompson and Robert Faturechi of ProPublica — “State police and National Guardsmen watched passively for hours as self-proclaimed Nazis engaged in street battles with counter-protesters. ProPublica reporter A.C. Thompson was on the scene and reports that the authorities turned the streets of the city over to groups of militiamen armed with assault rifles.” Of course, it’s wildly slanted coverage.

“There was nothing haphazard about the violence that erupted today in this bucolic town in Virginia’s heartland. At about 10 a.m. today, at one of countless such confrontations, an angry mob of white supremacists formed a battle line across from a group of counter-protesters, many of them older and gray-haired, who had gathered near a church parking lot. On command from their leader, the young men charged and pummeled their ideological foes with abandon. One woman was hurled to the pavement, and the blood from her bruised head was instantly visible.

“Standing nearby, an assortment of Virginia State Police troopers and Charlottesville police wearing protective gear watched silently from behind an array of metal barricades — and did nothing. It was a scene that played out over and over in Charlottesville as law enforcement confronted the largest public gathering of white supremacists in decades. We walked the streets beginning in the early morning hours and repeatedly witnessed instances in which authorities took a largely laissez faire approach, allowing white supremacists and counter-protesters to physically battle.

“Officials in Charlottesville had publicly promised to maintain control of the “Unite the Right” rally, which is the latest in a series of chaotic and bloody racist rallies that have roiled this college town …

“{By 11 a.m.} what had started hours earlier with some shoving and a few punches had evolved into a series of wild melees as people attacked one another with fists, feet, and the improvised weapons they’d brought with them to the park. White supremacists and anti-racists began blasting each other with thick orange streams of pepper spray. The police did little to stop the bloodshed. Several times, a group of assault-rifle-toting militia members from New York State, wearing body armor and desert camo, played a more active role in breaking up fights. Shortly before noon, authorities shut down the rally and the related demonstrations and marched the white supremacists out of the park and into the streets. …

While a fact-rich report, it’s propaganda – not mentioning that both sides came prepared for violence and rioted enthusiastically. It is written in terms of white hat Leftists and evil fascists. The news media’s coverage was so one-sided that some journalists broke ranks and called their peers out on it.

“David Copper, 70, of Staunton, Va., spoke to the AP after a Saturday morning brawl at a park that went unchecked by police. He said that ‘people got hurt and the police stood by and didn’t do a godd—- thing.’ The AP did not mention Copper’s reason for being in Charlottesville on Saturday, or whether he had organized or protested on any particular side.” {Source: AP story in ABC News.}

 

 

The other big story of the riot is that, like the Berkeley riot, police were largely well-paid and heavily armed observers.

“Brittany Caine-Conley, a minister in training at Sojourners United Church of Christ, arrived in downtown Charlottesville on Saturday morning expecting that there might be violence. She did not expect things to get out of hand so quickly. …’There was no police presence,’ Ms. Caine-Conley said. ‘We were watching people punch each other; people were bleeding all the while police were inside of barricades at the park, watching. It was essentially just brawling on the street and community members trying to protect each other.’ {Source: NYT.}

Even after the riot, police were derelict in their responsibility to maintain order. Police were not at a potentially explosive event at the Town Hall. But they show up afterwards!

“Jason Kessler, a white nationalist organizer, attempted to give a press conference Sunday afternoon to address issues related to the rally, but was shouted down by a gathering of protesters, and opted to flee the scene in front of Charlottesville Town Hall.  Police did not appear to be in the immediate vicinity of his press conference, and seemed to arrive to control the crowd only after Kessler had already fled the scene.”  {Source: ABC News.}

Many accounts mention the Right-wing militia — a new and disturbing addition to this new phase of American politics.

“Complicating the dynamics was the fact that several dozen groups of armed militias — men in full camouflage toting assault-style weapons — were in the middle of the crowds. Some claimed that they were there to keep the peace, although none appeared to try to stop the skirmishes.” {Source: WaPo.}

Updates.

CNN has a timeline of the event, from the precursors in May – July, to the roughly six hours of chaos at the riot.  Also, The ACLU of Virginia upheld their proud tradition by accurately reporting events at the riot. See their tweet from 9:30 AM.

Which side to support in our Weimerica street battles? The police maintaining order.

(2) About the police response. Welcome to Wonderland!

Perhaps the most amazing chapter of the riot was how government officials responded to it afterwards. They sound like characters from Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. I put the more rational statements at the top and the truly delusional ones at the end. Red emphasis added.

“In the weeks leading up to the protest, city and state officials put together a detailed plan for the rally, mobilizing 1,000 first responders, including 300 state police troopers and members of the National Guard. Judging from how events unfolded today, it appears that the strategy was to avoid direct confrontations with the protesters”. {Source: ProPublica.}

One thousand “first responders”! That’s a lot. Where were they? Estimates of the crowd size vary widely, but most are several thousand.

“Police says ‘We’ll not intervene until given command to do so.'” {Source:  ACLU of Virginia, giving no source.}

The government explains their inaction.

“There was a ton of preparation that went into one goal for government which was setting the conditions so that people could express themselves and assemble peaceably, and what happened was you had a lot of people who were not willing to accept even that basic condition of what we do in our democracy,” {Mayor} Signer said. {Source: ABC News.}

After a major screw-up, saying nothing is often the best policy.

“Local and state authorities declined to address specific questions about how the demonstration was handled or their strategy for the day. The city’s mayor, police chief, city manager and McAuliffe also did not answer questions at an early-evening news conference. Al Thomas, the police chief, said only that the city will be ‘reviewing events of the day over coming weeks and months.'”  {Source: WaPo.}

When in doubt, obfuscate.

“Charlottesville Vice Mayor Wes Bellamy defended the police tactics. ‘I’m not in the business of throwing our police department under the bus, because they’re doing the best job they can, ‘ said Bellamy. ‘I don’t think the police officers were just twiddling their thumbs.'”  {Source: ProPublica.}

The Chief of Police sets up his own personal goal poles.

“Charlottesville police Chief Al Thomas said at least 35 people had been injured — many of them from violent encounters between white supremacists and the counter-protesters. He said nobody had been wounded due to confrontations between police and the public. ” {Source: ProPublica.}

Who are you going to believe, the State Police spokeswoman or your eyes?

“Corinne Geller, a spokeswoman for the State Police, said, ‘It may have looked like a lot of our folks were standing around,’ because of the sheer number of officers on the scene, but ‘there were other troopers and law enforcement officers who were responding to incidents as they arose.'”  {Source: NYT.}

This is especially odd.

“Lt. Joseph Hatter, a commander with the Charlottesville police, said officers tried to create separate areas for protesters and counterprotesters to ‘reduce the violence.’ But, he conceded: ‘It didn’t work, did it? I think there was a plan to have them separated. They didn’t want to be separated.’ About the apparent delay in reacting to the violence, Hatter said, ‘I don’t know that we did wait. I think we did the best we could under the circumstances.’ He declined to elaborate.”  {Source: WaPo.}

Some key officials were especially delusional.

“Brian Moran, Virginia’s secretary of public safety and homeland security, was watching the events from a command post on the sixth floor of a Wells Fargo bank on the downtown mall. There were sporadic fights. ‘I compare it to hockey,’ he said. ‘Often in hockey there are sporadic fights, and then they separate.’ …Asked why the police did not do more to control the brawling, Mr. Moran said, ‘It was a volatile situation and it’s unfortunate people resorted to violence. But from our plan, to ensure the safety of our citizens and property, it went extremely well.’”   {Source: NYT.}

The police chief denied the rumors about political interference, then admits his incompetence (not following standard police preparations for a riot).

“The police chief of Charlottesville, Va., denied Monday that cops were ordered not to intervene or make arrests during the violent clashes that led to the death of an anti-racist protester. Chief Al Thomas said it was ‘simply not true’ that cops had been told to stand down Saturday. He then abruptly ended a televised news conference. …

“Thomas said uniformed cops had to change into ‘protective gear‘ before clearing out the park, which sparked ‘disturbances throughout the downtown area’ that weren’t quelled for about an hour. …Asked if he regretted not having his cops in riot gear before the planned rally, Thomas didn’t answer the question directly and only spoke about the three people who died.” {Source: NY Post.}

Adding to the festivities, State Delegate David J. Toscano (D-Charlottesville), minority leader of Virginia’s House, praised the response by Charlottesville and state police.

“’Things were getting out of hand in the skirmishes between the alt-right and what I would describe as the outside agitators who wanted to encourage violence,’ he said. Asked why police did not intervene sooner, Toscano said he could not comment. He said they trained hard to prepare for the demonstration ‘and it might have been that they were waiting for a more effective time to get people out’ of the park.”  {Source: WaPo.}

(3)  About the armed militia!

Under pressure from an angry public, the Governor resorted to some myth-making — which went viral.

“At a brief press conference this evening, Virginia officials declined to answer questions about the police response, but said they were not taken surprise by the violence or the number of protesters. ‘This could have been a much worse day,’ said Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe, ‘We planned for a long time for today’s incidents.'” {Source: ProPublica.}

“Governor McAuliffe also defended the police response, saying, ‘It’s easy to criticize, but I can tell you this, 80% of the people here had semiautomatic weapons.’ ‘You saw the militia walking down the street, you would have thought they were an army,’ he added. ‘I was just talking to the State Police upstairs; they had better equipment than our State Police had,’ he said, referring to the militia members.” {Source: NYT. The NYT later edited this out of the story, but confirmed the accuracy of the quote.}

“Says VA Gov, 80% of Racists at Charlottesville had semi-auto assault rifles. Armed militias rivaling state power.”
— Tweet by Keith Ellison (Democratic representative from Minnesota).

Videos of the event show few people with guns. How many militia were there at Charlottesville? A few dozen, vs. the thousand “first-responders” and “300 state police and National Guard.” And what was the protestors’ “better equipment”? In August 2014 The Virginian-Pilot (Virginia’s largest newspaper) reported on the large quantities of military equipment stockpiled by Virginia police. Here’s a photo of an armored vehicle on patrol in Charlottesville during the riot. Heather Fluit, deputy communications director for the governor’s office told PolitiFact:

“The governor was referencing the weapons and tactical gear the members of various groups attending the rally had on their persons. I can assure you that the Virginia State Police personnel were equipped with more-than-adequate specialized tactical and protective gear for the purpose of fulfilling their duties to serve and protect those in attendance of the August 12 event in Charlottesville.”

Corinne Geller, Virginia State Police public relations manager, said much the same to the Washington Free Beacon. The governor also claimed there were weapons stashes around the city. Geller said that the police conducted searches before the protest. “No weapons were located as a result of those searches.”

I found few details about the numbers and actions of the militia at the riot, except for this in The Guardian, a solidly left-wing voice (i.e., nice words about right-militia are probably true):

“The men in charge of the 32 militia members who came to Charlottesville from six states to form a unit with the mission of ‘defending free speech’ were Christian Yingling, the commanding officer of the Pennsylvania Light Foot Militia and…

“’We spoke to the Charlottesville police department beforehand and offered to come down there and help with security,’ Yingling told the Guardian. ‘They said: “We cannot invite you in an official capacity, but you are welcome to attend,” and they gave us an escort into the event,’ he added. …Yingling said he had been asked to bring a team to Charlottesville by a local militia, the Virginia Minutemen Militia, to reinforce their numbers, and to be in charge on the day. But Yingling said the original request for a militia force to attend the event had come from the organizers of the white nationalist rally, who wanted them to act as security. The militiamen had said: ‘No, we will not come and defend just you,’ Yingling recalled. ‘It’s important for us to say we were there in a neutral stance.’”

(4)  Experts give the police an “F” for their response.

America has long experience with riots. Police have developed effective techniques to maintain order. Too bad the Charlottesville police did not use them.

“’The whole point is to have overwhelming force so that people don’t get the idea they can do these kinds of things and get away with it,’ said Charles H. Ramsey, who headed both the District and Philadelphia police departments. Demonstrators and counterdemonstrators ‘need to be in sight and sound of each other, but somebody has to be in between,’ he said. ‘That’s usually the police.’” {Source: WaPo.}

New York City has had more experience with riots than most US cities, going back to the draft riots during the civil war. Here is a perspective by one of New York’s finest.

“Joseph L. Giacalone, a retired New York Police Department sergeant and adjunct professor at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice, said he was floored that a large band of white nationalists were allowed to carry torches into a rally on Friday evening — and that people from both sides were allowed to carry masks, helmets, face-guards and sticks to the Saturday event.” {Source: Daily Press.}

Here is a brief description of the trade-offs and risks of various methods of crowd control.

“Miriam Krinsky, a former federal prosecutor who has worked on police reform efforts in Los Angeles, said it was too early to assess the law enforcement response in Charlottesville. But she said a strategy of disengagement generally works to embolden unruly crowds. ‘If things start to escalate and there’s no response, it can very quickly get out of control,’ she said. ‘Individuals can and will get hurt.’ But an overly forceful response, she said, can also make the situation worse. Krinsky said attempts to seize weapons might have led to more clashes between police and protesters. ‘Trying to take things away from people is unlikely to be a calming influence,’ she told ProPublica. A good strategy, she said, is to make clashes less likely by separating the two sides physically, with officers forming a barrier between them. ‘Create a human barrier so the flash points are reduced as quickly as possible,’ she said.”  {Source: ProPublica.}

We can get what we demand – if we pay for it.

(5)  Journalists have their big story.

While they tell us little about the genesis of the riot and why the police just watched it, journalists tell us what they believe is the big story. Their motto is All Trump, All the Time. For example, The Guardian gave us these two articles today, in case just one did not convey the big message. Much of the major media made Trump a big part of story, casting chaff to could our vision.

“Trump’s failure to condemn Virginia neo-Nazis is shocking but not surprising” by David Smith — “The president’s refusal to properly condemn the attack in Charlottesville is consistent with past comments and a divisive campaign that stoked hatred.”

“Charlottesville: Trump under fire for failure to condemn far right” by JoAnn Walters — “Republicans and Democrats say president’s words on apparent deliberate killing of protester should have been much harsher.”

Fun note about American journalism: I submitted a press release about this post, with the headline “a balanced fact sheet for journalists”. A major press release distribution service rejected it: “We don’t want to tell people that.” He hung up.

Update: See Journalists loved Antifa. Now they’ve turned on them.

(6)  We’re innocent victims. It was all their fault!

Accounts of real journalists show how both sides believe the police treated them less fairly than their foes. Such as this in the LAT. More interestingly, the LAT links to first-person accounts of the riot by a wide range of people. Some describe both Left and Right arriving armed and eager to fight — and fighting. Partisans describe their side as innocent angels attacked by devils. As usual with eyewitness testimony, the accounts are contradictory.

A view from the Left: “Police Stood By As Mayhem Mounted in Charlottesville” by A. C. Thompson and Robert Faturechi of ProPublica — “State police and National Guardsmen watched passively for hours as self-proclaimed Nazis engaged in street battles with counter-protesters. ProPublica reporter A.C. Thompson was on the scene and reports that the authorities turned the streets of the city over to groups of militiamen armed with assault rifles.” A story of innocent leftist protesters beat up by bad guys. They skillfully lie.

A view from the Right: “Mainstream Media Ignores Violence by Antifa and Black Lives Matter in Charlottesville – Puts Blame on Unite the Right” by InfoWars. A story of innocent white nationalists marching for freedom, assaulted by evil leftists.

This is an important reminder: reform in America is impossible until we become more skeptical about propaganda and more interested in truth.

  1. We cannot agree on simple facts and so cannot reform America.
  2. American politics is a fun parade of lies, for which we pay dearly.
  3. Swear allegiance to the truth as a step to reforming America.
Read it here.

(7) Now for the bad news. And a solution.

How many riots like this has American had in the past few years, with street fights between Left and Right (sometimes one as aggressor, sometimes both) — with the police as bystanders? This is very Weimerica — yet another example of America following the path of the Weimar Republic in the 1920s. A government that cannot maintain order in the streets — that has lost the will to even try and do so — signals to extremists that it has rotted. Extremists will gather in strength to prepare for the next regime. We are in the early stages, with time to reform. It is our job to demand that the police — supported by local and state governments — maintain order during political protests.

Another worrisome sign is people’s turn to the President for immediate action, as if he is our God-Emperor. Local law enforcement is not Trump’s job. The Constitution created a federal system. Let’s try it lest we lose it. We won’t like what comes next.

There are two ways to restrain this wave of political violence. Click on the links for details. First, keep the Confederate monuments; rededicate them to our needs. Second, the police must maintain order in public spaces at political events.

(8) For More Information

For updates on this and other major issues, like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter. See all posts about protests, about riots, about Reforming America: steps to new politics, and especially these about protests…

Know our enemies, such as the white nationalists at “Unite the Right”.

We have to know them to successfully fight them. They show themselves in this video.

 

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