Panic In Charlottesville

In a new book, Virginia’s former governor, Terry McAuliffe, gives a behind-the-scenes look at the deadly 2017 UNITE THE RIGHT Charlottesville rally and how the violence could have been avoided. He also has a few choice words for President Trump and the “Send her back” crowd .

TERRY McAULIFFE WAS THE GOVERNOR OF VIRGINIA during a disastrous Unite the Right rally which took place on August 12, 2017 in Charlottesville to protest the removal of a statue of Robert E. Lee—and the renaming of the park where it was located from Lee Park to Emancipation Park (it was since renamed again, to Market Street Park in July 2018). The white supremacist and neo-Nazi protesters and the counterprotesters clashed violently as heavily armed right-wing militia loomed prominently over the proceedings. Governor McAuliffe called in the Virginia National Guard to end the rally even before its official noon start time. Shortly thereafter, one of the neo-Nazis, James Alex Fields Jr., drove his car into a crowd of counterprotesters, killing 32-year-old Heather Heyer, and injuring 35 others.

Fields was recently sentenced on state charges to a second life sentence plus 419 years for his confessed crimes. In a social media post she had written before her death, Heyer said, “If you’re not outraged, you’re not paying attention.” Two Virginia State troopers and close McAuliffe family friends, Jay Cullen and Berke Bakes, also lost their lives when their police helicopter crashed outside of Charlottesville during their surveillance of the rally.

After the tragedy, McAuliffe was unequivocal: “I have a message to all the white supremacists and the Nazis who came into Charlottesville today. Our message is plain and simple. Go home.”

In this excerpt from his book, BEYOND CHARLOTTESVILLE: TAKING A STAND AGAINST WHITE NATIONALISM, McAuliffe describes the events of the morning of the Unite the Right rally and why he had to act quickly.