White Supremacist Rally In Virginia Will Be Outnumbered, But Which Side Are Police On? #Charlottesville

Anti-racist college students were surrounded and beaten by white supremacists last night at the University of Virginia.

Last night violent white supremacists descended en masse on Charlottesville, a college town dominated by the University of Virginia campus. Historical note: UVA was founded by the slave owner and rapist Thomas Jefferson. The town recently voted to remove a statue of Confederate general Robert E. Lee and has since become a flashpoint for white supremacist convergence.

Journalists covering lack of police presence as torch bearing white supremacists terrorize non-white residents of Charlottesville, Virginia.

Tweets from last night are sharing videos of young white men beating up counterprotesters with police nowhere in sight.

If you've wondered what you would've done during slavery, the Holocaust, or Civil Rights movement...you're doing it now. #Charlottesville

— Aditi Juneja (@AditiJuneja3) August 12, 2017

These violent white supremacist terrorists are in #Charlottesville assaulting people right now.THIS IS NOT ABOUT FREE SPEECH #UniteTheRight pic.twitter.com/89sQxb0VKs

— Tariq Nasheed (@tariqnasheed) August 12, 2017

From my inbox:

Hundreds of white supremacist and openly fascist reactionaries are planning to rally Saturday. Aug. 12, in Charlottesville, Va. Thousands of protesters are also expected.  

If you're planning to come to Charlottesvile for the protests, please consider contacting the UNAC affiliate Virginia Defenders for Freedom, Justice and Equality, which is mobilizing with Richmond and Charlottesville groups to build the protest.
Thanks, 
UNAC AC member Phil Wilayto Richmond,Virginia DefendersFJE@hotmail.com

As I cannot be there, I am looking to reports from those on the scenes for the dismaying facts of history unfolding. Like this article on the plethora of death threats and racist slurs already received by Charlottesville's Jewish mayor and black deputy vice mayor.

Some tweets from last night:

I wish cops in #Charlottesville would pretend the nazi's torches were something dangerous like a wallet or a loose cig or a bag of skittles

— James Fritz (@fritzisdead) August 12, 2017

Angry men, dislocated from society, radicalized online, embraced by a community, promised glory & honor. Not ISIS, see #Charlottesville

— Wajahat Ali (@WajahatAli) August 12, 2017

All elective surgery cases including for people with cancer were cancelled at the huge UVA hospital today. Thanks KKK. #Charlottesville

— Eugene Gu, MD (@eugenegu) August 12, 2017

Another historical note:

Any white people who are out here tweeting about #Charlottesville need to go see @WhoseStreetsDoc - #WhoseStreets

— BreakfastClubBoycott (@LeslieMac) August 12, 2017

Thanks to Leslie for that tip. If you're in Maine, you can see Whose Streets, the documentary about Black Lives Matter organizing in Ferguson, Missouri following Michael Brown's murder by police, starting Monday, September 18 at Space Gallery in Portland.

Final historical note for now: this summer the NAACP issued its first ever state-wide travel advisory, for Missouri.

We're living history now, folks. Which side are you on?