This chapter recounts the July 8 ku Klux Klan event that worsened the division among members of Charlottesville's clergy. It looks at religious leaders who had gone to Justice Park to confront the Klan largely that believed that the Charlottesville Police Department had effectively taken sides in favor of the Klan and against the counterprotesters. It also talks about the “Congregate Charlottesville,” which is a clergy group that was created after the Klan rally and who identified themselves as an instrument for organizing faith leaders. The chapter describes the Congregate Charlottesville's determination to take a more aggressive approach to the next Unite the Right rally. It discloses how the group issued a national appeal to the clergy to come to Charlottesville to oppose and confront the national white supremacist rally.
This chapter discloses how the University of Virginia (UVA), with the rest of Charlottesville, braced for the Unite the Right onslaught. It looks into the collection of essays edited by professors Louis P. Nelson and Claudrena N. Harold on the events in Charlottesville in 2017. It also explains Nelson and Harold's observation of UVA prior to the summer of 2017, noting that UVA as an institution generally positioned itself as separate from the city. The chapter explores the layers of complexity and intensity that were unique to UVA, starting from its founding by Thomas Jefferson, who owned slaves, to its complicity in the eugenics movement and resurgence of racism in the 1920s. It also notes how the conflicts of America's culture war and constitutional unconsciousness have played out with special intensity on public and private university and college campuses.
This chapter discusses the Silver Valley Redneck Revolt that traveled to Charlottesville to participate in the August 12 rally. It explains that the Redneck Revolt is a national movement that was founded in 2016 as an anti-racist and anti-fascist community defense formation. It also discloses that the Redneck Revolt is a part of the “armed left” that emphasizes being armed in defense of leftist groups that seek to counter supremacist groups like the alt-right or the Ku Klux Klan. The chapter analyzes the Redneck Revolt's use of the term “redneck,” which was a point of pride in a deliberate effort to counter the perceived views of the elites. It mentions Dwayne E. Dixon, a member of Redneck Revolt who defied traditional stereotypes.
This chapter focuses on the American debate over the meaning of “freedom of speech,” which has been a contest between two ideas: the “order and morality” theory and the “marketplace of ideas” theory. It discusses the “order and morality” theory as a conception of freedom of speech that is grounded in the notion that freedom of speech cannot be elevated above the “social compact” that binds society. It also emphasizes that speech that undermines order or morality may be punished by laws enacted through the democratic process. The chapter explains that the marketplace theory is the opposite of order and morality, arguing that it is grounded in the notion that democracy is subordinate to free speech. It clarifies that the test of truth and morality should be the power of a thought to win in the competition of the marketplace of ideas.
