I was invited to write an article for the ABC Religion and Ethics website.
On 12 August 2017, a white supremacist rally at the University of Virginia at Charlottesville resulted in the death of Heather Heyer and nineteen injuries, as “white nationalist” James Alex Fields, Jr. ploughed his car into counter-demonstrators.
Antiracist social media immediately noted the prevalent minimization that has accompanied the rise of the “Alt-Right” since the election of Donald Trump.
The white supremacists who marched on Charlottesville themselves appeared to underscore the message. Peter Cvjetanovic, a white demonstrator whose picture was circulated online after the rally, appealed, “I hope that the people sharing the photo are willing to listen that I’m not the angry racist they see in that photo.”