On Saturday, thousands of white nationalists, Klansmen, and neo-Nazis descended on Charlottesville, Virginia, purportedly to protest the removal of a statue of Confederate General Robert E. Lee. The heavily armed mob marched through the streets, chanting messages of hate, and attacking city residents and university students.
In the chaos, one white nationalist intentionally crashed a speeding car into a crowd of counter-protesters, killing one woman and injuring dozens more. While we may never know what was going through his mind, it seems clear that the attacker meant to kill, maim, and spread fear; to deprive residents of their right to speech and peaceful assembly. In other words, he meant commit an act of domestic terrorism. While the nation gasped in horror as the events unfolded nobody should be surprised by the outcome.
The above excerpt was originally published in Medium.
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