Multiple Vigils Set For Sunday In Solidarity With Charlottesville As IL Leaders Blast White Nationalists, Trump

By aaroncynic in News on Aug 13, 2017 5:00PM

Photo: Tyler LaRiviere

Several solidarity demonstrations and vigils will take place Sunday in Chicago in response to the horrific attack on counter demonstrators in Charlottesville, Virginia by white nationalists.

Dozens of people were injured and one person was killed Saturday during a “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville, amid a gathering centered around the removal of a confederate monument. Clashes broke out between white nationalists toting Confederate and swastika flags, counter-demonstrators, and police, which culminated in a 20-year-old Ohio man driving a vehicle through a crowd of people, injuring 19 and killing one 32-year-old woman. Two Virginia state police officers were also killed later in a helicopter crash.

President Donald Trump—who has received support and adulation from many prominent white supremacists, including former Klu Klux Klan leader David Duke and white supremacist Richard Spencer (who were both in attendance)—issued a controversial initial statement, which was later celebrated by some on the neo-Nazi forum the Daily Stormer.

"We condemn in the strongest possible terms this egregious display of hatred, bigotry and violence, on many sides,” said Trump, according to CNN. “On many sides. It's been going on for a long time in our country. Not Donald Trump, not Barack Obama. This has been going on for a long, long time."

In addition to the car plowing into the crowd, several other major clashes happened, including the beating of an African-American man by a group wielding large poles.

Several Illinois politicians condemned the actions of white nationalists in Charlottesville, who on Friday marched with tiki torches at the University of Virginia, along with Trump’s statement, which was blasted as milquetoast.

“This display of hate in #Charlottesville is disgusting,” tweeted Illinois Senator Tammy Duckworth. “Our nation's strength comes from our values of diversity and inclusion.

"No, Mr. President, not ;many sides,'" tweeted Senator Dick Durbin. “There is one side with nazi flags and nazi salutes. America is not on that side.”

A group of between 50 and 70 people assembled at Trump Tower on Saturday for a vigil in honor of those injured and the woman killed, 32 year-old Heather Heyer, who was reportedly a member of the Democratic Socialists of America.

Several groups have planned solidarity demonstrations and vigils with the victims of the fascist attacks on demonstrators Sunday at various times and locations in the Loop.

Demonstrations will be held at 1:00pm at both the corner of Wacker and Wabash and at Millennium Park.

“One person has been killed and multiple others injured,” wrote the International Socialist Organization, who will host the demonstration across the street from Trump Tower in a statement. “We must mourn and we also must organize. Come rally to demonstrate that we are united against the racism and bigotry that they represent. We must show that right wing hate, racism, and violence will not be tolerated. Solidarity is needed.” The action is also endorsed by Democratic Socialists of America - Chicago, Gay Liberation Network, Veterans for Peace, the ANSWER coaltion, and more.

“Three people dead, a 32 year old woman and 2 people in a helicopter, and 35 wounded by the KKK, Nazi thugs in Charlottesville, Virginia have shown the whole world the reality of the Trump/Pence Regime's fascist America,” said the organization Refuse Fascism, who is organizing the demonstration at Millennium Park, in a statement emailed to Chicagoist. “Parading through the streets with torches chanting “Hail Trump” while spouting the most vile racism and anti-semitism, these shock troops revealed the ugly face of the fascist future that the Trump/Pence Regime has unleashed.”

Women’s March Illinois, Indivisible Illinois, Planned Parenthood of Illinois and a few other groups meanwhile, have called for another vigil at 6:00pm at Federal Plaza.

“Indivisible Chicago supports the right to free speech, however the hate and bigotry promoted by white supremacists gathering in Charlottesville is an affront to everything we stand for and has no place in society,” the group said in a statement emailed to Chicagoist. “We call on President Trump to take a stronger stand against white nationalism. His statements so far are not nearly enough especially since he and his administration (and political campaign) helped give voice and power to this hatred for the past year.”