Charlottesville and Germany

Cidette Rice
Mr.Roddy
IHSS
May 3rd, 2019

Charlottesville and Germany

    On August 12th, at 1:45pm, self-identified white supremacist James Alex Fields Jr. rammed his car into a crowd of protestors, who were counteracting the crowd of white supremacists that had gathered in Charlottesville’s Lee Park. The supremacists had gathered at Lee Park To protest the city’s decision to remove the statue of Robert E. Lee, a commander of the Confederate States Army, that was placed smack-dab center in the park. Earlier that year, white supremacists had gathered on May 13th to protest, and roughly 50 Klu Klux Klan members had protested on July 8th in the same spot. James’ attack was motivated by hate, and it has not been decided whether or not he drove to kill. He ended up murdering Heather Heyer, a 35 year old waitress practicing law. He injured 40 others and has been charged, as of December 2018, with 30 counts if federal crime and pleaded guilty to 29 of them in hopes of shortening his 419+ year sentence along with life imprisonment.

    I chose to focus on Germany’s reaction to the event. Seeing has the white supremacists performed the heil salute and carried flags that has the swat skis embellished on them, I knew that German news sources would be reactive. Having had great efforts to distance themselves from Hitler by implementing strict anti-hate laws, Germany has no tolerance for those who are active in hating minority groups. Here’s a from The Washington Post on comments from around the world. “‘Most people in Germany have difficulty understanding that gatherings like in Charlottesville are possible in the U.S., because we have drawn a different lesson from history,’ said Matthias Jahn, chairman of criminal law at Goethe University in Frankfurt. ‘Our German law centers on the strong belief that you should hinder this kind of speech in a society committed to principles of democratic coexistence and peace.’” The Washington Post also wrote what Steffen Seibert said, a spokesman for German Chancellor Angela Merkel. “He said that the violence that unfolded in Charlottesville was “sickening.” He described the symbols and slogans employed in “the right-wing extremist march” — including swastikas and chants of “Blood and soil,” a Nazi-era motto — as “diametrically opposed to the political goals of the chancellor and the entire German government.”


Sources

Stanley-Becker, Isaac, and James McAuley. “'We Have Drawn a Different Lesson from History': How the World Is Reacting to Violence in Charlottesville.” The Washington Post, WP Company, 14 Aug. 2017, www.washingtonpost.com/world/charlottesville-violence-condemned-in-europe-elsewhere-around-the-world/2017/08/14/6765c0be-80ef-11e7-9e7a-20fa8d7a0db6_story.html?noredirect=on.

Spencer, Hawes, and Sheryl Gay Stolberg. “White Nationalists March on University of Virginia.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 11 Aug. 2017, www.nytimes.com/2017/08/11/us/white-nationalists-rally-charlottesville-virginia.html?action=click&module=RelatedCoverage&pgtype=Article&region=Footer.

Lord, Debbie, and Cox Media Group National Content Desk. “What Happened at Charlottesville: Looking Back on the Anniversary of the Deadly Rally.” Ajc, Cmgsharedcontent.com, 11 Aug. 2018, www.ajc.com/news/national/what-happened-charlottesville-looking-back-the-anniversary-the-deadly-rally/fPpnLrbAtbxSwNI9BEy93K/.

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