This is based on the Frontline documentary (together with the independent nonprofit newsroom ProPublica): Documenting Hate: Charlottesville
WARNING: Because there is some discomforting information, reader discretion is advised. Also, because of the offensive symbols, Newstime will not post them for clean reasons.
One year ago, the city of Charlottesville Virginia (a population of 50,000 people), was rocked by a series of disturbing events. First, a rally set by White Supremacists and Neo-Nazis defending the statue of Confederate, Robert E. Lee. Next, the people for the Unite the Right movement (who were against the statue) faced off against them. As a result, it led to a violent clash, which included a car plowing through angry protesters, & leaving 32-year-old paralegal Heather Heyer killed. Frontline along with ProPublica reporter A.C. Thompson investigated for who was responsible for those horrific acts of terror.
On August 11th of last year, before Unite the Right, the Charlottesville Police Department held a press conference saying that 100 police officers were on board for what laid ahead. It was about the unpermitted torch light march of that night. The police chief said, he heard about the rumors, but hasn’t heard enough details. The University of Virginia was starting to become quiet, until the torches appeared. As 100s of White Supremacists and Neo-Nazis arrived with the chants of “Jews will not replace us” and “White Lives Matter”, so did the police on scene. They were also accompanied by 15 anti-racist people. Among the protesters was Emily Gorcenski. He filmed about the rally where they were barricaded. As Gorcenski taped the events on his phone, several White People came at him saying, they have outnumbered him, and later proceeded to attack. He thought he was going to be hurt by torches, and get killed. Fortunately, he survived. He said he has never seen a happy rage of White people insulting a big minority.
The next day, the clergy and the White Supremacist /Neo-Nazis faced each other in what was sure to be a raging fight. The clash began at 10:15 am, where many anti-racists were non-violent, except for the Black Cloud Militant anti-racist group, who wanted to challenge the Nazis. Many White Supremacists were wearing double shields and held clubs, as they proceeded the Unite the Right Group. While the others fought back, the police made no arrests. At noon, the White Supremacists began to seize DeAndre Harris in a parking lot, and beaten him up. There was no interference from the police, as the attack on Harris happened. At 1:45 pm, the worst act of violence happened. James Arthur Fields, a White Supremacist drove a grey Dodge car, plowing over the counter protesters. 20 people were injured, but 32-year-old Heather Heyer never made it out alive. Her mother Susan Bro, was in complete devastation of the news.
Bro had chills everytime she goes into the parking garage near the police station. She is unsure what justice for her daughter would look like, but knows life is different after Heyer’s death. She also believes that people who were attacking during the violent protest should be held accountable, and not just Fields.
President Donald Trump’s words regarding the protest on Charlottesville sparked media outrage. While many White Supremacists and the KKK leader David Duke praised President Trump, much of the city of Charlottesville was angered, including former Mayor of that city, Mike Signer (D). He was Jewish, and was no stranger of being trolled by Neo-Nazis. He received a cartoon on Twitter of Robert E. Lee holding a green button on a gas chamber, photoshopping Signer with a Confederate statue over the star of David. At that night of the White Supremacist rally, he was at the County Government, looking very stricken. He only wished that his town hall was given the information about that night. It was one briefing with the Virginia State Police in the City Council, without any evidence of threat. Unite the Right was a turning point during the movement for White Supremacists. An independent report said that the local & state police failed to do anything during both rallies, in which it provided dismal results. In addition to Fields being charged prison for life for Heyer’s death, four other White Supremacists were held accountable for the beating of Harris (but without any charges.)
When Thompson could not find any answers, he headed to New York City to get them. He met up with retired FBI agent and Brennen Control for Justice for NYU Law, Mike Germa, to get that scoop on that violent weekend. According to him, the police should’ve been there to arrest the White Supremacists who were violent to the Unite the Right Group. What German found most interesting was that, the protest in Charlottesville came two years after the other Neo Nazi / White Supremacists rallies in California. He knew in his office that the violence in Charlottesville was more predicted than predictable, and that the FBI failed to be aware of those violent protests happening. As a result of these wave of actions to German’s sense, the police would allow the White Supremacists to keep going with the violent behavior. The FBI did issue a statement that it can’t police ideology, but would enforce the rule of law on any hate crimes White Supremacists commit.
There was one particular face who was part of the Neo-Nazi rally in Charlottesville, and a pro-Trump rally in Huntington Beach, California. After being detained by police, Robert Rundo was the responsible one for both. He first started out as a gang member in queens, New York called The Original Flushing Crew. Based on the Queens D.A., his crew was not 100% White, due to having a few Latino members. His gang was in a nasty fight with the infamous MS-13 gang. Rundo (AKA El Diablo Blanco) and his crew was running against the members of MS-13 outside a delicatessen. He stabbed that member six times. Although the graffiti stayed on the sidewalk, he went to prison for gang assault for 2 years in Upstate. When he was released, he moved to Orange County, California. Rondo was the Grand Dragon at the Imperial Klans of America. Orange County probation officer Lowell Smith has paid very close attention to the White Supremacist in his 26 year career. Rundo had a Totenkopf skeleton tattooed, in which it is a significant symbol in the neo-Nazi organization (which started with Adolf Hitler, Gestapo, and several Nazi secret police.) In the prison system, there were so many hate fights, they had to separate the criminals by race for protection. Therefore, it doesn’t surprise Smith that the White Supremacy movement has continued to evolve through the years, which concerns him. Especially, when he believes that the new trend of White Supremacy (which Rondo is on) is curving the mainstream of politics.
The first time that Rondo was in a pro-Trump rally was in Huntington Beach, California. There were no torches, but rather a sea of American flags, and a banner saying “Defend America.” As counter protests arrived, Rondo and his crew began to attack. Among the people attacked was journalist Frank Tristan (who is a member of Orange County’s alternative weekly paper.) Tristan said he knew it was a group all together, and was looking at who was attacking, as well as the banner that was showcased. One hashtag: #magamarch (with 276 posts on Instagram) was shown him being barraged. When he clicked on Rondo’s name, it took him to that profile. According to former Editor of OC Weekly Gustavo Arellano, the next thing they discovered was a guy in a bald head, wearing a jacket with ta Hammerskins logo. That guy was released from prison for a hate crime. Both Tristan & Arellano have tracked every White Supremacist movement, including what Rondo leads is the Rise Above Movement (RAM). They describe themselves as Patriotic citizens, but actually, their Facebook posts anti-semitic & racial posts. In addition, they post photos & videos on training with the Hammerskins, a large Nazi group in America. After emerging in Huntington Beach, RAM’s social media surged. At the time of Charlottesville March, they became White Supremacist street fighters.
ProPublica video producer Lucas Waldron said a few people in the shots were unable to be identified. However, Thompson knew there was one familiar face that was in that violent protest in Charlottesville. Michael Miselis was the one who started the first fight of the rally. Miselis has no criminal record, a PhD candidate at UCLA, has a government issued security clearance, and worked at Northrop Grumman as a defense contractor. However, he first declined Thompson’s request for an interview. Later on, he agreed to do a follow-up interview, in with Northrop Grumman terminated his job.
Next, it was off to one of RAM’s training spots (from the propaganda videos.) In Irvine, California, in a drainage tunnel, there was White Supremacist graffiti. It was intended for narrow lettering. According to Sociologist Pete Simi (who has studied about White Supremacists), it was all about White Survival. In one of the works (the Kiltic Cross), they were more of cleaning the streets as defenders of traditional White Culture.
In Marblehead Park in San Clemente, California, they filmed training videos, in regards to fitness, warrior spirit, and political street fighting. Simi also believes that RAM might be a small fringe group, but he believes that the best White Supremacist is the least visible. The issues White Supremacist are concerned on include immigration (in which White Supremacists believe is an invasion, and a hot button topic.) Months after the Charlottesville riot, both law enforcement and the FBI opened up an investigation.
According to the FBI, hate crimes were up by 5 years. One of which was the death of UPenn student Blaze Bernstein (who appeared to be Jewish and gay.) Samuel Woodward stabbed him 20 times (making it a recent notable hate crime.) The crime happened in Orange County (where one of the White Supremacists rallies happened a few years prior.) He Woodward grew up in Newport Beach, where his family was Catholic, and went to the richest churches in Orange County, Our Lady of Queen of Angels (which was a conservative church.) He didn’t take part in any White Supremacist rallies there.The court file did not showcase very much details in what was his motive, nor did the schoolmate knew. Much of the evidence nevertheless was online. Journalist Jake Renahand sent Thompson several photos of one unknown Twitter account. It showed Woodward doing paramilitary not with RAM, but with another Neo-Nazi group called The AtomWaffen Division. Golly Whinston (A colleague of Thompson) got a hold with Ted Bundy (the member of the AWD).
Bundy uses Nazi symbolism on his facebook page, and even took part of the Charlottesville rally. His father didn’t deny nor confirm Bundy’s Facebook page, but the next day, Bundy left the group, saying it was too extreme. AWD was obsessed with secretary used encrypted text messages and private chats using Discord. Over 250,000 text messages are used in this group. Bundy and Woodward are in the logs, however, there was something else unexpected.
At the Charlottesville torch rally, where Gorcenski was brutalized, new details emerged in the AWD logs. One member codename VasillitheGreek (with the actual name of Vasili Pistolis) who kicked Gorcenski, was a private First Class member of the Marine Corp. When they zoomed in one photo, he runs in doing a fly kick. He hits another person near Gorcenski, but doesn’t hit him (which started the maylay.) The military abolishes people with being racists, and the Pentagon denounced those in Charlottesville. Shortly after the rally, Pistolis wrote a comment on Facebook, proving he is an active Judi Marine. Ed Bach (a Marine in the military) said he went through Pistioli’s social media pages, and showing anti-semitic content (as a member of the AWD.) This included the costume he had for the 2nd rally. He was in the middle of every video and photo of the attacks in Charlottesville. But that was not the first rally he attended. Pisolis was at the White Lives Matter rally in Shelbyville, Tennessee, where they invaded an interracial couple. Bach reported him to the military police at Camp Platoon (where Pistolis was a Nazi, and insulted people for a number of years), all on that specific phone call. He never heard back from the military again.
Thompson contacted to the Marine Corp. several times. They said they would open an investigation on Pisolis, but there were no evidence. He even contacted the man himself, but Pistolis denied going to Charlottesville. In a call, he even defended his actions attacking Gorcenski. He even left the AWD (just like Woodward), because of being in trouble for it. He didn’t want to talk about the events in Charlottesville, but he said this: if there is nothing else about the events of Charlottesville, he will cooperate with him.
In response to Thompson’s reports, Congressman Keith Ellerson (D-Minnesota) set a letter to the Secretary of Defense James Mattis, asking him to look over this case. Ellerson said he heard the report from ProPublica, and was concerned about this. It’s critical, because he said President Trump is sending a vice versa message. When people are holding tiki torches with no mask in a public street, it shows that they’re not scared. In the Democratic view, they called the actions in Charlottesville unacceptable. Ellerson also said, they need to shed light so it can become an important issue.
In light of the one year Anniversary of Charlottesville, Woodward was charged with a hate crime. Pistolis is no longer with the Marine Corps. The movement in Charlottesville is still a burning memory for some.
A big thanks to A.C. Thompson, ProPublica, and the Documentary Hate Project for this story.
If you are interested in this episode of Frontline, you can watch it again online at https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/film/documenting-hate-charlottesville/. You can also buy the DVD at shoppbs.org. It is also available on iTunes.
A huge thank you for the funding partners for making this episode possible: The Corporation for Public Broadcasting, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, the Abrams Foundation, the Park Foundation, the John and Helen Glessner Family Trust, the Frontline Journalism Fund (with major support from Jon and Jo Ann Hagler [on behalf of the Jon L. Hagler Foundation]), and contributions from PBS Viewers Like You (Thank You.)
Newstime with Sophia Melki 