Boston and Across the Country:
Tens of Thousands March Against White Supremacy, Neo-Nazis, and Trump

Updated August 21, 2017 | Revolution Newspaper | revcom.us

Tens of thousands march in Boston on August 19 against the alt-right, fascists and neo-nazis. Photo: Twitter/@RedTRaccoon

Tens of thousands of people took to the streets Saturday in Boston to protest and confront a rally of a collection of “alt-right” fascists and neo-Nazis held under the banner of a “Free Speech Rally.” This massive protest, coming a week after fascists and KKK white supremacists ran amok and murdered Heather Heyer in Charlottesville, Virginia, was the largest of a nationwide wave of vigils, marches, and protests in solidarity with the people of Charlottesville and to condemn Nazis, racism and white supremacy.

“Thousands of demonstrators, emboldened and unnerved by the fatal eruption of violence in Virginia last weekend, surged into the nation’s streets and parks on Saturday to denounce white supremacy and Nazism,” the New York Times reported.

In Boston, one march—Fight Supremacy!—left from the traditionally Black neighborhood Roxbury, and a Stand for Solidarity march left from the State House. The marches filled the street for block after block after block. One freelance journalist wrote, “I couldn't see the end of this crowd with binoculars.” Both marches met at and surrounded the Boston Commons where a wall of police protected what ended up being a pitiful rally of some 20-40 assorted fascist and racist scumbags. In some cases pro-Trump neo-Nazis were surrounded by counter-protesters and prevented from getting anywhere near their rally. When the neo-Nazis were escorted from their cut-short rally, they were met with a chorus of “Shame!” and “Scum!” At one point a Confederate flag was burned.

This was a very broad, diverse outpouring, including LGBTQ and Black Lives Matter activists, clergy, and many mainstream folks who’d been shocked and outraged by the violent rallying of fascist forces in Charlottesville and Trump’s open support for them. One Jewish woman wearing the kind of yellow Star of David the Nazis forced Jews to wear under Hitler told MSNBC, “I never in a million years thought I’d be going to protest Nazis.”

Chants included “No Nazis, No KKK, No fascist USA” and “Nazis Go Home.” One activist tweeted “NO PLACE FOR NAZIS. Tens of thousands united to #FightSupremacy, racism, and Nazis.” There were signs for “Black Lives Matter,” “Solidarity,” “White silence is unacceptable,” and “No hate no fear white supremacy is not welcome here.” A colorful Refuse Fascism “NO!” banner was shown in news coverage.

A retired Black teacher told the New York Times, “Charlottesville is what forced me out here. Somebody killed for fighting for me. What is wrong with me if I can’t fight for myself and others?”

Protests and Vigils Nationwide

Also on Saturday, in Dallas a diverse crowd of several thousand rallied at City Hall Plaza for “Dallas Against White Supremacy.” Chanting “Hey, hey, ho, ho, neo-nazis got to go” and “Take them down, take them down,” the demonstrators called for the removal of all Confederate statues in Dallas. “We don’t put up a statue of Adolf Hitler to study World War 2,” one speaker said.

As the rally was winding down, some demonstrators marched to protest the Confederate War Memorial and confront the white supremacist upholding this monument to the soldiers and generals fighting for slavery. “Officers in riot gear, and some on horseback, forced hundreds of protesters out of a Dallas cemetery where they were clashing over a Confederate monument on Saturday night,” the Dallas Star-Telegram reported.

Meanwhile, several hundred rallied against white supremacy in Austin.

In Laguna Beach, California, nearly 350 turned out for a “From Charlottesville to Laguna Beach: We Stand Together” rally against racism and white supremacy, chanting “No hate. No KKK. No racist USA.” More than 100 also protested in Santa Ana, which is also in Orange County.

Up the coast in Venice Beach, 200 people demonstrated against the alt-right and the Nazi assault at Charlottesville. Demonstrators had originally planned a “Defend Diversity” counter-protest against an alt-right rally in support of James Damore who was fired by Google for circulating a misogynist memo claiming women were biologically incapable of being scientists and engineers. (See Setting Some Shit Straight About James Damore’s Anti-Diversity Memo At Google, by Sunsara Taylor, revcom.us, August 10, 2017.) When the alt-right canceled their demonstration in the wake of Charlottesville, protesters turned their #controlaltrightdelete protest into a march against white supremacy, chanting “Hey, hey! Ho, ho! White supremacy has got to go!” and “No Trump! No KKK! No fascist USA!”

Hundreds gathered in Charlottesville on Saturday for a somber vigil led by Heather Heyer’s parents, at the spot where Heather was murdered. Protests were also called in New Orleans and Minneapolis, and several dozen events in solidarity with Black Lives Matter were announced to “Confront White Supremacy from Charlottesville to the White House.”

On Friday, there were protests in Durham, North Carolina, and Portland, Oregon, and candlelight vigil in remembrances of Heather Heyer was held in Boston at the New England Holocaust Memorial.

Many vigils were held across the country on Wednesday night to oppose racist and fascist hate, and in solidarity with the victims of the fascist violence in Charlottesville, including in Akron, Ohio, and Nassau, New York. In Philadelphia, some 2,000 people marched in a "Philly Is Charlottesville" rally condemning white supremacy, “chanting denunciations of racism, fascism, President Trump, and former Mayor Frank L. Rizzo,” according to Philly.com. Anti-racist, anti-hate and/or anti-Nazi solidarity with Charlottesville protests were planned between August 17 and 20 in many other cities around the country, including Daytona Beach, Florida; Colorado Springs, Colorado; Manchester, Iowa; Burton, Michigan; and Asbury Park, New Jersey.

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