Many of you first became aware of me either through my coverage of the BLM/Antifa riots in 2020 or during the Biden-Harris border crisis, but it was far from my first time covering a chaotic event.

I had covered the protests at the Republican and Democratic conventions in 2016, but they were mainly filled with hippies who set up tents. Nothing crazy.

Then comes August 2017. A friend of mine at the time asked if I wanted to cover this rally Richard Spencer was hosting at a statue in Charlottesville. I had a car, and he did not. Since it was during the weekend, I said, “Sure, why not?”

Once we arrived, to say I was unprepared for the day ahead is an understatement. No helmet, no gas mask, no vest, and shorts instead of pants. Walking through the crowd of counter-protesters and Antifa, I was expecting to see a police line to separate the two sides to prevent fighting. Instead, I found myself in “no man’s land” between the groups. No police.

Because the park where the “Unite the Right” was being held had stairs, it created a minor buffer for people to come down, fight, and then fall back. Again and again, the two sides clashed. One man on the alt-right side picked up a metal newspaper stand and chucked it, hitting no one. Another was bleeding from the head after being pulled from the Antifa crowd. For my part, I was hit a few times by thrown sticks and paint bombs, along with pepper spray.

Upon entering the park, riot police, who had been on a nearby street, standing and watching the violence unfold, were pushing the rally goers out and into the street where counter-protesters were waiting. This led to more violence, unsurprisingly.

I was not present for the car ramming that resulted in the death of Heather Heyer. What most people do not realize is that the crash happened much later, after the majority of the “Unite the Right” crowd had marched away. We thought the day was over and were eating lunch at a nearby restaurant when the news broke.

It was this event that started it all for me. Despite conventional wisdom, it was then, and there, I wanted to continue reporting on hectic protests and riots. Not just for the adrenaline rush, but because it was important to document as much as possible since Charlottesville turned into a major story afterward.

This is why the recent news that the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) allegedly had at least one person on its payroll involved with the “Unite the Right” rally is interesting. SPLC defenders say the organization was simply paying informants, but the indictment says SPLC’s man on the inside was an organizer who helped with transportation for the event.

If that is indeed the case, it should be determined whether any of their funds were used or made it easier to make the rally happen.

At the end of the day, I don’t think it will matter if SPLC’s money was used for the rally, but I could be wrong. The Left’s reaction and weaponization of President Donald Trump’s “fine people on both sides” of the statue debate (not the riot) set the tone for the rest of his term. Heck, it is still used as an example by the Left against Trump nearly seven years later. Not to mention, I am sure people acted independently of the SPLC.

The fault for the violence mainly falls on state and local leaders who clearly did not prepare for the day. No roads were blocked off for the crowds, thus allowing a car to enter the march, and police stood by for a long time before doing anything. Much like the 2020 riots, a lot could have been prevented had the people in charge acted like they had a pair.

***

Julio Rosas is a field reporter at MostlyPeaceful.media covering immigration, protests, and national flashpoints across the U.S. He writes at Mostlypeaceful.media from where this essay is adapted with the author’s permission.

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Charlottesville: My First Riot