August 19, 2017

Tens of Thousands of People Just Showed Nazis (and Donald Trump) What Really Makes America Great

This is what democracy looks like.

Michael Dwyer/AP

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One week after a bitterly violent protest in Charlottesville, Va., that left one woman dead and 19 injured, tens of thousands of counter-protesters marched in at least 30 cities, including New York City, San Francisco, Chicago, Atlanta, and Washington, D.C. to demonstrate their opposition to white nationalism. The largest protest by far was in Boston, where an estimated 30,000-40,000 counter-protesters showed up, according to the Boston Globe. Only a handful of people attended the planned “Free Speech” protest, and they were quickly overwhelmed.

The fight over symbolism that pays homage to the Confederacy gained increasing momentum over the week after President Donald Trump criticized protesters “on both sides” of the battle,” all but defending the white nationalists who have vowed to, as they shouted in Charlottesville, “unite the Right.”

His statement was greeted with criticism from both parties, and demonstrations today were organized in anticipation of still more protests by white nationalists emboldened by his remarks. But if there were any Nazis planning to demonstrate, they were outnumbered by thousands of peaceful counter-protesters.

Here is a glimpse of what went on today, starting with Boston:

https://twitter.com/waqasahmi/status/898939138103234560

Demonstrators lined up in Chicago at the statue of a slave holder:

Here are some images from Detroit:

And from California:

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DONALD TRUMP & DEMOCRACY

Mother Jones was founded to do things differently in the aftermath of a political crisis: Watergate. We stand for justice and democracy. We reject false equivalence. We go after, and go deep on, stories others don’t. And we’re a nonprofit newsroom because we knew corporations and billionaires would never fund the journalism we do. Our reporting makes a difference in policies and people’s lives changed.

And we need your support like never before to vigorously fight back against the existential threats American democracy and journalism face. We’re running behind our online fundraising targets and urgently need all hands on deck right now. We can’t afford to come up short—we have no cushion; we leave it all on the field.

Please help with a donation today if you can—even just a few bucks helps. Not ready to donate but interested in our work? Sign up for our Daily newsletter to stay well-informed—and see what makes our people-powered, not profit-driven, journalism special.

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