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THOUSANDS GATHERED ON the campus of the University of Virginia overnight for a candlelit vigil against hate and violence.
The vigil in Charlottesville came after a weekend of violence and protest saw the city of 47,000 become an international byword for racial tensions and left a 32-year-old woman dead.
Two police officers also died in the city after their helicopter crashed. Those in attendance at the vigil sang several spirituals and observed a moment of silence for the three lives lost during Saturday’s violence.
The vigil was held on the same day as a memorial service was held for Heather Heyer, the woman killed when a car ploughed into a crowd of anti-Nazi protesters. Heyer was eulogised as a woman with a powerful sense of fairness. The mourners, many of them wearing purple, her favorite colour, applauded as her mother urged them to channel their anger not into violence but into “righteous action”.
US President Donald Trump, who has been heavily criticised for his reaction to the violence, tweeted a tribute to Heyer, his first mention of her since her death.
“Memorial service today for beautiful and incredible Heather Heyer, a truly special young woman. She will be long remembered by all!”
The White House did not say whether the President had contacted Heyer’s family.
Criticism
Trump has found himself increasingly isolated due to his response to the violence in Charlottesville.
His initial response was seen as mealy-mouthed by those demanding a full-throated condemnation of racism and violence, but his further remarks on Tuesday — when he doubled down on his claim that there had been “blame on both sides” — set off a political firestorm that may come to be seen as a turning point in his presidency.
Almost immediately, senior business executives began dropping out of White House economic advisory councils. Trump tried to save face yesterday by abolishing two of the bodies, but not before it had become clear that America’s captains of industry could no longer risk the damage to their brands and reputation.
The chorus of criticism from the political left was as loud as it was predictable — but few in the Republican camp were willing to speak up publicly to defend the president. Two of his predecessors — George Bush and his son George W. Bush — issued a statement urging Americans to “reject racial bigotry… in all its forms.”
With AFP
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racial tensions are constantly simmering in USA . Is there not a lesson there for the rest of us who believe integration works
@Macc Dan: I would question that “integration works” seriously
@Robert Preston: and “the rest of us who….¡¡
@Macc Dan: that nazis are bad? Yeah I agree
@Fank Pulman: He means Pegida.
@Chucky Arlaw: Folks like Macc Dann above would be crying like big babies when the monument of Roger.B.Taney was taken down :-)
@Macc Dan:
deport the racists?
@Macc Dan: Yeah, can’t integrate KKK or any other Nazis.
@Macc Dan: Integration? For who, the African American’s who have been there for generations . Yeah OK.
@Macc Dan: when you buy people and spend 250 years coming up with new ways to target that race with laws that’s not integration. Treat people as equals unless they’ve done something wrong and you’ll be alright
@Dave O Keeffe: I don’t want to treat the likes of Macc Dan as my equal. Why should I lower myself?
@Macc Dan: You mean integration as in being bought and sold as slaves, followed by generations of segregation and prejudice towards blacks in America? Did you even engage your brain before writing that? But then, you probably did, and that level of ignorance is all you got . . .
@DaisyChainsaw: well, you’ve decided that he’s done wrong so it’s up to you
Trump is trying to have it both ways. He is now trying to save his political skin and Presidency having received yellow cards from senior Republican figures.
Trump is a divisive President.
Heather Heyer was a passionate activist for social justice and anti racist. She was a fine and brave person contesting the forces of evil and oppression. She is now becoming a rallying point for the better qualities in human nature.
@Micheal OLainn: your political analysis is unmatched Tony, I mean Micheal
@Micheal OLainn:
Hey Tony.
@Micheal OLainn: you seem to have all the rationality of Tony which is why the snowflakes are upset by you.
So Trump now thinks Heather Heyer is a truly special young woman?? On Tuesday he was re-emphasing that she was partly to blame, since she was certainly on one side, and the Nazi/White Supremacists were on the other. We try to excuse someone when we have a natural bias towards them, so it is never all their fault, there are extenuating circumstances or someone else at least contributed to it. His praise now must seem so hypocritical to those who loved the unfortunate young woman.
@David Knight: Wouldn’t she qualify as one of the bad people “on many sides, on many sides”?
You would swear America was a multicultural utopia and these white supremacists are the problem. The truth is the majority of white Americans keep their racist views to themselves. Watch the documentary 13th on Netflix, see the truth and then youll realise, as far as racism goes, these supposed supremacist’s are only amateurs.
I feel sorry for the girl and her family. Not deserved. Killed by a fool.
@Michael Frost: According to the article, she was killed by a car! I cannot understand the media’s reticence in stating that she was killed in an attempted mass murder when a supporter of the alt right drove his car into a crowd of counter protesters
@Michael Frost: not killed by s fool. Killed by a psychopath who intended to commit mass murder. Nothing foolish about that. Had the guy been shouting allah akhbar instead of unite the right, he wouldn’t be referred to as a fool
@Anne Marie Devlin: Did you see the four guys that were beating up the black school teacher at the car park with bats,while the fifth guy was protecting them with a pistol ? Here is one of those beauts (“patriots) that did most of the damage ; http://www.homefacts.com/offender-detail/OH222121520160401/Joshua-Thomas-King.html
@Francis Mc Carthy: the left had horrible horrible people with in too Mc Mc Mc Carthy
@Francis Mc Carthy: i guess you get all your information from the young turks
@Philip Brady: you should probably deal with the murder at hand
Bunch of hypocrites and hypocrite media pretending to care.
@Government Sachs: Those paying tribute don’t care?
@Fank Pulman: you again. I’m sure a few do care but the majority are on the anti Trump platform pursuing an agenda pretending to care.
@Government Sachs: Only some hypocrites now then?
@Fank Pulman: the vast majority.
@Government Sachs: And you know this – how?
@Fank Pulman: I get your point fank, I’m sorry but I was only born yesterday and I don’t understand anything.
@Government Sachs: It’s OK that you don’t know – and that purile sarcasm is your only retort.
But why make bland statements that you’re incapable of backing up?
@Government Sachs: You are a bit of a hypocrite yourself – making what seems like a rational observation but actually you are blinded by your own support for Trump, who has revealed himself as unworthy anyone’s loyalty.
@Larry Doyle: BS. I only supported Trump during the election because of his opposition, I don’t care for Trump now that he is president and have zero loyalty to him! What interests me now is the blanket negativity spread by bias media and it’s feeble minded followers believing the bias is to say the least, disappointing. . I’m merely observing at this stage.
@Government Sachs: Is your loyalty and support (or lack of) for another country’s politician relevant – to anyone, anywhere?¿
@Fank Pulman: probably not. Is your childishness necessary?
@Fank Pulman: Trump has been miss quoted and mocked even before he got into office. What he said has time and time again been taken out of context. And yes I am a trump support, something I am made feel ashamed of by bullies
@Ladude: something you should be ashamed of since Trump is a moron of the highest order!
@Ladude: If he wishes his word to be placed in context he should have held more than the one proper press conference he has given in 7 months. The rambling shouting match, in the hallway of the building with his name on it in New York, proves he can’t control the words coming out of his mouth much less a country as complex as the USA.
@Government Sachs: Did you poll the crowd?
That’s what politics is all about. Sympathy for the fallen but she was a leftie anyway. Criticise her next after she is buried/cremated.
The only good nazi is a Dead nazi
@Chucky Arlaw: Extreme left is just as bad as extreme right.
@Hans Vos: Nazis are a special case.
The comment looks like an ironic take on what KKK used to say about black people. You have missed the nuances and the references in a short but highly expressive comment.
@Micheal OLainn: It doesn’t,t look like a ironic take on for me!
@Micheal OLainn:
Nazi’s are not a special case. Both the far right and the far left have killed millions in human history. Both ideologies bring divisiveness, violence and suffering.
Trump was right to condemn both sides as both are just as bad as one another.
@Hans Vos: are they. Don’t think they started any wars.
@Paul Coughlan: Never heard about Russia and Lenin?
have your say