Jason Kessler, the white nationalist who organized the deadly “Unite the Right” protest in Charlottesville, Virginia, has asked the city for permission to hold a two-day rally next year on the anniversary of the event.
“I’ve applied for a new permit at Charlottesville’s Lee Park for August 11th and 12th 2018 on the one year anniversary of Unite the Right,” Mr. Kessler wrote in a blog post Wednesday. “I fully expect the Charlottesville government to try and reject it and I’m ready for that fight.”
Mr. Kessler, 34, submitted a special events application request with Charlottesville Parks and Recreation on Monday this week, according to a copy of the application shared on his blog.
“Rally against government civil rights abuse and failure to follow security plans for political dissidents,” Mr. Kessler wrote where he was asked to explain the purpose of the event and provide a brief description. “We are opposing any changes to Lee (Emancipation) Park and memorializing the sacrifices made by political dissidents in Lee Park August 12th, 2017.”
Charlottesville spokesperson Miriam Dickler said Mr. Kessler’s permit is being reviewed, WVIR reported Wednesday afternoon.
The Charlottesville City Council voted in February to remove a statue of Confederate Army Gen. Robert E. Lee from Lee Park in downtown Charlottesville and rename the site “Emancipation Park,” prompting Mr. Kessler to request and receive permission to hold Unite the Right this past August — a “free speech rally in support of the Lee monument,” according to the application he submitted to the city earlier this year.
“The genesis of the entire event is this Robert E. Lee statue that the city is trying to move, which is symbolic of a lot of other issues that deal with the tearing down of white people’s history and our demographic replacement,” Mr. Kessler told The Washington Post prior to the rally.
“We must have a presence in the streets of America,” he reiterated Wednesday. “Let’s not kid ourselves about which way things could blow if this country collapses in the near future. The United States is not Poland, where 60,000 nationalists can proudly march in the street. In our country the proud Americans, the forgotten Americans, are intimidated into silence by the moral race panic of the elites. The second they stand up for themselves they’re called racists, misogynists, homophobes and transphoves until a vicious mob goes after their families and livelihoods.”
Attendees traveled from around the country to attend the 2017 Unite the Right demonstration, but the event was called off by authorities after white nationalists and other participants began clashing with counterprotesters before the event officially began.
Three people ultimately died in connection with the chaos, including two state troopers and a paralegal who was killed when a motorist drove into a crowd of people protesting the gathering, according to police.
More recently, Mr. Kessler made headlines earlier this month after Twitter came under fire for verifying his social media account. The company’s decision to brand Mr. Kessler’s Twitter account with a blue “verified” check mark was quickly called into question, and the platform subsequently announced plans to revamp its process for authenticating users.
• Andrew Blake can be reached at ablake@washingtontimes.com.
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