‘Charlottesville: Race and Terror’ Gives an Up Close View of Recent Racial Violence
Last night (August 14), HBO aired a VICE News episode featuring a 22-minute documentary on the violent events that occurred in Charlottesville, Virginia, this past weekend. Correspondent Elle Reeve met directly and on-camera with white supremacists, organizers of the "Unite the Right" rally, counter-protestors and police over the period of Friday, August 10, through Monday, August 14.
Reeve and her team were able to capture chilling raw footage of multiple altercations, as well as the aftermath of the deadly car-ramming incident for which James Alex Fields Jr. was arrested and charged with second-degree murder. She also spoke with white nationalist leaders David Duke, Robert Ray, Matthew Heimbach and Christopher Cantwell.
Cantwell, in particular, plays a large role. Reeve interviews him multiple times, along with writers from white-supremacist websites like The Daily Stormer. The documentary concludes with Cantwell in what looks like a hotel room in North Carolina displaying the numerous weapons he had brought with him to Charlottesville. He clearly thinks the events from the weekend -- including the killing of Heather Heyer, which he calls "more than justified" -- were an overall positive experience.
"I think a lot more people are gonna die before we're done here, frankly," Cantwell tells Reeve.