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

Fight disinformation: Sign up for the free Mother Jones Daily newsletter and follow the news that matters.

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:

Fact:

Mother Jones was founded as a nonprofit in 1976 because we knew corporations and billionaires wouldn't fund the type of hard-hitting journalism we set out to do.

Today, reader support makes up about two-thirds of our budget, allows us to dig deep on stories that matter, and lets us keep our reporting free for everyone. If you value what you get from Mother Jones, please join us with a tax-deductible donation today so we can keep on doing the type of journalism 2022 demands.

payment methods

Fact:

Today, reader support makes up about two-thirds of our budget, allows us to dig deep on stories that matter, and lets us keep our reporting free for everyone. If you value what you get from Mother Jones, please join us with a tax-deductible donation today so we can keep on doing the type of journalism 2022 demands.

payment methods

We Recommend

Latest

Sign up for our free newsletter

Subscribe to the Mother Jones Daily to have our top stories delivered directly to your inbox.

Get our award-winning magazine

Save big on a full year of investigations, ideas, and insights.

Subscribe

Support our journalism

Help Mother Jones' reporters dig deep with a tax-deductible donation.

Donate