HATE ON TRIAL

UP FRONT

CONNECTICUT JEWISH LEDGER | SINCE 1929 | NOVEMBER 26, 2021 | 22 KISLEV 5782

At the Charlottesville trial, defendants got the judge to say ‘gas the kikes.’ Here’s how, and why it matters.

BY RON KAMPEAS

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. (JTA) — Days before a neo-Nazi drove his car into a crowd of protesters here at the site of the deadly 2017 “Unite the Right” rally, he texted his mother.

Samantha Bloom was worried that her son would run into trouble in Charlottesville, where he was headed in his gray 2010 Dodge Charger to join a rally billed as a response to the proposed removal of a local statue of Robert E. Lee. “Be careful,” Bloom texted her son, who was then 20.

“We’re not the one [sic] who need to be careful,” James Fields Jr. texted back. He attached a photo of Adolf Hitler.

The text exchanges are among the countless pieces of evidence entered into a civil trial that is unfolding here against Fields and 23 other people and groups accused of orchestrating the rally, which left one person dead and seared images of hate — and phrases such as the marchers’ chant “Jews will not replace us” — into the national consciousness.

For those who are watching closely, the trial has generated not just insights about the event that President Joe Biden cited as a turning point in his decision to run for president but also a potent window into the thinking of some of America’s most avowed ambassadors of hate.

The lead counsel for the plaintiffs, Roberta Kaplan, who is Jewish, and the nonprofit she leads, Integrity First for America, launched the civil lawsuit on behalf of nine people who were injured or traumatized at the event.

The precedent they are citing, the Ku Klux Klan Act of 1871, is a Reconstructionera law that made it a federal crime to coordinate group violence with racist or terroristic intent. It was designed to crack down on Klan terrorism in the South aimed at keeping Black people from exercising their newly acquired civil rights; an 1983 amendment extends to civilians the right to sue for monetary compensation from the government.

Kaplan and the other plaintiff counsel contend the law also applies to the texts and internet messages sent by the Unite the Right organizers in the lead-up to the rally.

To support their case, Kaplan and the other attorneys have brought in the plaintiffs to describe their suffering, alongside evidence of private and public social media interactions among the rally planners. They have also summoned expert witnesses, including global antisemitism expert Deborah Lipstadt, to comment on the role that hate speech has historically played in fomenting violence.

The defendants, meanwhile, are arguing that their actions were not coordinated and that they cannot be held responsible for the violence that ensued. They’ve defined their plans and incendiary statements leading up to the march as little more than jokes in poor taste.

At the same time, the defendants are also choosing to use their time in court to advance the invective and theories of racial superiority that fueled the violence, turning their own testimony into de facto recruitment tools. According to Ellie Silverman, a Washington Post correspondent who has been covering the trial daily, one defendant representing himself pressured a plaintiff to name friends who were subject to racist vitriol during the rally; those friends were then immediately doxxed by white supremacists tuning into the trial from a public access line.

Some defendants and their attorneys have frequently inserted pejorative terms into the proceedings, including the N-word and “kike,” ostensibly to describe and address the evidence.

When Peter Simi, an associate professor of sociology at Chapman University in California, took the stand as an expert witness, he found himself having to constantly repeat such terms during crossexamination. Josh Smith, a lawyer for the defense with a history of associations with white supremacists — and who was born Jewish as Daniel Joshua Nusbaum — pressed Simi on the pervasiveness of the term “gas the kikes” among white supremacists. He kept repeating the phrase, ostensibly to show that it was meant ironically and not literally.

“You said they say this phrase all the time, do they do it all the time? I.e., do they ‘gas the kikes’ all the time?” Smith said.

Smith kept pressing the issue, frustrating Judge Norman Moon, who ended up using the phrase himself.

NEO-NAZIS AND WHITE SUPREMACISTS TAKE PART IN A MARCH THE NIGHT BEFORE THE UNITE THE RIGHT RALLY IN CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA., AUG. 11, 2017.

(ZACH D ROBERTS/NURPHOTO VIA GETTY IMAGES) CONTINUED ON PAGE 11

ADL Honors former UConn Husky Sue Bird With 2021 Changemaker Award

HAMDEN— The AntiDefamation League (ADL) honored University of Connecticut graduate, four-time WNBA champion, five-time Olympic gold medalist, and advocate Sue Bird with the 2021 Changemaker Award.

As a former Husky, Bird won two National Championships and three Big East Championships. She credits the school with helping her prepare for her future regarding basketball and beyond. She has also used her platform as a sports celebrity to speak out against hate and prejudice.

Bird accepted the award and delivered remarks at the ADL’s virtual 2021 Never Is Now Summit Against Antisemitism and Hate on Tuesday evening, Nov. 9.

Bird is an avid activist for Black Lives, equality, health and wellness, and bringing opportunities to girls and other marginalized people.

She has used her platform to elevate the voices of those affected by these issues and she frequently speaks out about injustices within the basketball community and beyond. Bird supported and played in the 2020 WNBA season

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SUE BIRD DRIVES THE BALL DURING THE WOMEN’S GOLD MEDAL GAME AT THE 2016 RIO OLYMPIC GAMES, AUG. 20, 2016.

(TOM PENNINGTON/GETTY IMAGES)