Prevent the next ‘Unite the Right’ — Call the City TODAY

3 min readDec 8, 2017

Tell the City’s Special Events Committee #REJECTthePermits. There is BLOOD ON YOUR HANDS.

Maurice Jones — City Manager
434–970–3101 — cityman@charlottesville.org

Michelle Christian — Special Events Coordinator
434–970–3267 — christianm@charlottesville.org

Brian Daly — Director of Parks and Recreation
434–970–3260 — dalyb@charlottesville.org

Chief Al S. Thomas Jr. — Chief of Police
434–970–3289 — chief@charlottesville.org

On November 27, 2017, Jason Kessler, organizer of the August 11th torch-lit march on UVA and the failed “Unite the Right” (UTR) rally on August 12th, applied for a permit for a “UTR Anniversary Rally” at Emancipation Park for August 11–12 next year. Additionally, Brian Lambert, a local agitator seen in gatherings with Kessler and known to be an associate of his, has applied for two permits for the same time at Justice Park and McGuffey Park.

These dates will mark one year since Charlottesville residents rose up against a Neo-nazi incursion and should be a time of mourning for the loss of fellow comrade Heather Heyer.

If the City of Charlottesville approves these permits, the white supremacists would effectively have all public park areas in Downtown Charlottesville as a playground for their racist, murderous fantasies. It would triple the threat of violence that we all witnessed this summer. Today, December 8th, is the LAST business day that the city’s Special Events Committee is allotted to deny any special events permit. Otherwise, the permits are deemed granted (they can only be revoked after this deadline).

The images of violence on August 11th and August 12th are well-known to most of us, but the trauma experienced by those who were out there that day still holds a tight grip on us, and we will not allow another event of this nature to happen ever again.

CALL THE CITY!

Let them know that human lives are worth more than “free speech” lawsuits. And if bureaucracy is your thing, let them know that the last “Unite the Right” rally violated the following conditions for permit denials, and it is virtually guaranteed that these would be violated once more in 2018 (as stated in the City of Charlottesville’s Special Events Regulations):

Section 3.4.5.b “It reasonably appears that the proposed activity will present a danger to public safety or health or would be unlawful”
Section 3.4.5.c “The proposed demonstration or special event is of such a nature or duration that it cannot reasonably be accommodated in the particular area applied for; would be inconsistent or incompatible with the purpose(s) for which the area sought to be reserved is normally reserved, or with other uses of the public area.”
Section 3.4.5.f “The proposed special event cannot be accommodated within a rasonable allocation of City funds and/or resources, considering the event’s public appeal and the anticipated participation of the general public therein”