Inside Black Lives Matter

How America’s new generation of civil rights activists is mobilizing in the age of Trump

People protest police violence at a Laquan Day rally in Chicago on October 20, 2016. Over 200 people gathered outside Chicago Police Headquarters to commemorate the life of 17-year-old police shooting victim Laquan McDonald on the two year anniversary of his death. (Photo by Max Herman/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

By Touré

Months before the now infamous Unite the Right march this summer, the 10 or so members of the Charlottesville chapter of Black Lives Matter heard that the largest white-supremacist rally anyone had seen in years was coming to their town. They leapt into action. First, they pleaded with local leaders — don’t let this happen. Push it elsewhere. The city won’t be safe. The police told the BLM members to stay home. But they couldn’t. “We knew it would be the largest fascist gathering in decades,” says David Straughn, an actor and writer and a member of BLM Charlottesville. “We had to get others to come help us defend the community.” The group put out a call to action to as many BLM members as it could. And so, on Saturday, August 12th, at noon, when the rally began, BLM was ready.

“There was a strong BLM presence,” says Tsara Nock, a University of Virginia student and BLM member. “But they didn’t come in and say, ‘We want to do our own thing.’ They were here to see what the activists in Charlottesville needed.” BLM set up safe zones with food and water for counterprotesters. But things quickly grew violent. “The white nationalists had weapons, shields, helmets,” says Dr. Lisa Woolfork, a UVA…