For Charlottesville Survivors And Activists, The Work Goes On

LOADING ERROR LOADING In the coming days, a dozen jurors will decide whether a group of extremists owe money ― potentially millions ― to some of the people they terrorized four years ago during a horrifically racist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia. Kathryn Laughon, a University of Virginia nursing professor involved with anti-fascist and anti-racist community efforts, told HuffPost that it’s “just one part of the larger work that’s gone on” in recent years. It had a galvanizing effect for progressive causes, Laughon told HuffPost, noting that she considered herself “a run-of-the-mill liberal up to the summer of 2017.” In recent weeks, Charlottesville residents have moved forward on plans to reform zoning laws that have origins in racism ― laws prioritizing single-family homes that were designed to perpetuate segregation and exclude people of color from living in certain areas. The Confederate monument that inspired “United the Right” ― a statue of Robert E. Lee that some Charlottesville residents were petitioning to remove in 2017 ― was finally taken down last summer. Molly Conger, a Charlottesville resident who has been tirelessly tweeting updates on the “Unite the Right” trial, urged her nearly 120,000 Twitter followers to support Washington earlier this week; Washington says the injuries she endured triggered health problems that make it difficult for her to earn a living, according to her GoFundMe page.