TOWSON, Maryland, Sunday, August 13, 2017 - What causes humanity to engage in acts that are, on their face, characteristic, even emblematic of the most profound and putrid form of evil? Why would a 20-year-old individual drive his car skillfully past layers of security officers, then stomp on the gas pedal and race his vehicle directly into a sizable gathering of humanity that happens to disagree with him about what? Whether one group of Americans is "better" or "smarter" or "richer" or what else? How could this matter enough to anyone to kill for it. How can anyone be so bitter that killing in such a really perverted, sociopathic way seem a workable idea, an idea that was put to the test with no additional vetting?
And yet, we know that what for most of us is the stuff of nightmares actually exists in the real world of some few individuals. Some moron preaches racial hatred and some other woebegotten nitwit buys into it. News accounts say that the perpetrator, this James Alex Fields Jr., aged 20, of Maumee, Ohio, had lived with his mom - his dad died before he was born - until about six months ago, when he rented his own apartment.
Before Fields left last week to drive to Virginia, he drove his pet cat to his mother's house, where he left it in his mother's care. She assumed it was only for the weekend. But she no doubt had an inkling that trouble was afoot. She told Fields to be peaceful, and to demonstrate peacefully. I do not recall ever receiving such advice from my parents or from anyone else.
On Saturday morning, Fields was photographed standing in the front of a gathering of White Supremacists, listening to some speaker. Fields was holding an image of a shield that is said to be the symbol of a White Supremacist group which calls itself "Vanguard America." The photo of Fields was said to have been taken along about 10:30 am. About three hours later, Fields was alone in his vehicle, cleverly sneaking past some security folk. Once he managed that, he stomped on the gas pedal and accelerated as fast as he could. When he spotted a group of anti-White Supremacists, he turned toward them and hit the group head-on. Over a dozen were hurt, some very badly. One woman, a 32-year-old Charlottesville Paralegal by the name of Heather Heyer, was killed. She was said to be active in a group of anti-White Supremacists for several years.
These are the issues facing the USA after this precise series of events occurred in normally tranquil Charlottesville, Virginia on Saturday afternoon. Making everything even worse, a short time after the evil act, a helicopter belonging to the City of Charlottesville and containing two Charlottesville Police Officers, crashed into a wooded lot near the edge of the City. Both officers were killed.
ABC News reported on Sunday afternoon that the two deceased police officers were the helicopter pilot, 48-year-old Lieutenant H. Jay Cullen of Midlothian, Virginia, and 40-year-old Trooper-Pilot Berke M.M. Bates of Quinton, Virginia. The two officers were both pronounced dead at the scene of the 5 pm crash.
Earlier, the controversial rally by White Supremacists began within the town of Charlottesville, which is the home of the University of Virginia. Town officials had denied a permit for the rally, but a judge over-ruled the town officers and permitted the rally, aimed at stopping a plan to remove a statute of Robert E. Lee, the lead general of the Confederate Army in the Civil War.
Heather Heyer, a 32-year-old Charlottesville paralegal with the Miller Law Group, located in this town of 46,000 citizens, was pronounced dead at the University of Virginia Hospital immediately after the attack by a lone driver at 1:42 pm Saturday. Heyer had been involved in public protests against White Supremacists for the last three years. It has been reported in multiple media outlets that Charlottesville has become a focal point for the White Supremacist movement after town officials elected to remove the Lee Statute.
According to Fox News, the attacker has been identified as 20-year-old James Alex Fields Jr., of Maumee, Ohio. Fields is being held without bail after accelerating his vehicle into a crowd of protesters opposing the White Supremacists. Fields was photographed at the rally at 10:30 am. on Saturday morning. In the photo, he is holding a photograph of a shield that is the popular symbol of the white supremacist group known as Vanguard America.
Police have charged Fields with second-degree murder. He is being held without bail. Fields joined the military in recent years, but lasted only four months. It was not known why his enlistment was ended after so short a period of time. A teacher of Fields told the New York Times that he authored a neo-Nazi manifesto of sorts as a high school freshman.
Reports say that Fields told his mother he was going to the rally and left his pet cat at her home. The mother said she urged her son to act peacefully.
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