August 2017
Events
- August 11, 2017Charlottesville Unite the Right Rally: Neo-Nazis March, Heather Heyer Killed
White nationalist and neo-Nazi groups including the Proud Boys, League of the South, and Identity Evropa converged on Charlottesville, VA. Marchers chanted 'Jews will not replace us.' Counter-protester Heather Heyer, 32, was killed when James Alex Fields Jr. drove his car into a crowd; 19 others were injured. Trump said there were 'very fine people on both sides.' Fields was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to life.
- August 11, 2017Charlottesville Unite the Right Rally: Neo-Nazis March, Heather Heyer Killed
On August 11–12, 2017, white nationalist and neo-Nazi groups including the Proud Boys, League of the South, Vanguard America, and Identity Evropa converged on Charlottesville, VA, for the Unite the Right rally ostensibly opposing removal of a Robert E. Lee statue. Marchers carried tiki torches and chanted 'Jews will not replace us.' Counter-protester Heather Heyer, 32, was killed when James Alex Fields Jr. drove his car into a crowd; 19 others were injured. Trump said there were 'very fine people on both sides.' Fields was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to life. The rally marked the most visible mass neo-Nazi mobilization in decades.
- August 2017FBI Continues Targeting Black Political Organizations Through 'Black Identity Extremist' Designation
In August 2017, the FBI's Domestic Terrorism Analysis Unit published an intelligence assessment designating 'Black Identity Extremists' (BIE) as a domestic terrorism threat, citing anger at police killings. The report was leaked to Foreign Policy magazine in October 2017. Civil rights organizations said the designation echoed COINTELPRO's targeting of civil rights organizations and could be used to surveil Black Lives Matter activists, community organizers, and others engaged in constitutionally protected protest. The FBI did not produce a similar category for white nationalist violence. Following Congressional pressure, the FBI reportedly replaced the BIE designation in 2019.
- August 2017FBI Designates 'Black Identity Extremists' as Domestic Terror Threat
In August 2017, the FBI's Domestic Terrorism Analysis Unit published an intelligence assessment designating 'Black Identity Extremists' as a domestic terrorism threat. The report echoed COINTELPRO's targeting of civil rights organizations and could be used to surveil Black Lives Matter activists. The FBI did not produce a similar category for white nationalist violence. The FBI reportedly replaced the designation in 2019 following Congressional pressure.