Boston Globe: In Charlottesville, a civil trial against white supremacists gives a nightmarish view of a deadly car attack — and the racist ideologies that fueled it
By: Integrity First For America News CoverageBy Jazmine Ulloa, Boston Globe. Read the full article here.
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. — Marissa Blair and Marcus Martin married on a breezy, sunny day in May 2018 under an arbor draped with purple and lavender wisteria, the colors chosen in tribute to the friend they had lost nine months earlier.
At the time, they saw their union as an act of resistance, a tender coda to the hate and horror that shook the nation and their lives when, on Aug. 12, 2017, a self-avowed white supremacist intentionally plowed his car into social justice protesters, killing their friend Heather Heyer and injuring 35 people, including Martin.
But since that spring wedding, their marriage has unraveled as they wrestled with the lasting trauma and physical effects of the car attack, they told jurors last week in a federal civil trial unfolding here against two dozen white supremacists, neo-Nazis, and organizations behind the deadly “Unite the Right” rally.
The victims of that bloody weekend — marked by protests for Confederate and white supremacist causes and counterprotests for Black lives and social equality — are seeking unspecified monetary damages from defendants including James Alex Fields Jr., who is serving life in prison for the vehicular assault that killed Heyer. The plaintiffs allege rally organizers and participants conspired to incite violence, motivated by racial and religious animus.