As the images that came out of Charlottesville, Va. over the weekend began circulating on the internet, many people were shocked by the brazen displays of racism and neo-Nazism. On Friday night, a group of white supremacists and their followers carried torches through the city to the statue of General Robert E. Lee.
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Quickly, a Twitter account under the handle “Yes, You’re Racist” began collecting the images and asking the public for help identifying the men in the photos.
If you recognize any of the Nazis marching in #Charlottesville, send me their names/profiles and I'll make them famous #GoodNightAltRight pic.twitter.com/2tA9xliFVU
— Yes, You're Racist (@YesYoureRacist) August 12, 2017
On Monday, actress Jennifer Lawrence joined in the campaign to identify the men. In a Facebook post to her 16.5 million followers, she uploaded some of the photos and wrote “these are the faces of hate. Look closely and post anyone you find.”
One of the men featured most prominently in the images was 20-year-old Peter Cvjetanovic, who was quickly identified. In an interview with KTVN, the University of Nevada student defended himself, saying “I didn’t expect the photo to be shared this much … I’m not the angry racist they see in that photo.”
Another marcher, Cole White, was also identified and his workplace — a hot dog shop in Berkeley, California was inundated with calls about him. White was quickly fired and the shop even posted a note on their door, saying that “he no longer works here.”
https://twitter.com/hshyamsundar/status/896862776949325827
James Fields, who is suspected of driving the car that killed a counter-protester was also pictured on Saturday, holding a shield with the “Vanguard America” logo. Vanguard is a group that calls itself “the face of American fascism.” They denied that Fields was one of their members.
https://twitter.com/VanguardAm/status/896580627872468993