On Saturday, a white supremacist “Unite the Right” rally turned violent and a 32-year-old woman, Heather D. Heyer, has been reported dead — and 19 more have been reported injured, The Washington Post reports.
People hit one another with clubs and pepper spray during the event, Teen Vogue reports, and a 20-year-old man, James Alex Fields Jr., is being held for second-degree murder and malicious wounding charges for intentionally driving his vehicle into a crowd of counter-protestors according to The Guardian.
Governor Terry McAuliffe declared a state of emergency and cancelled the rally, which was organized to protest the renaming of city parks named after Confederate generals and the impending removal of a statue of Confederate General Robert E. Lee.
Celebrities and prominent political and entertainment figures are taking to their various platforms to slam the racism, anti-semitism, and anti-LGBTQ hate inherent in the rally — and many are calling for Donald Trump to condemn white supremacy (he said that there is hate on “both sides”) and to call Heyer’s murder “what it is,” an act of terrorism.
Everyone from Kim Kardashian to Zendaya to Lauren Jauregui is speaking out.
Yara Shahidi and Lauren Jauregui argued that there is an appalling double standard.
Lady Gaga called for a “true leader,” in a not-so-subtle snub.
Maia Mitchell pointed out that the burden should not fall on POC to fix this.
Politicians took to Twitter in droves to speak out.