The Daily - A Year of Reckoning in Charlottesville

Episode Date: August 13, 2018

One year after white nationalists and counterprotesters clashed in Charlottesville, Va., the violence has long ended and the rest of the country has largely moved on. But the broken city is still struggling to contend with its past. Guest: Farah Stockman, who has been reporting for The New York Times on events in Charlottesville since the clashes. For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily.

From The New York Times, I'm Michael Barbaro. This is The Daily. Today, one year after the rallies, what happened in Charlottesville when the violence was over and the rest of the country moved on? It's Monday, August 13th. Let's go!

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Woo! Woo! Woo! Woo! Woo! Woo event has been declared an unlawful assembly. You're leaving the immediate area. Get your fucking lights back on! Get out of my face! She came to me first, fuck you! Get the fuck out of my face! More lights! More lights!

Lights! They just literally came down the street at 80 miles per hour to fucking hit us just now. There are people, bodies laying on the ground right now. We told city council we did not want them here. They let them come. We told the police we did not want them here. They let them come. It's August 21st, a little over a week after the Unite the Right rally.

Okay. Welcome everybody to this meeting of Charlottesville City Council. And the city council chambers are packed. Good to see so many folks here. With activists, ordinary citizens, people who had been there that day, who were traumatized, people who had been injured. And they're all sitting there waiting for their chance to confront city leaders. We are each going to do, there will be announcements tonight as we go on a round robin. So it starts with the mayor, Mike Stigner, reading a resolution about what had happened.

Whereas the Charlottesville community became the target of hateful white supremacist groups on August 12th, 2017. And when he comes to the term white supremacist... So we're going to... Somebody in the audience shouts, people like you. So what I'm going to have to do now, what I'm going to have to do now is, any further violations of rules, we will have to have people... OK, so that's one. So you're. So Mike, maybe you should stop. And this is.

Yes, yes. Yes. And then he tries to keep order. And he says. Okay, so you've been called to order. And Ms. Walker, you've been called to order. And I'm just going to, we're going to have to start removing folks. Look, I'm going to have to remove you from the chamber

if you disrupt the meeting. Okay. Listen, listen, listen, listen, listen. I'm going to start expelling anybody. So, okay, ma'am, you've been called to order. Called to order. Called to order. I'm going to ask the officers to identify anybody

who speaks out without being recognized. You have one chance, then you'll be removed. What's the alternative? For everybody just to shout and scream? But that's not the rules. We don't do that just from the corner. You keep saying you're not following the rules. We have a process for this, and you have to follow the process. So ma'am, you're going to have sir, you've been called to order and he does in fact remove

someone from the chamber and all pandemonium breaks out. Blood on your hands! Blood on your hands! Two of them jump up on the diocese and unfurl this banner that says blood on your hands. Blood on that says, Blood on your hands. Blood on your hands. Blood on your hands.

My name is Louisa. I'm a resident of the city. My name is Gail Weatherill. I'm a 35-year resident of Charlottesville. Lord, forgive me for what I'm about to do. And it becomes this unburdening of what had happened. This shit has got to stop. I watched the police not do their job all Saturday. They watched us all get hurt and terrorized. And I came here tonight to ask for an independent citizen inquiry into the decisions...

People cry, people scream, people point fingers, and all of this anger comes out. You let Susan get murdered. That girl, I knew that out. You let Cisney get murdered. That girl, I knew that girl. You let her get murdered. The protesters essentially take over the meeting. I would like to cancel this meeting. Colleagues, colleagues.

And Mayor Cisney decides, hey, this is too chaotic. We're going to have to clear the room. I'm canceling this meeting. We will come back. He gets up, presumably expecting the other counselors to follow him out of the room. Others don't follow him. But there was one woman named Nakia Walker. I think it's clear up here who's gone.

And she came to the microphone. Who's been one of the major issues since he became mayor. So we need to acknowledge that and we need to make sure that he doesn't come back. And she started confronting Mayor Signer. Wait a minute. Part of the demand is that you all need to do some self-assessment because you need to die. She said, this town needs a change and you're not capable of making this change. So clearly there is a tremendous amount of anger in the room. And not long after the meeting, nearly every person who held power in the city would step down. The police chief, the city attorney, and this mayor, Mike Signer.

My colleague Farrah Stockman has been reporting on what's happened in Charlottesville in the years since the rally. But as I started to report the story, I realized that the anger and all the problems started long before any of us had been paying attention. We have none other than Charlottesville's own independent running for city council. She was born and raised in Charlottesville, been a youth counselor assistant, substance abuse clinician.

And the list goes on and on and on. We're talking about Ms. Nakia Walker. Nakia, thanks for joining us. Thanks for having me. Absolutely. So Nakia Walker was actually running for city council when this happened. was actually running for city council when this happened. And she was running on a campaign about unmasking Charlottesville, the real Charlottesville.

My campaign slogan is unmasking the illusion. There are two cities in this one, right? And a lot of people are not thriving. And the Charlottesville that people talk about, discuss, that end up in magazines, the best places to live. Charlottesville is full of people who've moved there and they moved to Charlottesville because it's the happiest city in America where everybody's progressive and liberal and educated and has money. But Nakia Walker is from a different kind of Charlottesville. So I grew up in a Charlottesville that was very segregated.

It still is. It's a completely different Charlottesville than people here. She felt like the current mayor and city government were silencing residents, and they were actively trying to stifle this narrative. And that slogan prompted, what illusion? I mean, before the summer of hate began, it was, what illusion are you talking about? Everything's fine. You're stirring up, you know? But after the rally, no one asked her that anymore. They got it. It was out in the open now. No one asked her that anymore.

They got it. It was out in the open now. And there was this feeling of a loss of innocence when white people who had not really thought so much about racism or anti-Semitism before had seen it. They'd looked it in the eye. And there was no going back for some of them. She might have won the city council race without the rally, but the rally really gives her an opening. But do you feel somewhat like a Cinderella story coming in, really opposing the current establishment, but still getting this level of success? People start hearing about her after the rally. They start hearing about her after the city council meeting where she confronted the mayor.

When I looked around town and I see the number of our white citizens, you know, with their sign in the yard, you really are coming in shaking things up. She really gives voice to this sense of outrage in the town about what had happened. about what had happened. Rada! Rada! She ends up winning more votes than any other candidate. Rada! Rada! It's been a great honor to serve as mayor. With that said, I wanted to welcome my new colleagues here,

Kai Walker and Heather Hill. But there's this question about who will be the next mayor, because Mike Signer is not going to continue in that role. I'm looking forward to giving another one of my colleagues this opportunity to lead with our vote here tonight. And the way things work in Charlottesville, and in fact, most cities in Virginia, is that the mayor is a city counselor who's elected by the other city counselors. So the voters don't elect the mayor in Charlottesville. The city council elects the mayor from its own rank. I will call for nomination for the position of mayor first. Once the nomination has been seconded...

So even though Nakia Walker is really popular with the protesters, she now has to convince people who she has openly criticized that she should be the next mayor. I was the one that pushed to make sure that we had this discussion open in the public. I've sat on the other side of this and wondered how decisions were arrived at, and I wanted to make sure that we had the discussion in front of the public. Nakia Walker pushes for this decision to be made out in the open in public so that people can see for the first time how the sausage is made. I am considering

voting for Nakia Walker as mayor. So they have these hours and hours and hours of deliberations in public saying pretty raw and personal stuff to each other. I have a concern. Well, I don't take it personally. I do have concern that you were unwilling to meet with either me or Ms. Galvin prior to the meeting here tonight. When I sent you an email congratulating you and you called it inauthentic, I was congratulating you. I felt a spirit of appreciation. That's what I said. I was impressed by your victory. Talking about official council business is one thing.

Talking about congratulations on my stunning victory when I don't think either one of you were excited about me being elected to council. That was something that I didn't want to pretend. Now we can move forward with city business, and hopefully we will work at it together. And by the end of the meeting... Ms. Hill? Yes. Mr. Bellamy? Aye.

Mr. Signer? Yes. Ms. Walker? Yes. Mr. Bellamy? Aye. Mr. Signer? Yes. Ms. Walker? Yes. Nakia Walker gets four out of five votes, and she becomes the next mayor. Ms. Walker, congratulations. You are new.

Five months after this horrific event, we're joined by a woman making history as the first black female mayor of Charlottesville, Nikaya Walker. Oh. Welcome. Thanks for having me. Welcome. There's this symbolic victory in her election. She was on the view.

People wrote about Charlottesville in a positive way for the first time. Oh, this city that went through this terrible experience has elected its first female black mayor. No one thought that, you know, when I announced in March that the end result would be elected to council and then mayor of Charlottesville. But it happened, and that took an entire community coming together and deciding that something different needed to happen. And here you are. I am. People really wanted her to succeed. They wanted this first female Black mayor to kind of be able to wash away the sins of white supremacy that had reared its head in the town. And even people who hadn't

supported her would say things like, we really hope she succeeds because we really need the town to unify and heal. We just hope she stops this polarizing rhetoric. Hello. I'm live. But as time moves on, it becomes obvious that she's not interested in rebranding Charlottesville. So this is Politicking with Nakia Walker, mayor of Charlottesville, Virginia. How are y'all doing? She refused to talk to the mainstream press for the first, I don't know, four months of being mayor. This is what I want to say first. White supremacy is what I want to say first. But then she would go on Facebook Live and have these kind of stream of consciousness question and answer sessions with her supporters. And most of the people I'm meeting with want to

figure me out so that they can figure out how to keep things the same, right? And that's no fun because it needs to change. She wants to highlight the failures of Charlottesville. Your city council officials are more concerned about returning to normal. She wants to talk about how the city hasn't gotten past its racist history. Nothing has ever changed without major force. So, um... It was too informed. And now the council meetings that used to be so regulated

are pretty chaotic. What could you ask for? Okay. All right, all right. Okay. Because I'm black! All right. What's your name?

What the hell do you think you are? Because I'm black. Katrina. When Mayor Walker took over, she admittedly did not emphasize the following of rules. Who do you think you are to say that to me, man? Nancy. That's your point. People felt that they weren't being respected, that we were treated as children. Because when Mike Signer was mayor, he instituted a set of rules that made the meetings very regulated. They came in and they set these very specific rules about how much time you could talk, what words you could use while you were speaking.

The rules were enforced to do the exact opposite of what a public body should do and be there to listen. People are there and in the room the way they are because things aren't going well, right? And I just got out the hospital having freaking heart pain. I ain't got to go through something like that. And I just got out of the hospital. If you don't push people past their limits, then they won't change.

They don't have any reason to. So if people were sitting, just sitting in these meetings quietly, then council has no incentive to do something differently than they've done it in the past.

It's like second nature to them. Without tension, there's no change. She didn't want to limit people's time at the microphone. She didn't want to keep them on an agenda item or have these rigid rules. And so under Mayor Walker, some meetings last until after midnight or 1 a.m. And you could almost see her struggling with what kind of leader am I going to be? Am I going to be a mayor of all people like the establishment expects me to be? I wish the meetings returned to a more peaceful state

because they are pretty chaotic right now. But they are chaotic because nothing has changed. Or am I going to stay true to my protester roots and at different points she makes different decisions? because nothing has changed. Or am I going to stay true to my protester roots? And at different points, she makes different decisions. Give it a permanent home in the coming years. So thank you very much. Early on in the spring, there's a moment where Jason Kessler... Jason Kessler and an ally of his shows up to a city council meeting.

My name is Jason Kessler. I'm a Charlottesville resident. And if you remember, Jason Kessler is the man who organized the Unite the Right rally. And he's still in town. He's from Charlottesville. He still walks around and she gives them room to speak. How many of you would support my right to peacefully demonstrate in Lee Park? A show of hands. And how many of you think it's important to protect free speech of conservatives, pro-monument speakers, and even alt-right speakers?

I make promises. Is it important to protect their safety? Mr. Bellamy? Is it important to protect their safety? Mr. Bellamy? Is it important to protect their safety? I'll be right outside if anybody wants to meet me with Mr. Bellamy. Mr. Wayne. Mr. Wayne. And she has to try to keep order and allow them to talk, which is something that a lot of the fellow activists and protesters

would not have wanted her to do. All right, so we're taking a recess. And she ends up having to clear the chamber to keep order. So she has to do what Mayor Signer had done, which is try to reestablish some semblance of order in what had become like a chaotic meeting that had gone off the rails. All right, so it is my duty as mayor to now read rules on how...

And when she opens the council back up again, she addresses the crowd. I will remind everyone, if you all remember me on the other side of this as a citizen at the meetings, this is very difficult. For me, I was hoping that we would find a flow to where people were doing things different naturally, that they felt like if there were people up here representing their values, that they would respond differently. It has been very difficult to conduct the meetings and have business take place. But anyway, that's where we are.

Anyway, rules. Remarks and action that disrupt the council meeting. I think even she has been dismayed by the fact that the protesters sometimes are protesting her. Sometimes they're not respecting her. And even she has expressed frustration with the fact that they'll never be satisfied. has expressed frustration with the fact that they'll never be satisfied. But there are other moments where she really seems to be a protester again. First at noon, the candidate Charlottesville City Council offered the position of interim city manager to is revealing his reasoning for turning down the job.

He blames in part Mayor Nakia Walker's actions breaching the confidential hiring process, saying it exposes serious ethical shortcomings. I recently decided to go into full protest mode against the interim city manager candidate they wanted to bring on. The mayor even tweeted, we might have to protest a city council decision. Are y'all with me? The city manager was leaving his post and they had to decide who would replace him. And they have a closed door meeting where four out of five city counselors decide on a candidate, but she decides she doesn't trust him. And she then goes on

Facebook Live later and explains what happened at the meeting. At least two counselors sat around and tried to come up with and then said to me as the reason why I refused to go with him as a candidate. So that is what I'm sharing on this Facebook Live. I'm going to pause and try to answer some questions if I can answer them. She really chose to be a protester rather than to keep the promises that she'd made to them. But that's what I know how to do. I know how to protest injustice, okay? That's what I do. That's what I've done all my life. And I hope none of you thought electing me or meant that I was going to jump

into this status quo ring and box around with them, like play, you know, because if I get in a ring with somebody, I'm going to knock them out. If you're asking me what's changed, what's changed in Charlottesville over the last year, I would say that maybe at the beginning there was the sense that the Unite the Right rally empowered this very radical leftist element in the town who had been trying to raise the issues of racial and economic inequality. It gave them the perfect platform to come and basically take over the conversation and

say, see, look, we were right. And so there was a sense in the beginning that the rally would actually lead to an opening for racial and economic justice that had been sorely lacking. But now, I think, after months and months of these meetings, this new normal... Madam Mayor, may I say something in response under our rules? I wonder if the legacy of the rally has been to divide the left. He has a multiracial...

He has a multiracial wife. What happened was when he was watching... To make it descend into infighting. You see Mayor Walker and Michael Signer literally shouting at each other in these meetings. She never voted for me. But you extended the offer on her. But you just say it yourself.

You know I'm not doing this with you. So I think the city is really at a crossroads right now between whether it can still salvage something really positive out of the rally and work towards a unified vision of social justice, work towards a unified vision of social justice, or whether it's just going to descend further into disunity and alienation and the feelings that the left is eating itself alive. Excuse me! Excuse me, please! At the end of the day, what most people want out of their city government is that the sidewalks are paved and the tree outside their house that died has been cut down and carted away. They want the garbage to be picked up. I mean,

most cities don't take on the kind of things she's trying to take on. Most cities don't say, we can change and roll back 400 years of white supremacist history. Most cities are perfectly satisfied with leaders who take out the garbage on time and plow the streets and let economic development happen. So for the majority of people in Charlottesville, I think this is probably quite scary to feel like their city government is in turmoil and focused on goals that may or may not ever be achieved. But I think for some people, this is the moment they've always been waiting for. The outrage from the rally has allowed them to have a platform for really important subjects that no one has ever listened to before. And they're not willing to give that up.

They're not going to give that up without a fight. It's only been a year. You're talking about we're about to have next year 400 years exactly since the first enslaved people were brought to this country. 16, 19, right? We're still having the same struggles. It's not just a year later. We're having them 400 years later. And if we want to not have them 400 years from now, or people who are our descendants,

then we have to have some tension-filled moments. And a year is nothing compared to 400 plus years. But it is definitely making them uncomfortable. We'll be right back. Here's what else you need to know today. Look, I'm going to play, I want to play this tape, Thank you. During an interview on NBC's Meet the Press, Omarosa Manigault Newman, the former presidential aide, released a recording of what she said was White House Chief of Staff John your time here in the White House as a year of service to the nation, and then you can go on without any type of difficulty in the future relative to your reputation. How did you take that comment about your reputation? It's a very obvious threat. He goes on to say that things can get ugly for you. The Chief of Staff of the United States, under the direction of the president of the United States,

threatening me on damage to my reputation and things getting ugly for me. That's downright criminal. In the interview, Manigault Newman, a former contestant on The Apprentice, who is now promoting a new book about her time in the Trump administration, said that she and the president had used each other to build their celebrity, but that she now regretted her work in the White House. I will say this to you. I was complicit with this White House deceiving this nation.

They continue to deceive this nation by how mentally declined he is, how difficult it is for him to process complex information, how he is not engaged in some of the most important decisions that impacts our country. I was complicit, and for that, I regret. Well, one of those moments of complicity. That's it for The Daily. I'm Michael Barbaro. See you tomorrow.