Defendants in the civil trial against the fatal 2017 "Unite the Right" rally in Charlottesville are using the legal proceedings to spread their message.
"Devin Willis testified for hours about the racist vitriol he endured as a young Black man while a torch-carrying mob marched on his college campus four years ago, surrounding him and his friends, spraying chemical irritants and making 'monkey noises.' Now, one of those violent white supremacists, who is representing himself without an attorney in this trial, stood in front of Willis in a federal courtroom, badgering him to name his friends in public proceedings that hundreds of people are listening in on each day," The Washington Postreport Wednesday.
The judge instructed Willis to answer the question, which was asked by infamous "crying Nazi" Christopher Cantwell.
"Within minutes, the names of Willis's friends, and photos of at least one of their faces, spread to far-right chatrooms where extremist supporters were following the trial. The chatroom was led by another defendant, who was also live-tweeting this information," The Post reported. "The brazen display of doxing — or publicly uncovering personal information about a private individual — revealed the ways that white supremacists are weaponizing this federal civil trial about the deadly 2017 Unite the Right rally weekend into a spiteful stage."
Cantwell used the n-word in his opening statement as one of the defendants, which the newspaper described as "some of the most notorious white supremacists and hate groups in the country."
"Hundreds of people are listening to the daily public audio broadcast of this trial brought by people who intend to hold white supremacists accountable for the rally violence. They hear the defendantsrepeat the greatest hits of right-wing extremist beliefs in the courtroom and double down on the racist personas they have crafted for their followers, many of whom are paying attention," the newspaper reported. "On any given day, this trial sounds like an open spigot of hate. Defendants have dropped the n-word, admired Adolf Hitler, joked about the Holocaust and trafficked in racist pseudoscience."
Read the full report.