Charlottesville Verdict Provides Model for Holding White Nationalists Accountable

Today’s verdict in the case of Sines v. Kessler, a civil suit aimed at holding white nationalists accountable for their role in inciting violence in Charlottesville, Virginia during the Unite the Right rally in 2017, will force organizers of the event to pay millions of dollars in penalties. Western States Center executive director Eric K. Ward issued the following statement.

“The violence we saw at the Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville was no accident. The defendants in this case conspired to engage in racist violence and the results were deadly.

“Today’s verdict demonstrates the financial, legal, and operational consequences of promoting violent hate. It sends a clear message not just to the defendants, but to other white nationalist and paramilitary groups looking on. Groups who are driving conflict and violence can and will be held accountable for their actions.

“It’s critical that we not allow white nationalist and anti-democracy groups to grow and thrive behind the fiction that they aren’t responsible for the violence and bigotry they promote. Today’s verdict, although partial, helps to make that clear.”

“Civil litigation has historically been an important tool for holding white nationalists and paramilitary groups accountable for the suffering they impose on a community. In past decades, groups like the Aryan Nations and WAR (White Aryan Resistance) were profoundly weakened by civil lawsuits holding the organizations accountable for their reckless and dangerous actions in promoting violence and bigotry. Today’s verdict makes clear that local governments have the ability to pursue, and win, civil remedies against groups that conspire to provoke political and bigoted violence. Residents of towns and cities across the country should expect their elected leaders to move as assertively as Charlottesville did in defending their communities from political violence.

“The anti-bigotry field and civil society more broadly owe Integrity First for America a debt of gratitude for their courageous leadership in this case.” 

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