Story perspectives

Driver Kills Counterprotester in Charlottesville Protest Attack

8/30/2026

Summary

Driver Kills Protester

A driver plowed a car into a Charlottesville protest, killing counterprotester Heather Heyer.
The attack followed the Aug. 11, 2017 “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville, Virginia.
Marchers with tiki torches shouted “Jews will not replace us” and chanted “Blood and soil.”
President Donald Trump later said there were “very fine people on both sides” of the violence.
Observers noted the chants echoed historic Klan and neo-Nazi marches in the United States.

Summary

Vance Champions Heritage

Vice President JD Vance championed the “Heritage American” narrative at the 2024 Republican National Convention.
He described America as a “homeland” linked to ancestors buried on an Eastern Kentucky mountainside.
The “Heritage American” label limits legitimacy to descendants of Anglo-Protestant and Scotch-Irish colonial settlers.
Historian Gordon Wood said the founders lacked a common bloodline, emphasizing a creedal, immigrant-based national identity.

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Driver Kills Protester

A driver plowed a car into a Charlottesville protest, killing counterprotester Heather Heyer.
The attack followed the Aug. 11, 2017 “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville, Virginia.
Marchers with tiki torches shouted “Jews will not replace us” and chanted “Blood and soil.”
President Donald Trump later said there were “very fine people on both sides” of the violence.
Observers noted the chants echoed historic Klan and neo-Nazi marches in the United States.

1 / 2