1 00:00:01,760 --> 00:00:09,080 Speaker 1: Cool Zone Media. 2 00:00:09,280 --> 00:00:12,920 Speaker 2: There is a regular episode this week, a proper second 3 00:00:12,920 --> 00:00:15,960 Speaker 2: episode for a brand new show, something I put a 4 00:00:16,000 --> 00:00:18,319 Speaker 2: lot of time into to give listeners to the show 5 00:00:18,320 --> 00:00:21,720 Speaker 2: what I hope is an impressive introduction to it. It's 6 00:00:21,720 --> 00:00:26,440 Speaker 2: already recorded and edited and scheduled, but I realized on Sunday. 7 00:00:26,160 --> 00:00:28,680 Speaker 1: Night what the date was? August eleventh? 8 00:00:30,240 --> 00:00:32,479 Speaker 2: How can I tell you my new listeners about the 9 00:00:32,520 --> 00:00:37,640 Speaker 2: weird little guys trying to ruin America without acknowledging that today, 10 00:00:37,680 --> 00:00:41,080 Speaker 2: as I'm writing this, it's Monday, August twelfth, twenty twenty four. 11 00:00:42,520 --> 00:00:46,920 Speaker 2: Seven years ago, Charlottesville was invaded by Neo Nazis, Confederate secessionists, 12 00:00:46,920 --> 00:00:50,720 Speaker 2: white supremacists, white nationalists, racists, and anti Semites of all allegiances. 13 00:00:51,880 --> 00:00:54,480 Speaker 2: That's what started my obsession. That's where this show was 14 00:00:54,520 --> 00:00:58,120 Speaker 2: truly born, because I spent the last seven years trying 15 00:00:58,160 --> 00:01:02,640 Speaker 2: to understand those men, What brought them here, what made 16 00:01:02,680 --> 00:01:05,840 Speaker 2: them that way, what do they actually believe in? What 17 00:01:05,840 --> 00:01:08,720 Speaker 2: are they just saying out of opportunism or for shock value? 18 00:01:09,520 --> 00:01:13,360 Speaker 2: And do they even know the difference anymore? Weird little guys? 19 00:01:13,480 --> 00:01:16,039 Speaker 2: This show wouldn't exist but for the years I've spent 20 00:01:16,120 --> 00:01:19,560 Speaker 2: looking for and then looking at those guys in particular, 21 00:01:20,200 --> 00:01:21,840 Speaker 2: and then trying to track them back in time. 22 00:01:23,160 --> 00:01:24,000 Speaker 1: What groups were they in? 23 00:01:24,760 --> 00:01:28,200 Speaker 2: Who runs those who founded them? What ideological lineage do 24 00:01:28,280 --> 00:01:31,800 Speaker 2: they spring from? When I look at a photograph of 25 00:01:31,800 --> 00:01:34,440 Speaker 2: a man beating my neighbors in the streets of my hometown, 26 00:01:34,560 --> 00:01:38,000 Speaker 2: I wonder not just who is he, but how did 27 00:01:38,000 --> 00:01:40,319 Speaker 2: he get here? And I don't mean did he fly 28 00:01:40,400 --> 00:01:42,959 Speaker 2: into the Charlesville Airport and then rent a car? Did 29 00:01:43,000 --> 00:01:45,679 Speaker 2: he park in the garage downtown or on some side 30 00:01:45,720 --> 00:01:47,880 Speaker 2: street in front of a house where someone I love 31 00:01:47,960 --> 00:01:48,880 Speaker 2: is raising their family. 32 00:01:50,080 --> 00:01:51,200 Speaker 1: I mean who did he follow? 33 00:01:52,040 --> 00:01:53,840 Speaker 2: And how did that man arrive at a place where 34 00:01:53,840 --> 00:01:56,120 Speaker 2: he could command strangers from the internet to follow him 35 00:01:56,120 --> 00:01:59,640 Speaker 2: into battle. It's like making a family tree, but the 36 00:01:59,680 --> 00:02:02,560 Speaker 2: fruit is bitter and rotten, and the roots are cracking 37 00:02:02,600 --> 00:02:06,760 Speaker 2: our foundations. I think as the show progresses, many of 38 00:02:06,760 --> 00:02:08,079 Speaker 2: the men who played a role in the Unite the 39 00:02:08,160 --> 00:02:11,119 Speaker 2: Right rally will earn their own full episode. A lot 40 00:02:11,120 --> 00:02:14,880 Speaker 2: of them are incredibly weird little guys without a doubt. 41 00:02:16,000 --> 00:02:17,720 Speaker 2: But it didn't feel right letting this week go by 42 00:02:17,760 --> 00:02:20,160 Speaker 2: without marking it, without putting a pin in this state 43 00:02:20,280 --> 00:02:24,480 Speaker 2: to say here's where the show was born, because over 44 00:02:24,480 --> 00:02:27,040 Speaker 2: the years, as I accumulated thousands of pages of notes 45 00:02:27,080 --> 00:02:29,720 Speaker 2: trying to find a source for what happened here, I 46 00:02:29,800 --> 00:02:32,800 Speaker 2: realized the timeline of one man's crimes doesn't begin with 47 00:02:32,840 --> 00:02:35,040 Speaker 2: the date of the charged conduct on the half a David. 48 00:02:35,919 --> 00:02:38,760 Speaker 2: It doesn't begin the day he decided ideological violence was 49 00:02:38,800 --> 00:02:41,520 Speaker 2: an option for him. It doesn't begin the day he 50 00:02:41,600 --> 00:02:44,360 Speaker 2: joined an extremist organization, or the day he was radicalized, 51 00:02:44,440 --> 00:02:47,280 Speaker 2: or even the day he was born. The more I 52 00:02:47,360 --> 00:02:49,760 Speaker 2: dug on any one story, the more I realized you 53 00:02:49,840 --> 00:02:52,280 Speaker 2: have to reach decades into the past to even begin 54 00:02:52,400 --> 00:02:54,760 Speaker 2: to understand why you were looking at a photograph of 55 00:02:54,760 --> 00:02:56,320 Speaker 2: a man with his hands or on the throat of 56 00:02:56,320 --> 00:02:58,680 Speaker 2: a counter protester in full view of an entire police 57 00:02:58,680 --> 00:03:03,640 Speaker 2: department Charlottesville, as people refer to that day, that event 58 00:03:03,720 --> 00:03:06,280 Speaker 2: in this place didn't begin when they bought their boarding 59 00:03:06,320 --> 00:03:07,720 Speaker 2: passes or joined the discord. 60 00:03:08,560 --> 00:03:10,880 Speaker 1: It started before they were born, and. 61 00:03:10,880 --> 00:03:13,560 Speaker 2: It continues long after the barricades were removed and everyone 62 00:03:13,600 --> 00:03:16,919 Speaker 2: went home. That's a very long story, and I hope 63 00:03:16,919 --> 00:03:18,520 Speaker 2: I can get started on it with his show, But 64 00:03:19,120 --> 00:03:21,800 Speaker 2: today we can't start at the beginning we're still in 65 00:03:21,840 --> 00:03:25,600 Speaker 2: the middle. I don't know how much pre emble you need. 66 00:03:26,440 --> 00:03:28,520 Speaker 2: I don't know if you remember the Unite the Right rally. 67 00:03:28,520 --> 00:03:31,080 Speaker 2: Beyond a handful of the same photos, every outlet seems 68 00:03:31,080 --> 00:03:33,560 Speaker 2: to run as shorthand for white supremacist violence. 69 00:03:34,520 --> 00:03:36,000 Speaker 1: A few fleeting images. 70 00:03:36,600 --> 00:03:39,040 Speaker 2: A close up photo of men shouldered to shoulder, torches 71 00:03:39,080 --> 00:03:42,360 Speaker 2: in hands, mouths open, mid shout, faces contorted with the 72 00:03:42,360 --> 00:03:45,080 Speaker 2: effort to be heard above the roar, to have their 73 00:03:45,200 --> 00:03:47,240 Speaker 2: cry of Jews will not replace. 74 00:03:46,960 --> 00:03:48,520 Speaker 1: Us be the loudest. 75 00:03:49,480 --> 00:03:51,680 Speaker 2: A man's body tossed into the air bouncing off a 76 00:03:51,680 --> 00:03:52,480 Speaker 2: dodge challenger. 77 00:03:53,520 --> 00:03:56,640 Speaker 1: You've seen the photo. I know you have, But do 78 00:03:56,680 --> 00:03:57,360 Speaker 1: you know his name? 79 00:03:58,720 --> 00:04:00,440 Speaker 2: A photo of a line of men in home made 80 00:04:00,520 --> 00:04:04,160 Speaker 2: uniforms and plastic helmets costplaying as American Black Shirts, plowing 81 00:04:04,200 --> 00:04:05,440 Speaker 2: through peaceful protesters. 82 00:04:06,640 --> 00:04:09,920 Speaker 1: You'd recognize these images if you saw them. You've seen them. 83 00:04:10,360 --> 00:04:14,040 Speaker 2: You'd look at them and say, that's from Charlottesville. But 84 00:04:14,080 --> 00:04:17,400 Speaker 2: you wouldn't mean Charlesville, a place, the mid size college 85 00:04:17,400 --> 00:04:19,560 Speaker 2: town where people cross the street and that spot every 86 00:04:19,640 --> 00:04:23,840 Speaker 2: day to get to the public library. No, you'd mean Charlottesville, 87 00:04:23,839 --> 00:04:28,159 Speaker 2: the moment in time, Charlottesville, the violence Charlottesville, the Nazi rally. 88 00:04:29,160 --> 00:04:33,359 Speaker 2: And that's not your fault, that's completely understandable. That just 89 00:04:33,440 --> 00:04:36,320 Speaker 2: means it's my responsibility to ground these stories in the 90 00:04:36,360 --> 00:04:39,240 Speaker 2: places where they happen, to tether these individual men to 91 00:04:39,279 --> 00:04:43,640 Speaker 2: the context from which they arose. Today, as I write this, 92 00:04:43,760 --> 00:04:45,719 Speaker 2: I had to get up from my computer to go downtown. 93 00:04:46,880 --> 00:04:50,719 Speaker 2: I stopped at Fourth Street. There are always purple ribbons 94 00:04:50,720 --> 00:04:53,120 Speaker 2: tied around a street sign, the intersection where Heather Hire 95 00:04:53,160 --> 00:04:58,320 Speaker 2: was murdered, her favorite color. Today there is a small vigil. 96 00:05:00,000 --> 00:05:01,599 Speaker 2: I didn't know Heather, but I stop on that spot 97 00:05:01,640 --> 00:05:04,839 Speaker 2: often to think of her. Today I stopped at that 98 00:05:04,880 --> 00:05:07,400 Speaker 2: spot for a few minutes, and then I walked to 99 00:05:07,440 --> 00:05:10,360 Speaker 2: the courthouse to sit for hours listening to lawyers argue 100 00:05:10,400 --> 00:05:12,640 Speaker 2: motions in a case against one of the headline speakers 101 00:05:12,640 --> 00:05:13,440 Speaker 2: at the rally. 102 00:05:13,160 --> 00:05:13,720 Speaker 1: That killed her. 103 00:05:15,560 --> 00:05:18,120 Speaker 2: Seven years to the day, to the hour, to the 104 00:05:18,160 --> 00:05:22,080 Speaker 2: minute even and I'm sitting in a tiny upstairs courtroom 105 00:05:22,080 --> 00:05:23,679 Speaker 2: with a man who never got to give his speech 106 00:05:23,720 --> 00:05:27,240 Speaker 2: at the rally that day. A courthouse employee held a 107 00:05:27,320 --> 00:05:30,560 Speaker 2: door open for me. I'm there so often, they're used 108 00:05:30,600 --> 00:05:34,120 Speaker 2: to seeing me in my little notebook. He told me, 109 00:05:34,200 --> 00:05:38,320 Speaker 2: I look nice today. I said thank you, because the 110 00:05:38,360 --> 00:05:40,520 Speaker 2: alternative was to say that I'm wearing my blue sun 111 00:05:40,640 --> 00:05:42,560 Speaker 2: dress with birds on it because the birds are purple, 112 00:05:42,600 --> 00:05:44,440 Speaker 2: and it was the only thing I could find this morning. 113 00:05:44,440 --> 00:05:45,920 Speaker 1: In Purple was Heather's favorite color. 114 00:05:47,520 --> 00:05:49,840 Speaker 2: It doesn't matter at all, but when there's nothing you 115 00:05:49,880 --> 00:05:51,440 Speaker 2: can do, you do things. 116 00:05:51,320 --> 00:05:52,040 Speaker 1: That don't make sense. 117 00:05:53,480 --> 00:05:55,600 Speaker 2: I didn't know her. I don't think she would care 118 00:05:55,720 --> 00:05:58,479 Speaker 2: that the birds on my dress are purple. But I 119 00:05:58,480 --> 00:06:00,320 Speaker 2: woke up this morning on the date that she died, 120 00:06:00,400 --> 00:06:02,440 Speaker 2: and all I can really do is to keep trying 121 00:06:02,440 --> 00:06:04,280 Speaker 2: to tell the stories of the men who set a 122 00:06:04,360 --> 00:06:06,960 Speaker 2: murderer on a collision course with the crowd she marched 123 00:06:06,960 --> 00:06:11,480 Speaker 2: with that day. Heather Hire was a person, a real 124 00:06:11,520 --> 00:06:13,960 Speaker 2: person with a job, a little dog, and friends and 125 00:06:14,000 --> 00:06:16,960 Speaker 2: a family who loved her. It isn't fair to her 126 00:06:16,960 --> 00:06:21,320 Speaker 2: memory to reduce her to a martyr, a concept, an idea, 127 00:06:22,080 --> 00:06:24,240 Speaker 2: to shrink her down to the moment of her death, 128 00:06:24,240 --> 00:06:27,200 Speaker 2: and to use her name as shorthand for lives lost 129 00:06:27,240 --> 00:06:31,200 Speaker 2: to fascist violence. She was not the first or the 130 00:06:31,279 --> 00:06:35,600 Speaker 2: last innocent life lost to right wing extremism, but her 131 00:06:35,640 --> 00:06:38,919 Speaker 2: death is what set me on this path, and I remember. 132 00:06:38,640 --> 00:06:42,760 Speaker 1: Her today and I hope you will too. 133 00:06:43,040 --> 00:06:45,440 Speaker 2: It is perhaps a bit trite to end with a 134 00:06:45,520 --> 00:06:48,279 Speaker 2: quote from doctor Martin Luther King Junior, but in his 135 00:06:48,360 --> 00:06:52,600 Speaker 2: nineteen sixty three book Strength to Love, he wrote returning 136 00:06:52,600 --> 00:06:56,440 Speaker 2: hate for hate multiplies hate, adding deeper darkness to a 137 00:06:56,560 --> 00:07:01,480 Speaker 2: night already devoid of stars. Darkness cannot drive out darkness. 138 00:07:01,560 --> 00:07:05,320 Speaker 2: Only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate. 139 00:07:05,680 --> 00:07:11,000 Speaker 2: Only love can do that. Hate multiplies hate, violence multiplies violence, 140 00:07:11,040 --> 00:07:14,960 Speaker 2: and toughness multiplies toughness in a descending spiral of destruction. 141 00:07:16,680 --> 00:07:18,920 Speaker 2: Doctor King may have had the strength to love his enemies. 142 00:07:19,720 --> 00:07:22,000 Speaker 2: Your pastor would tell you Jesus wants you to love 143 00:07:22,040 --> 00:07:25,520 Speaker 2: your enemies. I don't know that I have that strength, 144 00:07:26,280 --> 00:07:29,120 Speaker 2: but I work so hard not to harden my heart. 145 00:07:29,840 --> 00:07:33,400 Speaker 2: I am actively working every day to remind myself. I 146 00:07:33,440 --> 00:07:37,120 Speaker 2: don't do this because I hate my enemies. I do 147 00:07:37,160 --> 00:07:41,600 Speaker 2: this because I love everyone else. I know doctor King 148 00:07:41,680 --> 00:07:43,880 Speaker 2: had something else in mind. But when I say only 149 00:07:43,920 --> 00:07:46,440 Speaker 2: love can drive out hate, I don't mean we have 150 00:07:46,480 --> 00:07:49,360 Speaker 2: to love the ones that hate us. I don't think 151 00:07:49,400 --> 00:07:52,400 Speaker 2: our love can transform the hate in their hearts. Maybe 152 00:07:52,440 --> 00:07:54,560 Speaker 2: your pastor can do that, Maybe you can do that. 153 00:07:55,680 --> 00:07:57,200 Speaker 2: But what I mean is that we have to love 154 00:07:57,280 --> 00:08:01,320 Speaker 2: each other enough to protect the most vulnerablem We have 155 00:08:01,360 --> 00:08:03,440 Speaker 2: to love our vision of the world that we want 156 00:08:03,480 --> 00:08:05,640 Speaker 2: to live in enough to fight for it. We have 157 00:08:05,720 --> 00:08:08,440 Speaker 2: to love the idea of society without them in it 158 00:08:08,640 --> 00:08:11,960 Speaker 2: enough to throw our bodies down like sandbags against a 159 00:08:12,040 --> 00:08:16,440 Speaker 2: rising tide of fascism and the light driving out of 160 00:08:16,440 --> 00:08:20,760 Speaker 2: the darkness. That's what I hope to be. I want 161 00:08:20,760 --> 00:08:24,560 Speaker 2: to shine a light into these dark corners, like laundry 162 00:08:24,600 --> 00:08:27,000 Speaker 2: hung on the line to bleach the stains. I want 163 00:08:27,040 --> 00:08:30,200 Speaker 2: to be the hot Southern sun on an afternoon in August. 164 00:08:31,600 --> 00:08:33,520 Speaker 1: And that's why I'm showing you these weird little guys. 165 00:08:37,200 --> 00:08:39,640 Speaker 1: Weird Little Guys is the production of coal Zone Media. 166 00:08:39,960 --> 00:08:41,280 Speaker 1: Or more from coal Zone Media. 167 00:08:41,559 --> 00:08:44,960 Speaker 2: Visit our website coolzonmedia dot com, or check us out 168 00:08:45,000 --> 00:08:51,520 Speaker 2: on the iHeartRadio app or wherever you get your podcasts.