Jason Kessler, organizer of the alt-right “Unite the Right 2” rally planned for Washington, DC, on August 12, doesn’t want Right Wing Watch around. Instead, we should go talk to black counter-protesters, he said in an email. “They’ll be happy to give you material for your site,” he wrote.
As a Right Wing Watch researcher/reporter planning to cover the so-called “Unite the Right 2” rally being convened in Washington, DC, on August 12, I wrote to Kessler last night in regard to his role organizing the rally, scheduled to take place on the first anniversary of the deadly white supremacist “Unite the Right” gathering in Charlottesville, Virginia. I also requested permission to embed with his group, so that I might report the rally from the inside angle.
Kessler’s response to my request came in an email that reads:
No, I don’t think your presence would help. It would only escalate tensions which is not what I’m trying to do. There will protest sections for BLM [Black Lives Matter] and those folks. You can interview them talking about how evil we are and whatnot. They’ll be happy to give you material for your site.
Kessler has repeatedly claimed that his rally is not motivated by racist ideology, but rather “white civil rights” activism.
As Right Wing Watch noted, Kessler is facing derision from other white supremacists, who blame him for a lack of organization in planning the Charlottesville event. This year’s rally was moved to Washington, D.C., because the City of Charlottesville declined to grant Kessler a permit for a public demonstration. It appears that nearly every major alt-right leader declined invitations to attend this year’s event, effectively isolating Kessler even within the famously fractious modern alt-right.
