'White advocate' made same arguments as Trump 03:49
'White advocate' made same arguments as Trump 03:49
(CNN) — Blame President Trump for his tepid moral response. Call the neo-Nazis and white nationalists thugs. Fill your Facebook and Twitter accounts with moral outrage.
But the tragedy that took place in Charlottesville this month could not have occurred without the tacit acceptance of millions of ordinary, law-abiding Americans who helped create such a racially explosive climate, some activists, historians and victims of extremism say.
It's easy to focus on the angry white men in paramilitary gear who looked like they were mobilizing for a race war in the Virginia college town. But it's the ordinary people -- the voters who elected a reality TV star with a record of making racially insensitive comments, the people who move out of the neighborhood when people of color move in, the family members who ignore a relative's anti-Semitism -- who give these type of men room to operate, they say.
Photos: Violence erupts at a white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia
Counterprotesters try to burn a Confederate battle flag taken from white nationalist protesters.
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Photos: Violence erupts at a white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia
White nationalists, neo-Nazis and members of the "alt-right" clash with counterprotesters.
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Photos: Violence erupts at a white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia
A white nationalist is seen with a cut below his eye suffered during clashes with counterprotesters at Emancipation Park .
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Photos: Violence erupts at a white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia
White nationalists, neo-Nazis and members of the alt-right movement exchange volleys of pepper spray with counterprotesters as they enter Emancipation Park.
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Photos: Violence erupts at a white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia
A woman is treated for exposure to pepper spray during clashes between white nationalists and counterprotesters at Emancipation Park.
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Photos: Violence erupts at a white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia
White nationalists use shields as they guard the entrance to Emancipation Park.
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Photos: Violence erupts at a white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia
Counterprotesters line the route taken by white nationalists and neo-Nazis during the "Unite the Right" rally. After clashes with anti-fascist protesters and police, the rally was declared an unlawful gathering and people were forced out of Emancipation Park, formerly called Lee Park and home to a controversial statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee.
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Photos: Violence erupts at a white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia
White nationalist Richard Spencer and his supporters clash with Virginia State Police in Emancipation Park.
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Photos: Violence erupts at a white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia
Riot police form a line of defense in front of the statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee in Emancipation Park, recently renamed from Lee Park.
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Photos: Violence erupts at a white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia
People fly into the air as a vehicle drives into a group of people demonstrating against a white nationalist rally after police cleared Emancipation Park in Charlottesville, Virginia, on Saturday, August 12.
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Photos: Violence erupts at a white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia
The vehicle moments before it struck the crowd.
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Photos: Violence erupts at a white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia
A woman receives first aid after a speeding car slammed into this silver convertible as it navigated through a crowd of counterprotesters.
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Photos: Violence erupts at a white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia
A man embraces an injured woman after a car rammed into the crowd.
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Photos: Violence erupts at a white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia
Right-wing rally members clash with counterprotesters in Emancipation Park, where white nationalist groups gathered for a rally.
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Show Caption
Photos: Violence erupts at a white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia
A counterprotester strikes a white nationalist with a baton during clashes at Emancipation Park, where white nationalists are protesting the removal of the Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee monument.
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Photos: Violence erupts at a white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia
A counterprotester throws a newspaper box at a right-wing rally member at the entrance to Emancipation Park.
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Photos: Violence erupts at a white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia
A counterprotester uses a lighted spray can against a white nationalist at the entrance to Emancipation Park.
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Show Caption
Photos: Violence erupts at a white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia
Counterprotesters try to burn a Confederate battle flag taken from white nationalist protesters.
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Show Caption
Photos: Violence erupts at a white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia
White nationalists, neo-Nazis and members of the "alt-right" clash with counterprotesters.
10 of 17
Show Caption
Photos: Violence erupts at a white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia
A white nationalist is seen with a cut below his eye suffered during clashes with counterprotesters at Emancipation Park .
11 of 17
Show Caption
Photos: Violence erupts at a white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia
White nationalists, neo-Nazis and members of the alt-right movement exchange volleys of pepper spray with counterprotesters as they enter Emancipation Park.
12 of 17
Show Caption
Photos: Violence erupts at a white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia
A woman is treated for exposure to pepper spray during clashes between white nationalists and counterprotesters at Emancipation Park.
13 of 17
Show Caption
Photos: Violence erupts at a white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia
White nationalists use shields as they guard the entrance to Emancipation Park.
14 of 17
Show Caption
Photos: Violence erupts at a white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia
Counterprotesters line the route taken by white nationalists and neo-Nazis during the "Unite the Right" rally. After clashes with anti-fascist protesters and police, the rally was declared an unlawful gathering and people were forced out of Emancipation Park, formerly called Lee Park and home to a controversial statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee.
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Show Caption
Photos: Violence erupts at a white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia
White nationalist Richard Spencer and his supporters clash with Virginia State Police in Emancipation Park.
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Show Caption
Photos: Violence erupts at a white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia
Riot police form a line of defense in front of the statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee in Emancipation Park, recently renamed from Lee Park.
17 of 17
Show Caption
Photos: Violence erupts at a white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia
People fly into the air as a vehicle drives into a group of people demonstrating against a white nationalist rally after police cleared Emancipation Park in Charlottesville, Virginia, on Saturday, August 12.
1 of 17
Show Caption
Photos: Violence erupts at a white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia
The vehicle moments before it struck the crowd.
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Show Caption
Photos: Violence erupts at a white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia
A woman receives first aid after a speeding car slammed into this silver convertible as it navigated through a crowd of counterprotesters.
3 of 17
Show Caption
Photos: Violence erupts at a white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia
A man embraces an injured woman after a car rammed into the crowd.
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Show Caption
Photos: Violence erupts at a white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia
Right-wing rally members clash with counterprotesters in Emancipation Park, where white nationalist groups gathered for a rally.
5 of 17
Show Caption
Photos: Violence erupts at a white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia
A counterprotester strikes a white nationalist with a baton during clashes at Emancipation Park, where white nationalists are protesting the removal of the Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee monument.
6 of 17
Show Caption
Photos: Violence erupts at a white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia
A counterprotester throws a newspaper box at a right-wing rally member at the entrance to Emancipation Park.
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Show Caption
Photos: Violence erupts at a white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia
A counterprotester uses a lighted spray can against a white nationalist at the entrance to Emancipation Park.
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Show Caption
That was the twisted formula that made the Holocaust and Rwanda possible and allowed Jim Crow segregation to survive: Nice people looked the other way while those with an appetite for violence did the dirty work, says Mark Naison, a political activist and history professor at Fordham University in New York City.
''You have to have millions of people who are willing to be bystanders, who push aside evidence of racism, Islamophobia or sexism. You can't have one without the other,'' Naison says.