Charlottesville: Race and Terror

In August 2017, horrified Americans watched as neo-Nazi supporters occupied Charlottesville’s Emancipation Park, protesting the removal of Confederate monuments. VICE reporter Elle Reeve embedded herself among white supremacists, fearlessly jumping onto vans and pushing microphones into already flushed faces, as she documented who these people were, how they understood their actions, and what their political goals were. Her portrait of Christopher Cantwell and his sympathizers, as they articulated their desire to fight a race war on American soil, offered a sharp contrast with President Donald Trump’s claims that there were “very fine people on both sides” of this conflict. And the VICE camera crew captured the horrifying moment when a white nationalist drove his car directly into a line of anti-fascist protestors. As the public debated what happened in Charlottesville, this VICE film was widely circulated via social media, making for essential viewing. For ripping the mask off Cantwell and his fellow white supremacists, a Peabody Award goes to Reeve, the VICE News Tonight team, and “Charlottesville: Race & Terror.”