WASHINGTON (WUSA9) — Hundreds of people are expected in Washington, D.C. to protest, what they call, white civil rights.
The demonstration will happen on the one-year anniversary of the ‘Unite the Right’ rally in Charlottesville, Virginia.
A 32-year-old woman was killed and several others were hurt last August.
The National Park Service approved an application for the rally, but no permit has been issued yet.
The violent and deadly protest in Charlottesville made national headlines when white nationalists and counter-protestors clashed.
Jason Kessler organized the "Unite the Right" rally last year to protest cities taking down Confederate statues.
He is now planning another rally outside of the White House at Lafayette Square in D.C.
The National Park Service signed off on the application for the event that lasts two days from August 11 to the 12.
“This year we have a new purpose,” Kessler said. “That’s to talk about the civil rights abuse that happened in Charlottesville, Virginia last year.”
Kessler blames the city and counter-protestors for the violence from 2017.
“It wasn’t the fault of my group that that stuff happened,” he said.
Kessler claimed people attending the rally with his group were victimized, but Tracye Redd with Black Lives Matter DC disagreed.
“That whole narrative that we started the violence is a myth,” Redd told WUSA9.
Kessler is working with police, the NPS, and giving people coming to the rally rules to hopefully keep things safer this year.
The rally was organized to protect -- what Kessler calls – “white civil rights.”
“We’re not able to peacefully assemble. We’re not able to speak,” Kessler explained.
“I keep telling people if your right to rally and your right to protest means that someone else’s life might be in danger, then it is no longer free speech but it is hate speech,” Redd responded.
WUSA9 asked Kessler if he could understand why some groups in America who have been historically marginalized could have a problem with your rally.
He responded, “to be honest, I don’t think it is mostly black or Hispanic people that are offended by these rallies.”
Kessler explained that he believes Democrats in higher education and politics target minority groups to get them upset about the views of far-right groups he is associated with.
“This rally is not about opposing you. This is about us. This is about white people and standing up for our rights,” Kessler said.
A permit to have the rally in Charlottesville was denied last year, and Kessler filed a federal lawsuit against the city to have the protest.
The lawsuit is still under litigation.
