People are trying to stick it to the white nationalists, who descended on Charlottesville, Virginia, over the weekend by giving money to the groups they hate.
Several non-profits in the Charlottesville area are reporting an uptick in donations in response to the violent white supremacist rally that shook the college town.
A group called Beloved Community Charlottesville says it raised $67,000 in pledges to local organizations. The group said that worked out to $134 for every white nationalist who participated in the “Unite the Right” rally, but exact crowd numbers are not available.
Calls for support are also getting a lot of traction on social media. A Twitter thread with a list of organizations has gotten tens of thousands of likes and retweets since it was posted early Saturday morning.
The Black Student Alliance at the University of Virginia was on that list. A volunteer with the group said they’d heard from many people who told them they’d given money, but they won’t know how much they’ve gotten until the school processes the donations.
It got a big boost when designer Max Temkin, one of the creators of the popular party game “Cards Against Humanity” promised to match donations to the group up to $5,000.
A medical fund for counter protesters that was set up by the Democratic Socialists of America exceeded its $150,000 goal in one day.
Similarly, the Charlottesville Solidarity Legal Fund raised almost $150,000, almost triple its original goal, to help protesters involved in anti-racist activities.
Heather Heyer, a 32-year-old paralegal, was killed and 19 others were injured on Saturday when a car drove into a crowd of counter-protesters, who had gathered to oppose the “Unite the Right” rally of white nationalists and other right-wing groups.
A GoFundMe campaign raised more than $225,000 for Heyer and donations have also poured in for other victims.
