There was lots of reporting about what happened in Charlottesville on August 12th – most of it by people from other places. Now, about a dozen local media producers are set to release a 90-minute documentary on the subject. It’s called Charlottesville: Our Streets, and Sandy Hausman has this preview.
Across the nation, protesters have been chanting – Whose streets? Our streets,” and those words struck a chord with journalist Jackson Landers as he covered the Unite the Right rally on August 12th in Charlottesville. He knew many local people who recorded events of the day with cameras and phones.
“There was probably a complete documentary film hiding in peoples hard drives and SD cards, " he explains. "I also realized that people’s memories of what happened were going to change, and the sooner we get those interviews the better.”
Charlottesville filmmaker Brian Wimer was also there, hoping to tell the stories not told by journalists from other cities. He discovered, for example, an unlikely alliance between clergy and some heavily armed members of private militias.
“One of the paramilitary guys, for example, mouthed the words Thank You. Some of the militia members were singing along with hymns the clergy people were doing," Wimer says.
They put out the call for any video, audio or stills of the rally. They also found material on YouTube, and began organizing the elements. Landers was surprised to find that everyone at the rally thought he or she was standing up for a righteous cause.
“The Alt-Right, the counter protesters, they all think that they’re saving the world,” Landers says.
And Wimer adds one other point of agreement among disparate groups.
“The police did nothing. For at least an hour there was bedlam on the streets of Charlottesville.”
In their documentary, which premieres Sunday at 4:30 in Charlottesville’s Paramount Theater, they are unable to say why police stood down – who, if anyone, gave the order, but they hope their program will provoke discussion and lead to answers. Meanwhile, festival organizers have announced everyone attending the screening must pass through a metal detector, and they’re urging the public to arrive 45 minutes early for the show.
Listen to Sandy Hausman's interview with Jackson Landers. Landers begins, explaining how the idea for Charlottesville: Our Streets came about.