White nationalists and counter-protesters clash in Virginia
Charlottesville has declared a local of emergency
A Jewish association in San Francisco has launched an “Adopt-a-Nazi” fundraising campaign in opposition to a free speech rally taking place in the city next weekend.
The Jewish Bar Association of San Francisco, JBASF, has already raised more than $100,000 with its GoFundMe campaign titled “Adopt-a-Nazi (Not Really),” NBC News reported. The campaign was set up in protest of the upcoming “Patriot Prayer’s Freedom Rally San Francisco” and is raising money for the Southern Poverty Law Center.
The bar association, which reportedly fears a repeat of the violence seen in Charlottesville, Va., during a rally earlier this month, is asking people to donate $100 for every marcher expected to show up to Crissy Field on Saturday.
Organizers of the “Patriot Prayer” rallies -- set for Saturday at 2 p.m. and Sunday at 1 p.m. local time -- say they are not an alt-right or white nationalist group. Joey Gibson, the Patriot Prayer’s leader, says the group supports “freedom, love and peace.”
A Facebook message by Patriot Prayer states that “no extremists will be allowed in” to its Liberty Weekend events. It continues: “No Nazis, Communists, KKK, Antifa, white supremacists, i.e. or white nationalists.”
Cody Harris, a JBASF board member, told NBC he was "repulsed" by the violence displayed at the Charlottesville rally that was in protest of the removal of a Confederate statue. The violence at the rally led to three deaths -- one woman who died after she was hit by a car and two police officers whose helicopter crashed.
"White nationalists may feel emboldened, but they will never prevail," Harris said. "There are far more decent people dedicated to this country’s founding creed than there are white nationalists.”
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