CJ Hunt was at the neo-Nazi rally in Charlottesville when he spotted this young man in white supremacist uniform (white polo and khakis) running away from counterdemonstrators, then turning abruptly and stripping off while insisting that he was not really a Nazi and had just shown up for fun.
Hunt followed the young maybe-Nazi through the rally, interviewing him, and got him explaining that he just likes to be offensive and enjoys shouting things like “White power!” but doesn’t really care about racism.
Since I’m a person of color, my identity is not a uniform I can take off when I am feeling unsafe—when I’m stopped by police or when my white girlfriend and I travel through southern towns where Confederate flags billow from porches and pickup trucks. Like all minorities, I’ve grown used to the way that difference marks me—the burden of being ever ready for the moment my skin turns me into a target for angry white men determined to take back what they think the world owes them.
A Charlottesville White Supremacist Stripped Down to Escape Protesters and We Got It on Video [CJ Hunt/GQ]
(Thanks, Pteryxx!)