This does smell like a set piece. The park was recently renamed from Lee Park to Emancipation Park. A protest against the renaming is organized by Kessler who allegedly is associated with Occupy Wall Street - odd switch - and with CNN.
June 5, 2017 - Charlottesville City Councilors have decided on new names for both parks. Monday night, they voted 5-0 to rename Jackson Park, Justice Park, and rename Lee Park, Emancipation Park.
Speakers started off under control, discussing the Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson statues.
“They are symbols of white supremacy and terror,” Rick Turner said.
But the meeting soon devolved into chaos.
“Wes Bellamy and Kristina [sic] Szakos are single handedly responsible for all the racial unrest that has torn this town apart,” John Hayden said.
“No they aren’t,” a woman replied.
Twice Mayor Mike Signer threatened to suspend the meeting, and had to ask police officers to escort protesters out.
Police watched the crowd as right-wing blogger Jason Kessler spoke, after a comment from the mayor about freedom of speech.
“You talk about black people, you talk about gay people, you don’t give a damn about white people. And white people have a right to organize and advocate for our rights as well,” Kessler said.
As he finished his public comment, Kessler advertised a just-announced rally of his political group Unity and Security for America. That’s set for Aug. 12 in Lee Park.
The Traditionalist Workers Party, a political organization that identifies with white nationalism, then encouraged people to attend on its Facebook page.
“We will find a way to answer this hate in our community. I just hope we do it in time to prevent something not good happening,” councilor Bob Fenwick said in reply.
Monday, NBC29 learned the Loyal White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan also applied for a permit to hold a rally in Charlottesville, which is set for July 8 at the Charlottesville Circuit Courthouse.
“We have to again stand together and be vigilant as a community, we know what our values are, and do not engage in any violent behavior,” councilor Kathy Galvin said.
After the vote, City Council directed staff to deal with the signage and go back through all city code and change every reference to Lee Park and Jackson Park.
http://www.nbc29.com/story/35595559/charlottesville-city-council-votes-to-rename-lee-jackson-parks
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Rick Turner -
M. Rick Turner, who for nearly three decades has challenged the racial status quo in Charlottesville and Central Virginia, has resigned his post as president of the Albemarle-Charlottesville NAACP just five weeks after winning re-election.
Turner joined the University of Virginia staff in 1988 as dean of African-American affairs and has served as NAACP president for much of the 21st century.
Janette B. Martin, NAACP first vice president, is next in line to assume leadership duties.
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Wes Bellamy -
Charlottesville residents argue over the resignation of Vice Mayor of Charlottesville, Wes Bellamy, after a series of tweets were revealed from his past.
Video interview includes the tweets. “Vice Mayor of Charlottesville, Wes Bellamy has a long history of twitter posts that were blatantly misogynistic, homophobic, and anti-white. Bellamy quickly apologized saying he has changed. And while most of City Council and residents have accepted that, the controversy still has some questioning their trust for him.”
http://wuvanews.com/2017/05/10/news-archives/wes-bellamy-tweets/
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Kristin Szakos, Charlottesville City Council
Kristin Szakos is a writer and freelance editor and has co-written two books on community organizing. She chairs the Charlottesville Albemarle Metropolitan Planning Organization and serves on the Albemarle-Charlottesville Regional Jail Authority Board and the Steering Committee of the City of Promise, as well as several boards and commissions. She is immediate past chair of the National Council for Children, Education and Families, and chair of Virginia First Cities.
Ms. Szakos has lived in Charlottesville since 1994. She served as president of the Burnley-Moran PTO and was a member of the Charlottesville City Schools Special Education Advisory Committee. She was local Volunteer Coordinator for the 2008 Obama campaign and Virginia statewide coordinator for the 2009 National Day of Service. She previously served on the Board of Directors of the Charlottesville NAACP and worked as a grant writer and administrator for several local nonprofits. She is a member of Trinity Episcopal Church and sings with several local vocal groups.
After graduating from Grinnell College in 1981 and earning a master’s degree in journalism from Northwestern University, she worked for a short time for the Associated Press, but quickly discovered that her heart lay in local communities. She left the AP to become a reporter at the Appalachian News-Express, a small town newspaper in Pikeville, Kentucky, and later edited a journal of local community organizing, The Appalachian Reader. She moved with her family to Hungary in 1993 and to Charlottesville the following year. She spent a year writing in Lyon, France, in 2004-05, and in 2011 was accepted into the Harvard Kennedy School of Government’s “Women and Power” program.
Her husband, Joe Szakos, is Executive Director of Virginia Organizing. They have two daughters and have had four foster children.
www.charlottesville.org/?navid=99
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