Hate Crimes Charges Filed Against Charlottesville White Supremacist

WASHINGTON – Vanita Gupta, president and CEO of The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, issued the following statement after the Department of Justice filed federal hate crimes charges against James Alex Fields Jr., the driver accused of killing and harming counterprotesters at the 2017 white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia:

“This is a very important, robust, and decisive indictment by career prosecutors in the Civil Rights Division at the Department of Justice. It stands in stark and painful contrast with a president who still refuses to unequivocally denounce the white supremacists, some of whom were marching in his name, in Charlottesville that day.”

The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights is a coalition charged by its diverse membership of more than 200 national organizations to promote and protect the rights of all persons in the United States. The Leadership Conference works toward an America as good as its ideals. For more information on The Leadership Conference and its member organizations, visit www.civilrights.org.