Charlottesville’s Jewish Mayor Under Fire After White Supremacist Rally

By Josh Nathan-Kazis August 22, 2017

Charlottesville mayor Mike Signer was the target of angry protests at a City Council meeting Monday, the first after the white supremacist rally that led to one death last week.

Locals swarmed the meeting, angry at the city’s response to last week’s incidents, according to a report by the Associated Press.

In the immediate aftermath of the protests, Signer drew national attention for his attacks on President Trump.

But now, the city appears to have turned on him. At one point, attendees chanted “Signer must go!”

According to a New York Times report, some protesters criticized the decision to give a permit to the white supremacist protesters.

Following a disruption, police removed three attendees from the meeting, leading to further anger.

At the meeting, the City Council voted to cover statues of Confederate generals Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson in black. They also voted to begin a process to remove the Jackson statue.

Contact Josh Nathan-Kazis at [email protected] or on Twitter, @joshnathankazis.

Josh Nathan-Kazis is a staff writer for the Forward. He covers charities and politics, and writes investigations and longform.

A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

The coming year promises to be filled with more complex and historic developments. We are entering an era where independent, fact-based Jewish journalism will be more important than ever. We need to be ready for whatever 2025 will bring, and with your help, we can be.

We’ve set a goal to raise $260,000 by December 31. That’s an ambitious goal, but one that will give us the resources we need to invest in the high quality news, opinion, analysis and cultural coverage that isn’t available anywhere else.

If you feel inspired to make an impact, now is the time to give something back. Join us as a member at your most generous level.

— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO