Jason Eric Kessler (born September 22, 1983) is an American

neo-Nazi Neo-Nazism comprises the post–World War II militant, social, and political movements that seek to revive and reinstate Nazism, Nazi ideology. Neo-Nazis employ their ideology to promote hatred and Supremacism#Racial, racial supremacy (ofte ...

white supremacist White supremacy is the belief that white people are superior to those of other races. The belief favors the maintenance and defense of any power and privilege held by white people. White supremacy has roots in the now-discredited doctrine ...

, and antisemitic conspiracy theorist. Kessler organized the

Unite the Right rally The Unite the Right rally was a White supremacy#United States, white supremacist rally that took place in Charlottesville, Virginia, from August 11 to 12, 2017. Marchers included members of the alt-right, neo-Confederates, neo-fascists, whi ...

held in

Charlottesville, Virginia Charlottesville, colloquially known as C'ville, is an independent city (United States), independent city in Virginia, United States. It is the county seat, seat of government of Albemarle County, Virginia, Albemarle County, which surrounds the ...

, on August 11–12, 2017, and the Unite the Right 2 rally held on August 12, 2018. Kessler is a supporter of neo-Nazism,

far-right politics Far-right politics, often termed right-wing extremism, encompasses a range of ideologies that are marked by ultraconservatism, authoritarianism, ultranationalism, and Nativism (politics), nativism. This political spectrum situates itself on ...

, and the

alt-right The alt-right (abbreviated from alternative right) is a Far-right politics, far-right, White nationalism, white nationalist movement. A largely Internet activism, online phenomenon, the alt-right originated in the United States during the late ...

Background

Jason Kessler graduated from the

University of Virginia The University of Virginia (UVA) is a Public university#United States, public research university in Charlottesville, Virginia, United States. It was founded in 1819 by Thomas Jefferson and contains his The Lawn, Academical Village, a World H ...

with a Bachelor of Arts in psychology in 2009. Prior to his involvement in political extremism, Kessler wrote that he was employed in various working class jobs as a dishwasher, gym technician, truck driver and handyman. Up to 2008, Kessler was a supporter of Democrats and held liberal views. He voted for

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II (born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who was the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the first African American president in American history. O ...

. He also engaged in activism with the

Occupy movement The Occupy movement was an international populist Social movement, socio-political movement that expressed opposition to Social equality, social and economic inequality and to the perceived lack of real democracy around the world. It aimed primar ...

before being dismissed for attempting to register homeless individuals. According to a public

Facebook Facebook is a social media and social networking service owned by the American technology conglomerate Meta Platforms, Meta. Created in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with four other Harvard College students and roommates, Eduardo Saverin, Andre ...

post by former college friend, Jenny Rebecca, Kessler lived for a time in government-subsidized housing with a roommate who was described as an African Muslim. In late 2015, Kessler began his original blog JasonKessler.net. The site was used to publish a noir crime novel, ''Badland Blues,'' as well as a work of poetry, ''Midnight Road''. In November 2016, he revealed lewd and offensive tweets made by Charlottesville vice-mayor and councilman Wes Bellamy, who is also a teacher at Charlottesville's Albemarle High School. Bellamy first drew criticism from Kessler when he called a press conference to call for the removal of the

Robert E. Lee Robert Edward Lee (January 19, 1807 – October 12, 1870) was a general officers in the Confederate States Army, Confederate general during the American Civil War, who was appointed the General in Chief of the Armies of the Confederate ...

statue in Charlottesville in March 2016. In December, Kessler began circulating a petition demanding that Bellamy resign or be removed from office. During the ensuing investigations, Bellamy voluntarily resigned from his teaching position at Albemarle High School in December 2016. In January 2017, while attempting to gain signatures for his petition, Kessler was arrested for

misdemeanor A misdemeanor (American English, spelled misdemeanour elsewhere) is any "lesser" criminal act in some common law legal systems. Misdemeanors are generally punished less severely than more serious felonies, but theoretically more so than admi ...

assault In the terminology of law, an assault is the act of causing physical harm or consent, unwanted physical contact to another person, or, in some legal definitions, the threat or attempt to do so. It is both a crime and a tort and, therefore, may ...

after punching a man in the face. He pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 50 hours of

community service Community service is unpaid work performed by a person or group of people for the benefit and betterment of their community contributing to a noble cause. In many cases, people doing community service are compensated in other ways, such as gettin ...

and 30 days of

suspended sentence A suspended sentence is a sentence on conviction for a criminal offence, the serving of which the court orders to be deferred in order to allow the defendant to perform a period of probation. If the defendant does not break the law during that ...

. A charge of

perjury Perjury (also known as forswearing) is the intentional act of swearing a false oath or falsifying an affirmation to tell the truth, whether spoken or in writing, concerning matters material to an official proceeding."Perjury The act or an insta ...

was filed but subsequently dropped. In April 2017, Kessler was contracted to write two pieces for '' The Daily Caller''. He wrote another piece in May about the first protests in Charlottesville over the statue of Lee. Kessler also wrote several posts for the anti-immigrant white nationalist site VDare. One of Kessler's posts claimed that the government was waging genocide against white people by policies that cause low Caucasian birth rates. After ''

ProPublica ProPublica (), legally Pro Publica, Inc., is a nonprofit investigative journalism organization based in New York City. ProPublica's investigations are conducted by its staff of full-time reporters, and the resulting stories are distributed to ne ...

'' contacted ''The Daily Caller'' about Kessler's ties to white supremacist groups, the outlet severed its ties with Kessler, and its Executive Editor Paul Conner defended his editorial judgment. Kessler was sworn in as a member of the far-right organization the

Proud Boys The Proud Boys is an American far-right politics, far-right, Neo-fascism, neo-fascist militant organization that promotes and engages in political violence.Far-right: * * Fascist: * * * * * Men only: * * * Political violence and militancy: ...

. Proud Boys founder

Gavin McInnes Gavin Miles McInnes (; born 17 July 1970) is a Canadian writer, podcaster, far-right commentator and founder of the Proud Boys. He is the host of '' Get Off My Lawn with Gavin McInnes'' on his website, Compound Censored. He co-founded ''Vic ...

said that he kicked Kessler out of the group once his views on race became known.

2017 Unite the Right rally

Kessler was one of the organizers of the Unite the Right rally on August 12, 2017. The rally was a protest of the removal of the statue of

, a cause Kessler had taken up a year earlier when he began his crusade against Bellamy. Kessler was also involved in a smaller protest of the removal of the statue on May 14, 2017, which ended in a torch-lit march. At this event, he was arrested for failure to obey an officer's commands. On July 11, Kessler appeared at town hall to promote his rally and distanced himself from another rally that was held by the Loyal White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan. On July 25, Kessler and most speakers scheduled to attend the rally were described by the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) as

leaders. The ADL's director said that Kessler was listed because of both his statements and his activities. Kessler responded by calling the ADL hypocritical for "attacking uppity whites when they support the ethno-state of

Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...

" and saying he was "happy to be considered the enemy of the ADL". On August 7, the city manager attempted to change the location of the rally, away from Emancipation Park towards McIntire Park. The city manager confirmed that Kessler had a

First Amendment First most commonly refers to: * First, the ordinal form of the number 1 First or 1st may also refer to: Acronyms * Faint Images of the Radio Sky at Twenty-Centimeters, an astronomical survey carried out by the Very Large Array * Far Infrared a ...

right to protest but stressed the city's need to protect public safety.c-ville.com: "Rally relocation: City okays permit for McIntire Park, Kessler refuses to change"
August 7, 2017 On August 10, the Rutherford Institute and the Virginia state branch of the

ACLU The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is an American nonprofit civil rights organization founded in 1920. ACLU affiliates are active in all 50 states, Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico. The budget of the ACLU in 2024 was $383 million. ...

supported Kessler in an

injunction An injunction is an equitable remedy in the form of a special court order compelling a party to do or refrain from doing certain acts. It was developed by the English courts of equity but its origins go back to Roman law and the equitable rem ...

lawsuit, later known as ''Kessler v City of Charlottesville'', in the United States District Court. They pointed out that "Two other groups that oppose Kessler's message, which have called on thousands of protesters to attend, have been granted permits by the city for downtown parks close to Emancipation Park on August 12." Arguments were heard in Judge Glen Conrad's courtroom on the afternoon of August 11. The court enjoined the city from revoking Kessler's permit to conduct a demonstration at Emancipation Park on August 12, and the rally went ahead.realnewsdelaware.com: "“Unite the Right” rally tomorrow in Charlottesville, VA"
, August 11, 2017 The rally on August 12 turned violent and resulted in the death of Heather Heyer when one of the rally attendees drove at high speed into a crowd of counter-protestors several blocks from the rally. On the day following the rally Kessler attempted to hold a news conference in front of Charlottesville City Hall which was quickly overtaken by protesters. However, before ending the short news conference, Kessler stated, "I disavow any political violence and what happened yesterday was tragic." He also posted videos online in which he blames the city for the violence and death. On August 18, 2017, Kessler contradicted his previous statement by tweeting: "Heather Heyer was a fat, disgusting Communist. Communists have killed 94 million. Looks like it was payback time." The next morning, Kessler repudiated the tweet and blamed Ambien,

Xanax Alprazolam, sold under the brand name Xanax among others, is a fast-acting, potent tranquilizer of moderate duration within the triazolobenzodiazepine group of chemicals called benzodiazepines. Alprazolam is most commonly prescribed in the ...

, and alcohol for the tweet. He received criticism for the tweet from other white nationalists, including Richard B. Spencer and influencer Baked Alaska. Kessler subsequently deleted his Twitter account. Hacker and

internet troll In slang, a troll is a person who posts deliberately offensive or provocative messages online (such as in social media, a newsgroup, a forum, a chat room, an online video game) or who performs similar behaviors in real life. The methods and ...

Andrew Auernheimer, a.k.a. weev, later claimed that he hacked Kessler's Twitter account. Kessler was allowed to move to Ohio in October 2018. Earlier that month, Kessler was arrested on suspicion of

doxing Doxing or doxxing is the act of publicly providing personally identifiable information Personal data, also known as personal information or personally identifiable information (PII), is any information related to an identifiable person. The ...

after local anti-racist activist Emily Gorcenski was swatted and reported the incidents to the police. On September 6, 2018, a jury in Charlottesville ordered Jeffrey Winder to pay a fine of $1 and no jail time for the misdemeanor assault charge against Kessler that took place on August 13, 2017. Winder and his attorney James Abrenio appealed his original February 2018 guilty finding, which included a 30-day jail sentence.

2018 Unite the Right rally

In November 2017, Kessler applied for a permit to hold a rally in Charlottesville in August 2018, on the anniversary of the first march. In December 2017, the city of Charlottesville denied the permit, writing that Kessler's application "likely underestimates the number of participants" and that "no reasonable allocation of city funds or resources" could guarantee a violence-free event. Kessler sued the city, and in June 2018, Kessler sought a temporary injunction from the court to permit a rally in

Emancipation Park Emancipation Park may refer to: *Emancipation Park (Houston), a park in Houston, Texas, United States *Emancipation Park (Kingston, Jamaica), a park in Kingston, Jamaica *Market Street Park, a park in Charlottesville, Virginia, United States former ...

on the anniversary. On June 24, 2018, during a court hearing, Kessler unexpectedly dropped plans to hold a rally in Charlottesville, and posted plans on

Twitter Twitter, officially known as X since 2023, is an American microblogging and social networking service. It is one of the world's largest social media platforms and one of the most-visited websites. Users can share short text messages, image ...

for a rally in Washington, D.C. On August 3, 2018, after withdrawing his request for an injunction, Kessler voluntarily dismissed the lawsuit against the City of Charlottesville. Kessler later applied for and obtained a permit to hold a " Unite the Right 2" anniversary rally in Lafayette Park in Washington, D.C., across from the

White House The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. Located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue Northwest (Washington, D.C.), NW in Washington, D.C., it has served as the residence of every U.S. president ...

. In addition to Kessler, the former politician and

Ku Klux Klan The Ku Klux Klan (), commonly shortened to KKK or Klan, is an American Protestant-led Christian terrorism, Christian extremist, white supremacist, Right-wing terrorism, far-right hate group. It was founded in 1865 during Reconstruction era, ...

leader

David Duke David Ernest Duke (born July 1, 1950) is an American politician, neo-Nazi, conspiracy theorist, and former grand wizard of the Knights of the Ku Klux Klan. From 1989 to 1992, he was a member of the Louisiana House of Representatives for the ...

was set to address the rally participants. However, other far-right individuals and groups who participated in the first Unite the Right rally – including Richard B. Spencer, the

League of the South The League of the South (LS) is an American White nationalism, white nationalist, Neo-Confederates, neo-Confederate, White supremacy, white supremacist organization that says its goal is "a free and independent Southern republic". Headquarte ...

, Christopher Cantwell, Andrew Anglin, and militia groups – indicated that they would not attend the anniversary rally, having distanced themselves from Kessler, who holds "pariah status among his fellow racists". In late August, live stream video surfaced of Kessler in which he reveals that due to numerous lawsuits filed against him, he has moved in with his parents. Kessler's father can be heard in the video berating him and demanding that he stop recording white supremacist content in his room.

Sines v. Kessler

In October 2017, Kessler was named as a defendant in a case brought by nine Charlottesville residents following the

in August 2017. Kessler was the first named defendant in the case due to his role as a primary organiser of the Unite the Right rally. The trial was originally scheduled for late 2020, but was postponed due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

. The trial began on October 25, 2021, and the jury reached a verdict on November 23. Kessler was found liable on two counts: civil conspiracy under Virginia state law, and engaging in race-based harassment or violence.

References

External links