'Impact of Hate: Charlottesville': Release date, plot, cast and all you need to know about the ID special
In 2017, when the college town of Charlottesville, Virginia decided to remove its Confederate statues, White nationalists and their supporters descended for a series of protests that culminated in the now-infamous “Unite the Right” rally. As concerned citizens counter protested, one man attacked them, leading to a casualty.
On the third anniversary of the attack, Investigation Discovery is talking to the survivors of the attack and releasing a two-hour special. Read on to know more about the special.
Release date
'Impact of Hate: Charlottesville' will air on Investigation Discovery on Wednesday, August 12, at 9 pm ET.
Plot
'Impact of Hate: Charlottesville', will premiere on the third anniversary of the attack in Charlottesville, where White supremacists and neo-Nazis gathered to protest the removal of Confederate monuments throughout the South that culminated in the "Unite the Right" rally. Amid a peaceful counterprotest on August 12, 2017, a man deliberately drove his car into a crowd of counterprotesters, which resulted in the death of 32-year-old paralegal Heather Heyer and left dozens injured.
Alex Fields Jr.
On August 12, 2017, James Alex Fields Jr deliberately drove his car into a crowd of people who had been peacefully protesting the "Unite the Right" rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, killing one and injuring 28 others. 20-year-old Fields Jr had driven from Ohio to attend the rally and had previously espoused neo-Nazi and White supremacist beliefs. He was convicted in a state court of hit and run, the first-degree murder of 32-year-old Heather Heyer and eight counts of malicious wounding, and sentenced to life in prison with an additional 419 years in July 2019.
Heather Heyer
Heyer grew up in Ruckersville, Virginia, and graduated from William Monroe High School in Stanardsville, Virginia. She had worked as a paralegal, bartender, and waitress. Heyer and a longtime friend of hers had agreed not to protest the rally because they thought it would be too dangerous, but the night before the protests, Heyer felt compelled to go. Heyer's mother told Time that she wanted Heather's name to become "a rallying cry for justice and equality and fairness and compassion."
Cast
The ID special will feature interviews with Susan Bro, the mother of Heyer, along with several survivors. Through first-person interviews, the survivors will open up about "the horror they endured and how the hateful actions of that fateful day left collateral damage for a lifetime."
Producers
'Impact of Hate: Charlottesville' is produced for Investigation Discovery by October Films. For October, Gillian Pachter serves as the executive producer and showrunner, and Erin Cramer serves as the series director. For Investigation Discovery, Meredith Russell is a coordinating producer, Pamela Deutsch is executive producer.
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