Prior to this weekend, Charlottesville, Va., was probably best known as the home of Thomas Jefferson, the University of Virginia and the Dave Matthews Band. Saturday, however, groups of white supremacists and white nationalists came to the city to protest the removal of a statue of Robert E. Lee from a city park, and clashes with counter-protesters turned violent. Multiple incidents included one in which an Ohio man drove a car into a crowd, killing 32-year-old Heather Heyer and injuring 19 others, and another in which a man was beaten with poles, requiring eight staples in his head. Two Virginia state troopers were also killed when their helicopter crashed.
Monday afternoon, President Donald Trump condemned the openly racist groups that had gathered in Charlottesville, but many others were much quicker to denounce white supremacy and white supremacists and offer messages of solidarity with counter-protesters. Below are a few thoughtful responses from a diverse array of members of the Nashville music community expressed via social media.
