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DeAndre Harris Says He Still Receives Threats From White Supremacists More Than Two Years After Charlottesville

DeAndre Harris was beaten by White supremacists during the Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville. He is still reeling from the events.
DeAndre Harris Says He Still Receives Threats From White Supremacists More Than Two Years After Charlottesville
Neo Nazis, Alt-Right, and White Supremacists encircle counter protestors at the base of a statue of Thomas Jefferson after marching through the University of Virginia campus with torches in Charlottesville, Va., USA on August 11, 2017 (Photo by Shay Horse/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

It’s been a little over two years since DeAndre Harris encountered a gang of violent white supremacists in a parking garage in downtown Charlottesville. Still, the events of the day continue to haunt him. In an interview with The Washington Post, the former educational aid said his mind constantly replays the beating that he received on August 12, 2017 and threats from neo-nazis have not ceased.

Harris, who relocated from Charlottesville after his attack, says that he has tried to re-start his life, but doing so has presented many obstacles. Harris told The Post, that white supremacists have found out where he works and have called in threats. In one incident, a man called the corporate office of his job using racial slurs and asking for the now-car salesman.

That same day, Harris received a Facebook message from a man whose profile photo was of confederate general Robert E. Lee and featured a quote of his saying, “Study hard, be always a gentleman, live cleanly and remember God.” Staurt’s message to Harris was, “I’m looking for a 2010 dark gray Dodge Challenger. Any suggestions?”

DeAndre Harris Says He Still Receives Threats From White Supremacists More Than Two Years After Charlottesville
CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA – AUGUST 12: In this handout provided by Albemarle-Charlottesville Regional Jail, James Alex Fields Jr. of Maumee, Ohio poses for a mugshot after he allegedly drove his car into a crowd of counter-protesters killing one and injuring 35 on August 12, 2017 in Charlottesville, Virginia. Fields faces charges of second-degree murder, malicious woundings and leaving the scene of an accident. The incident followed the shutdown of the ‘Unite the Right’ rally by police after white nationalists, neo-Nazis and members of the ‘alt-right’ and counter-protesters clashed near Emancipation Park, where a statue of Confederate General Robert E. Lee is slated to be removed. (Photo by Albemarle-Charlottesville Regional Jail via Getty Images)

“I put two and two together and realized that was the car that killed Heather Heyer,” Harris told The Post. “I sent it straight to my attorney.”

Harris says he’s forgiven his assailants for what they did to him, but he will not forget. The PTSD makes that challenging, as well as being recognized from the widely reported case. In addition, he’s disturbed by the lenient sentences the men received.

DeAndre Harris Says He Still Receives Threats From White Supremacists More Than Two Years After Charlottesville
Several white supremacists attack a black man, bloodying him with wooden poles and part of a broken parking arm on August 12, 2017 in Charlottesville, Virginia. (Photo by Zach D Roberts/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

“In the next six years, all these guys will be right back at it. I thought they’d be going to jail for a longer time,” Harris told The Post. “If it had been a white guy who was attacked, and it was all my friends beating him up, we would never have seen the light of day again.”

Though the events of August 2017 and the aftermath from it is still shocking to the 22-year-old, he focuses on the positive, saying, “Thankfully, I am still alive.”