- (FBE) It has been a difficult time
here in the last week in the United States
with what happened in Charlottesville.
- Yes. It's deplorable.
- The past few days have definitely
been a roller coaster of emotions for me.
I've cried a lot. I've, you know, found myself being angry.
- The first time I saw about it was on Twitter, and I saw pictures
of people posting and stuff, and I was like, this cannot be real.
- (FBE) In the aftermath, there's been a video
that's been shared a lot, and it's actually from the 1940s
and was made by the U.S. War Department at the time.
So with that context juxtaposed to what's happening here,
70 some years later, we want you to watch it
and then we'll talk about it. - Okay.
- I've seen it pop up. I haven't clicked on it yet.
I can tell you already just about the title
and just about everything, it's like, it...
We kind of forget World War II wasn't that long ago.
- (man 1) I happen to know the facts.
Now friends, I'm just an average American,
but I'm an American American. - That tone of voice
is already painful.
- (man 1) Some of the things I see in this country of ours
make my blood boil.
I see people with foreign [inaudible].
I see Negroes holding jobs that belong to me and you.
- What?
- (man 1) I see Negroes holding jobs that belong to me and you.
- It's deja vu.
- (man 1) Now I ask you, if we allow this thing to go on,
what's gonna become of us real Americans?
- Real Americans.
- (man 2) I've heard this kind of talk before,
but I never expected to hear it in America.
- That makes two of us. - Very relatable to this day.
- (man 3) This fella seems to know what he's talking about.
- (man 1) And I tell you friends,
we'll never be able to call this country our own
until it's a country without. - 70 years. Damn.
Still in the same [bleep] spot. - (man 1) Without what?
- (man 4) Yeah, without what? - (man 1) Without Negroes,
without alien foreigners... - Sounds like Hitler.
- (man 1) Without Catholics. - Wow.
- So the people that make the country?
- (man 1) Without Freemasons.
- People still think this way, though.
- (man 3) What's wrong with the Masons? I'm a Mason.
Hey, that fella's talking about me.
- Oh, so that guy was okay with it until... Yeah.
- (man 2) And that makes a difference, doesn't it?
- Yeah, he doesn't care until he talks about him.
- (man 1) These are the people who are trying to take over our country.
- It doesn't even feel like I'm watching a video
from decades ago.
- (man 1) You know what they stand for,
and it's up to you and me to fight them.
- This kind of sounds like a Donald Trump speech.
- (man 1) Fight them and destroy them
before they destroy us. Thank you. - (men clap)
- Only two people clapping.
- (man 2) Before he said Masons, you were ready to agree with him.
- This is so powerful.
- (man 3) Well yes, but he was talking about...
What about those other people? - Other people, yeah.
- (man 2) But in this country, we have no other people.
We are American people.
- That's what I've been trying to say.
- (man 3) What about you? You aren't American, are you?
- (man 2) I was born in Hungary, but now I am an American citizen
and I have seen what this kind of talk can do.
I saw it in Berlin. - Oh.
- (man 2) But I was a fool then.
I thought Nazis were crazy people, stupid fanatics.
But unfortunately, it was not so. - This is sad.
- (man 2) They knew that they were not strong enough
to conquer a unified country,
so they split Germany into small groups.
- That's kind of what's happening now.
- (man 2) They used prejudice as a practical weapon
to cripple the nation. - You can still use that now.
- (man 2) We human beings are not born with prejudices,
always they are made for us. - That's what I've always saying.
- (man 2) Made by someone who wants something.
- It's true. - (man 2) Remember this
when you hear this kind of talk.
Somebody's going to get something out of it.
- Yeah. - (man 2) And it isn't
going to be you.
- (sighs) That sucks that they put this out,
and we're in 2017 now, and we're still in this situation.
- It's so good. I've never seen that before,
but he has some great points.
And it's sad that they're so relevant today.
It points out the fact
that normally people don't care unless it affects them.
- Just because you weren't born an American
or you're not American on a piece of paper
doesn't mean that your spirit isn't that of America.
And just because you were born here
and you have papers saying you're American
doesn't make you an American if you're a shitty person.
It's fascinating. You look at this, and you think this is forever ago.
This is ancient. But in the grand scheme of things,
this is was like (snaps) that.
- Coming from a Latin family, it's weird because I'm just out here
trying to be a good person, and helping other people,
and just because you have an idea of someone or a stereotype,
that doesn't mean that everyone is like that.
- Clearly, people still haven't learned.
There are days when it's like I have racial experiences,
and I sit there and try to act tough about it in the situation,
but I go home and cry.
And it's tough to think about that, but it's real.
- This whole thing hit so close to home,
because my mom is also an immigrant,
and then there's my dad, who, even though he's white, he's Jewish.
My dad's mother survived the Holocaust,
and so to see this happening all over again,
it's so surreal, but unfortunately, it is real.
- I'm actually Syrian.
I was not-- my parents-- It's not just my parents are Syrian.
I was actually born and raised there until I was 14.
And I had to come here, so technically those people
would hate my guts, which makes me really sad.
I spent three years in an active war zone,
and I can tell you that every single person that left
didn't leave because they want to, because I didn't want to.
It's my home. It's everything that I've ever known
and I had to leave it, because I was in danger.
And people don't understand that, because they've never felt it.
But if it was up to me, I definitely would be back there.
- (FBE) Why do you think that this old, short film
made by the U.S. War Department has been making the rounds
after the white nationalist rally that led to violence this week?
- Because it shows so many good points, you know?
And it's sad that it's still so relevant,
but it's like people just think that if people are different from them
then they must not belong here, you know, when it's like
America was made out of people from all over the world.
- It's so accurate. It's so true.
The term others is not realistic in a country like-- in America,
'cause everyone is an other.
- Because I have grown up in California and in Los Angeles
and in kind of an accepting neighborhood,
I've always been in the naive aspect that, you know, racism is over.
You travel and you talk to other people,
and you see how in areas it's so predominant
and it's so real for them.
And it really makes you realize that wasn't that long ago,
and we've still got such a long way to go.
- I heard zero differences between that and, you know,
what I've been seeing on the news as of late
coming from the Unite the Right Rally.
It's so timely and relevant to what's going on right now,
so I definitely think
that that's why it's been making its rounds.
- When you are against a big group of people,
when you have support on your side, and you're not being singled out,
you don't-- it's difficult to talk about, really,
'cause it just feels like common sense.
When-- where did we get to a point where I have to say being a Nazi
or being racist is wrong?
- (FBE) So let's talk about Charlottesville,
where a white nationalist, neo-Nazi rally took place,
and when many other arrived to stand up to them,
someone ran their car into them,
injuring many and murdering one of the counter-protesters.
The suspect arrested was around your age, 20 years old.
- Really? I didn't know that.
- No way. 20 years old.
- He was for the neo-Nazis,
and he was going through the anti-protest group.
That's extreme terrorism, you know what I'm saying?
Don't call it what it's not. That's terrorism.
- (FBE) So when you found out about this as it was happening,
how did it make you feel about the country?
- I didn't believe it at first. I was like, neo-Nazi? Like what?
It's terrible. It's insane.
- It's very sad to think that it was never gone.
You know, racism was never gone. It was just hidden.
- I was just really, really, really disgusted.
When I saw the pictures, it looked like out of a film.
Seeing the anger and disgust
on the people's faces with the torches yelling...
- It was an awful feeling
to realize that we haven't progressed as far as we have,
and there are so many people that have remained hidden
that could be my neighbor or the guy I just bought food from
at the store, who secretly has these feelings.
- It made me lose a little bit of faith,
seeing that it seems like there are a lot of people
in this country who don't love me and don't think I or my mom
or my dad are worthy of living here
or even possibly being alive is really scary.
- These people were calling themselves patriots,
and it was shameful and an insult to people who are actual patriots
who are fi-- the hundreds of thousands of people who--
American soldiers, who have fought and died trying to defeat that.
To have someone just carry the Nazi flag
and call themselves a patriot, that-- I can't imagine...
I'm just ashamed to everybody who fought against that.
- I have little brothers and sisters
and I would hope that by the time I had reached my 20s
that we would've seen more steps to ending racism.
I don't want them to be my age and get put in situations like that
where they have to fear for their own lives.
Like... (sighs) Hold on, I'm sorry.
- (FBE) Part of the continued uproar
has been around President Trump who made a statement
saying that there are many sides to the violence.
And later, despite denouncing neo-Nazis
and white nationalists, came back out again
to say essentially both sides are to blame.
Do you feel that there is blame to be had on both sides?
- So the thing is in most of these hot topic issues
like gun control or politics or something like that,
I have an opinion on one side,
but I can see where both sides are coming from.
But in cases like this, where there's one side,
and then the other side is Nazis,
you know, it's a little harder to remain open-minded.
- I know freedom of speech and all that, right?
When you're going against human rights,
that's when it turns-- like, it's not okay.
- They're calling themselves like a Nazi group.
We can 100% move past this, where people are having protests
and need to argue about it and get in fights about it
on the streets and kill one another over it.
I definitely think that we can move past that.
And I think we should've moved past that,
and it's sad that we're still dealing with these issues.
- I understand why, you know,
violence and anger is coming from the left side,
especially minorities and people who are directly targeted
by this Unite the Right Rally.
And it seems like it hasn't been getting any better.
So at this point, we're just angry and we're tired.
I don't think that violence is the answer.
- I understand the South and their patriotism
and how they feel a connection with that history,
but that was history.
Can you imagine walking around and seeing a monument of someone
that wanted to keep you enslaved?
Remembering history and respecting it is important,
but having it out for display shows that we're okay with that.
I think that that belongs in a museum.
- I don't think that you can blame relatively peaceful protesters
who are protesting something that is a direct call to violence
against millions of Americans.
You cannot blame them for getting themselves killed
by a white supremacist. No!
In this situation, there are not many sides.
- I think that whole alt left, alt right speech was... (sighs)
That's the best way I can put this.
I voted who I voted for, sure. Do I regret it? No.
But, like, if he was in this room right now,
I'd be like, dude, you gotta shut the [bleep] up
for like five seconds and approach your country,
especially when thousands among thousands,
tens of hundreds and thousands of people are being affected
by this right now as we speak since Saturday.
We are literally destroying ourselves
over this shit. I was hoping to see,
especially in situations like this, like someone coming in
and putting their foot down, and being like, no,
it's-- we're gonna be-- change this up
for the people, for America, (softly) and he hasn't done that.
- (FBE) For many, the feeling is that this
is gonna get worse before it gets better.
Though there's no simple solution, what are some thoughts you have
about how we can bring people together,
or do you feel like as a young adult living in America in 2017
that it's just not possible?
- It's pretty difficult.
There's so many people out there
that still believe in that and it makes me want--
It makes me wonder what's gonna happen.
Like, is it gonna end or not?
- We can make progress, but not with this guy.
- I'm very optimistic. We can get through anything, you know?
And that's what I heavily believe. But it starts with us.
- People who do have privilege, white people in particular,
to recognize that privilege and to use it to try and help,
you know, bring safety and security to those people
who are being attacked and who are being threatened.
- It's definitely possible at the moment to bring people together.
Most people have came out,
most people being almost everybody but the president,
have come out and condemned this. But it should be common sense.
You know, we shouldn't have to say that racism is bad.
- If we take the right steps, it can get better.
We're gonna hit so many potholes
before we actually hit that smooth road,
but we can hit that smooth road.
It's just a matter of are you actually gonna drive down it
or are you just gonna sit there and look at it?
- It's definitely not comfortable to sit down,
especially when you're talking to people who have other beliefs.
We have to do that in order to make progress.
Discussion is definitely, to me,
the most important step in making change.
- Just because somebody appears to be the villain,
and just because someone appears to be the good guy
doesn't mean they both don't have good and bad inside of them,
and we don't need to throw one away.
We need to talk to both of them,
and we need to bring everybody together
and come together as a world.