On December 20th, 2017, a street in Charlottesville, Virginia, was renamed after Heather Heyer. Heyer was killed on August 12th, 2017 when white supremacist, James Alex Fields Jr. drove into a group of anti-racist protesters.
“Today in Charlottesville” was Rovics immediate response to the tragedy. He composed, performed and posted the song on YouTube on August 12th. The song highlights the bigoted motivations which lead white supremasicts to organize the rally in Charlottesville. It also pointedly stated that Fields was “using the same tactic promoted by Islamic State / Maybe he was even shouting “God is great””. “God is Great”, is “Allahu akbar” in Arabic and it is a common expression used by Islamic terrorists. Rovics is linking the actions of domestic “Christian” terrorists on the same level.
David Rovics is a prolific singer-songwriter and activist whose been slugging away for over two decades. “Today in Charlottesville” also appears on his latest album, Ballad of a Wobbly. One of his other albums, Punk Baroque is one of the Top 25 Protest Albums of 2017.