**Trigger warning: vehicular violence, racial aggression**

An ugly scar that’s long been a part of the United States of America was exposed again this weekend as hundreds of white supremacists and racists gathered in Charlottesville, Va. to protest the removal of a Confederate statue.

The tone of the already tense environment took a turn for the worse when this group was met by counter-protestors who were against their open gathering based on hate and bigotry.

The most tragic moment on a day full of tragedy came when James Alex Fields, 20, sped down a busy street and crashed his car into a crowd of protestors, killing a 32-year-old Heather Heyer and injuring at least 19 other bystanders, according to CNN.

“It was quite clear he had some really extreme views and maybe a little bit of anger behind them,” said Derek Weimer, who was a teacher when Fields attended K. Cooper High School. “Feeling, what’s the word I’m looking for, oppressed or persecuted. He really bought into this white supremacist thing. He was very big into Nazism. He really had a fondness for Adolf Hitler.”

RELATED: Baltimore could be next to remove Confederate monuments

Field is currently in police custody and being held on suspicion of second-degree murder, malicious wounding and failure to stop in an accident that resulted in death. It should be noted that he was taken into custody alive and somehow not considered to be a terrorist despite putting so many lives in danger.

https://twitter.com/brennanmgilmore/status/896434516260212737?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw&ref_url=http%3A%2F%2Fabc7chicago.com%2F3-dead-dozens-injured-amid-violent-white-nationalist-rally-ohio-man-charged%2F2300640%2F

Despite all of the chaos that ensued over this weekend, many can’t help but notice how his was the only arrest on record in the protest. While white supremacists paraded through the streets with lit torches, assault rifles, homemade shields and who knows what else, police either stood by or were mostly nowhere to be seen. However, in the instances of people of color, predominantly black people, doing much less, confrontations with the authorities is almost a given.

The rally that was scheduled to take place on Saturday was cancelled as things grew more violent. This wasn’t all that shocking given how the night before brought out hundreds of white supremacists who marches across the University of Virginia campus wielding torches and shouting about not being replaced by minorities. The tone was set hours before blood was shed, yet the rally was still allowed to happen.