you probably remember this photograph. it's one of the more iconic of the awful images of the nazi torch march at UVA on august 11, 2017.on august 12, the man in the center was elated to see himself on the cover of papers across the county. today, i can tell you he is dead. pic.twitter.com/ti5c1c0LT0 …
Late Night Open Thread: The Courage of His (Terrible) ConvictionsPost + Comments (169)
From the Daily Beast:
… Von Nukem gained notoriety for attending the Aug. 12, 2017 hate speech rally that aggressively revived a nativist movement in the United States. He glorified the violence, and researchers of domestic extremism suspect he was a key figure in a brutal beating of a black man that day.
Von Nukem’s sudden death was initially reported by Molly Conger, an independent journalist in Charlottesville who has become a key anti-fascism researcher in the years since the rally shook the city. An obituary said Von Nukem left behind a wife and five children aged under nine. “Some people knew Ted and understood he was a different type of fellow and had different views of things,” it noted.
Conger’s research identified Von Nukem as one of the men who attacked Deandre Harris in a parking garage. She also connected the dots to show how Von Nukem gloated about the attack in text messages to another white supremacist rally organizer, who was later prosecuted in a separate case…
At the time, Von Nukem told the [Springfield News-Leader] he supported Donald Trump and had adopted the white supremacist worldview that whites are now “disadvantaged.”
“I don’t mind showing solidarity with them,” he told the newspaper then. “You have to pick your side. You have to throw your support behind the army that is fighting for you.”
Von Nukem, who was born as Teddy Landrum, told the outlet he changed his name in 2012 in a nod to his German heritage and the video-game character Duke Nukem.
At the rally, Neo-Nazis raged against minorities and immigrants—whom racists accuse of harming the country. That made it all the more ironic that Von Nukem was arrested on March 17, 2021 while entering the United States from Mexico. On his way into Arizona, Customs and Border Protection agents discovered 15 kilograms of fentanyl pills hidden behind the seats and floor compartment of his 2019 Nissan Pathfinder…
From a longer thread:
after unite the right, in text messages to christopher cantwell, a headliner at the nazi rally, von nukem said "i'm a fucking legend bro!" and was thrilled to see his own face splashed all over the news & asked cantwell to help "propel [him] into the spotlight" pic.twitter.com/yGataDOCg9
— molly conger (@socialistdogmom) February 14, 2023
there was plenty of violence on august 12, 2017, but the only assault von nukem could be referring to, that "bloody business in the garage," is the beating of deandre harris, a young black man assaulted by half a dozen men in a parking garagehttps://t.co/CnUd57bQMg
— molly conger (@socialistdogmom) February 14, 2023
That obituary, TBH, is an example of why I’m hoping not to have one:
Teddy Joseph Von Nukem, the son of Teresa Minker, was born November 23, 1987 in Phoenix, Arizona and left what always referred to as his “meat suit” on January 30, 2023 in Hartshorn, Missouri at the age of 35…
Teddy enjoyed visiting with people, talking to strangers, meditating, video games and board games, but most of all he loved dancing with each of his daughters every evening when he came home from work. Some people knew Ted and understood he was a different type of fellow and had different views of things, but he would give the shirt off his back if you asked or needed it…