White Nationalist Claims He's Not The 'Angry Racist' Seen In Viral Charlottesville Photo

A “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville, Virginia over the weekend left one protester dead and dozens more injured. The rally slated for Saturday saw thousands protest the city’s removal of a statue of Robert E. Lee. Among those who attended was Peter Cvjetanovic, a 20-year-old University of Nevada, Reno student and white nationalist whose photograph went viral over the weekend.

Cvjetanovic told CBS affiliate KTVN that he understood the photo — which depicted him holding a torch and screaming while marching alongside fellow white nationalists — had “a very negative connotation.” He added that he hoped “the people sharing the photo are willing to listen that I’m not the angry racist they see in that photo.”

Cvjetanovic KTVN that he attended Saturday’s white nationalist rally “for the message that white European culture has a right to be here just like every other culture.”

“It is not perfect; there are flaws to it, of course,” he told the news station. “However I do believe that the replacement of the statue will be the slow replacement of white heritage within the United States and the people who fought and defended and built their homeland. Robert E. Lee is a great example of that. He wasn’t a perfect man, but I want to honor and respect what he stood for during his time.”

Of the now infamous photograph of himself attending Friday’s march that circulated widely on social media, Cvjetanovic said he “did not expect the photo to be shared as much as it was.”

President Donald Trump addressed the deadly rally Monday in a brief statement to reporters after returning for a short time from his vacation at Trump National Golf Club in Bedminster, N.J., the Washington Post reported.

“To anyone who acted criminally in this weekend's racist violence: You will be held fully accountable,” Trump said. “We condemn in the strongest possible terms the egregious display of hatred, bigotry and violence. It has no place in America.”

He added: “Racism is evil and those who cause violence in its name are criminals and thugs, including the KKK, neo-Nazis, white supremacists and other hate groups that are repugnant to all that we hold dear as Americans.”

The president was castigated by critics on both sides of the political aisle over the weekend for his failure to denounce or even name until Monday the hate groups present at the “Unite the Right” rally.

“We condemn in the strongest possible terms this egregious display of hatred, bigotry and violence, on many sides. On many sides,” Trump said Saturday in a brief statement. “It's been going on for a long time in our country. Not Donald Trump, not Barack Obama. This has been going on for a long, long time.”