For many residents of Charlottesville, last year's white nationalist rally shattered the city's carefully curated reputation as a progressive, idyllic place to live.
But for Nikuyah Walker, an activist who was elected mayor just three months later, the violent clashes only underscored deep racial and economic inequities that have long divided this picturesque college town. In her view, the rally has forced Charlottesville to confront its own complicated legacy.
"You can have three or four generations who are struggling, and that family has not been able to move out of poverty wages — that's a significant portion of Charlottesville," Walker, the city's first black female mayor, said outside city hall. "And then you have this very wealthy community that loves and raves about it."