Slave Block: historical marker thief disrupts the narrative in Charlottesville

We naturally want what happens in the world to reinforce our notion of reality, to serve as examples of the things we believe in, but the truth, as Oscar Wilde observed, is rarely pure and never simple.

When the historical marker for the slave auction block in Court Square went missing in the early morning hours of February 6, many in Charlottesville were quick to assume they knew what had happened and went on to frame the narrative: racists and white supremacists upset about the effort to remove our Confederate statues clearly stole the plaque. What’s more, some said the police were trying to pin it on anti-racists. More than two years after what’s known here as “A12,” the day nazis and white supremacists terrorized Charlottesville — and local officials and police failed to protect our community — many are still on edge. 

“It’s obvious they [the police] think the scary left has done this,” wrote a commenter on The DTM.

“….police are trying to spin the narrative in which anti-…