White nationalists descended Friday night on the University of Virginia campus with burning tiki torches — lending a distinctly but likely unintentional Polynesian aura to a white nationalist group’s march.
But historically in the United States, torch-carrying mobs lit the scene of countless Ku Klux Klan rallies and mob lynchings.
In Charlottesville on Friday night, marchers chanting various white nationalist slogans carried tiki torches, known primarily for their South Pacific ambiance and for their contemporary use of keeping mosquitoes at bay.
Trash bins stuffed with tiki torches
The bamboo-wrapped beacons are decidedly nonwhite, having roots in Polynesian and Hawaiian cultures — a fact that white-nationalist marchers might not have meant to highlight. Tiki torches made their entrance in the US in the early 1900s in Hawaiian-themed restaurants. According to the Tiki Brand, the company that manufactures the bulk of tiki torches in the US, the torches “gained more popularity in the 1950s, when Pacific Island-themed restaurants, bars and even living rooms were all the rage. “
Outrage on social media over the Friday night tiki-torch march quickly turned to mockery as users pointed out the irony of the tiki-lit demonstration.
Even Republican Sen. Orrin Hatch of Utah got in on the ribbing.
“It’s unclear why the white supremacist used tiki torches, given their opposition to non-European Caucasian, ” he tweeted. He also posted a reference to the torches’ mosquito-repellant fuel, saying marchers’ tiki torches “may be fueled by citronella but their ideas are fueled by hate & have no place in civil society.”
“Unite the Right” organizer Jason Kessler did not immediately respond to CNN’s questions about Friday’s march.
After the march, trash cans around campus were stuffed full of the discarded items.
