I'm 20, Filipino-American and from the South. Here's what I saw in Charlottesville. I witnessed violence firmly take hold in downtown Charlottesville. These white supremacists are as real as the racists of the 1860s and 1960s.

Caleb Ecarma | USA TODAY Opinion

Show Caption Hide Caption Residents of Charlottesville mourn a day after violent 'Unite the Right' rally Residents of Charlottesville, Va. mourn a day after violent 'Unite the Right' rally.

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. — While growing up in upstate South Carolina, an especially conservative part of the American South, I was drawn to the liberal countercultural movement of the 1960s. My favorite history subjects in school were the Civil Rights movement and the Vietnam War; music by The Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan and Jimi Hendrix made up my daily soundtrack; and, as an aspiring journalist, Gloria Steinem and Hunter S. Thompson were my role models.

As I stood in a sea of violent white supremacists and counter-protesters Saturday in Charlottesville, Va., I recalled learning about that decades-old nation on edge. And I realized that version of America isn’t distant at all.

The white supremacists who swarmed the quaint college town in Virginia to display their bigotry gathered there to protest the removal of a statue depicting Confederate General Robert E. Lee. The alt-right, self-identifying Nazis and neo-confederates swarmed together to “Unite the Right” and stand up for the South’s overtly racist past.

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However, even if the war to end slavery ended close to 150 years ago, I grew up in a part of the South that didn’t drift too far from those racist roots. As a Filipino-American, I remember dramatically standing out at a church playground because I had the audacity to tell white children I supported the Union's side in the Civil War — rather than the side their families still support.

“Well, my dad says Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson were true men of God,” was the defense of Confederate generals that I would often hear as a 10-year-old. “The confederacy was about defending our homes,” was another — one that I am sure elementary school aged children did not come up with themselves.

Just a little over three miles from my childhood home, surrounded by massive flagpoles fitted with Confederate flags, stands a store called “The Dixie Republic.” The building serves as both a retailer for all Confederate themed items and a safe space for Southern Americans who have fond memories of our nation’s racist past. After the “rebel flag” was finally removed from South Carolina’s statehouse in 2015, the store was constantly crowded with Confederate-sympathizers.

Though this may seem beyond parody, residents of a small nearby town even proudly touted that they were still a part of the Confederacy, claiming that their local government had never agreed to surrender to the Union.

So, while the growing alt-right movement may be new, it is important to remember that racism in America is not. This new brand of white nationalism is merely one chapter in the book of racism that goes back to very beginning of our country, and the tendency to cling onto ugly bigotry of the past is all too common.

I didn’t personally witness the car attack that tragically took the life of one person on Saturday, but I saw hysteria and violence firmly take hold in downtown Charlottesville. I was tear gassed, pepper sprayed and hit with flying objects — and I consider myself beyond lucky compared to the many I witnessed get beaten into a bloody mess.

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If a movement is willing to instigate violence and malice at this extreme level then they can no longer be brushed off as merely trolls or Internet losers. These white supremacists are as real as the racists who have always existed in America, from the Civil War and the 1960s. In fact, the alt-right is influential enough that even the president of the United States won’t immediately condemn their racism in the clearest terms — presumably due to fear over potential backlash from some of his supporters.

As a 20-year-old student journalist, I came to Charlottesville to report on a racist movement that’s recently gained popularity, but I left the city with a reminder of the racists who have always existed in America — from the back roads of South Carolina to the White House. While their views and words may be protected by the First Amendment, we all have a duty to ensure that the beliefs of these white supremacists are erased from our nation’s future — just like that Confederate statue soon will be.

Caleb Ecarma is an intern for the USA TODAY Opinion section. Follow him on Twitter: @calebecarma

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