A Father Wrote a Searing Letter Disowning His White Supremacist Son Who Marched in Charlottesville
The father of a man known for his “pro-white” ideology and participation in white nationalist activities picked a side, choosing to publicly denounce his son after he was seen participating in the white supremacist march in Charlottesville, VA, this past weekend.
In a letter published on Inforum, white supremacist Peter Tefft’s father, Pearce Tefft, rejected his son’s actions. From the letter:
I have shared my home and hearth with friends and acquaintances of every race, gender and creed. I have taught all of my children that all men and women are created equal. That we must love each other all the same.
Evidently Peter has chosen to unlearn these lessons, much to my and his family’s heartbreak and distress. We have been silent up until now, but now we see that this was a mistake. It was the silence of good people that allowed the Nazis to flourish the first time around, and it is the silence of good people that is allowing them to flourish now.
Peter Tefft, my son, is not welcome at our family gatherings any longer.
His father went on to share more disturbing details in the letter:
He once joked, “The thing about us fascists is, it’s not that we don’t believe in freedom of speech. You can say whatever you want. We’ll just throw you in an oven.”
Peter, you will have to shovel our bodies into the oven, too. Please son, renounce the hate, accept and love all.
Other members of his family are also denouncing their relationship with Peter Tefft.
A man named Jacob Scott, who Inforum identified as Peter Tefft’s nephew, told the outlet in a statement that Peter Tefft has threatened his own family, and that his family rejects his ideology:
We are all bleeding-heart liberals who believe in the fundamental equality of all human beings. Peter is a maniac, who has turned away from all of us and gone down some insane internet rabbit-hole, and turned into a crazy nazi. He scares us all, we don’t feel safe around him, and we don’t know how he came to be this way. My grandfather feels especially grieved, as though he has failed as a father.
A Twitter account that belongs to an individual identifying as Pete Tefft self-identifies himself as a “Pro-White Activist.” A Facebook user identifying as Pete Tefft copied and shared a reflection on the violent white supremacist Charlottesville rally that killed 32-year-old Heather Heyer and injured over a dozen others.
“Ultimately, this was a victory for us. Our movement will be emboldened by Charlottesville. The ‘Unite the Right’ rally legitimized our struggle,” the post, which appears to be originally posted on AltRight.com with the byline Vincent Law, reads. “This is the beginning of the White Civil Rights movement.”