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HOLLYWOOD, Fla. — The Rev. Eric Brown had already seen the footage of the torches, the fire, the fights. The wreckage of Charlottesville days before was still fresh in his memory when he turned on his television on Tuesday to hear the words of President Trump.
He listened intensely as the president appeared to equate white supremacist hate groups with those who protested them. First, he allowed himself to feel the hurt. And then he prayed.
“His words were bone-crushing,” said Mr. Brown, 51, the minister of Greater Mt. Pleasant AME Church here, almost 24 hours after a news conference in which the president addressed the protests for a third time. “I could not help but think of the struggles of my parents and my grandparents.”
Across the country, Americans are discussing and debating the aftermath of the events in Charlottesville and the comments by the president. But for African-Americans in particular, what happened in the small Virginia city served to highlight a racial fault line that, for all the talk of progress and diversity, many say has never gone away for, according to dozens of interviews.
For them, the images of white supremacists marching through streets — along with the deaths of three people — and the president’s response to racial violence was upsetting, but not shocking. Instead they were proof that more work needs to be done.
“I’m not surprised,” said Harold Harris, 41, a barber in the Sweet Auburn neighborhood of Atlanta. “This is the world we live in; this is the country that we live in. We have a lot of racism embedded in our country, in our history.”
Sitting in a barber’s chair, London Balbosa, a 22-year-old college student, said he did not feel he faced as much racism growing up as previous generations of African-Americans. But he said he had recently seen a rise in demonstrations of racism, and saw fear among whites that blacks are coming into their own and into power in America.
“Instead of waiting until something happens to want to talk about the issue, I think we should be focusing on publicizing ways to speak out,” Mr. Balbosa said.
Just around the corner at the Martin Luther King Jr. National Historic Site, Erika Williams had just finished touring the center honoring the civil rights leader. She said the week’s events made her feel like the nation was reliving the 1950s and 1960s.
She recalled her grandmother, who was born in Mississippi in 1912 and left as a teenager for a Chicago, promising more opportunities than what she was afforded in the Jim Crow-era South.
“To think that I am reliving some of the rhetoric that my grandmother heard,” Ms. Williams said. “If my grandmother was here today, she would be in disbelief that we are having the same conversations.”
In South Florida, Adym Christopher said he was most surprised by the boldness, not the message, of the protesters.
“You had these white nationalists that were emboldened, walking the streets unmasked and with torches. They looked proud to be there,” Mr. Christopher said. “What it told me about America is that we have work to do.”
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The Rev. Eric Brown at the Greater Mt. Pleasant AME Church in Hollywood, Fla. Angel Valentin for The New York Times
Like many African-Americans interviewed, Brenda Summerville, a Chicagoan, said she was troubled by Mr. Trump’s statements. She had long considered him to be a racist, her beliefs rooted in his questions about former President Barack Obama’s origins and birth records. “I honestly believe that he just does not care about people of color,” she said. “So I do not find this surprising or strange – he just said what I already thought he thought.”
Ms. Summerville, 47, said she was concerned about what may be ahead for the nation. She said she has been contemplating the possibility of more clashes and more retaliation.
“I am worried about the state of the country,” she said. “I think that here in the U.S. we really need to have an honest, open conversation about race because black people see it one way and white people see it another way and we’re not on the same page.”
Jay Martin said he voted for Mr. Trump, in part because he was tired of all the Democratic leaders who, he said, came into office and made little difference. He said he admired the president’s independence and demands for change on issues, including the violence and gang problems in Chicago.
Mr. Martin, 65, who is retired and living in a Chicago suburb, said he understood Mr. Trump’s points about how some protesters of white supremacists also appeared violent. He also wondered about the motivation behind tearing down historical statues and where it might end.
Mr. Martin — who considers himself an independent — voted for Mr. Obama. He acknowledged that he has argued with black friends and family over his support for Mr. Trump. Mr. Martin said he believes that the president is not a racist. “He promised to do things his way, not the way they’ve always been done,” he said. Ultimately, he said, the events that have played out will force the nation to solve its lingering issues around race.
“The place was divided even when Obama was in – we just didn’t talk about it,” he said. “You can look at it as being a good thing. We’re going to have to all come together. We all are living here. We need to talk about race, and this is bringing it out.”
Don Benson, 45, a black Republican and small business owner who lives in suburban Chicago said he did not support President Trump “at all,” but did not take issue with the president’s claim that both sides shared blame for Charlottesville.
“Without both sides, it probably would have never happened,” Mr. Benson said, adding he expects more racially charged protests. “As the world changes, it’s going to come out,” Mr. Benson said. “People are scared of what they don’t understand.”
In Philadelphia, the local newspapers carried stories of a city firefighter who posted an image of himself, wearing a Confederate hat and carrying a tiki torch. The firefighter has since apologized for the posting, which carried the caption, “Headed to Virginia.”
The incident was on Natalie Solomon’s mind on Wednesday as she shopped at a supermarket. She said Mr. Trump has given license to such hateful displays.
“Before it was under cover, they didn’t really exploit it the way they are doing now,” said Ms. Solomon, 60. “It’s like he’s allowing them to show all their prejudice now. We all live here and we should be able to live without fear.”
And a few blocks from the White House in Washington, Todd Anderson, a 49-year-old real estate manager who was waiting in line for lunch at a food truck in Farragut Square, said Mr. Trump had “absolutely mishandled” the Charlottesville episode by failing to unite the country.
“The office dictates that you act before your own principles, your own beliefs and you act on behalf of the nation,” Mr. Anderson said, “and I don’t think Trump did that at all.”
Reporting was contributed by Monica Davey and Mitch Smith from Chicago; Sheryl Gay Stolberg from Washington; and Mariano Castillo from Atlanta.