It was July 8th when I last wrote about world
events and politics, the G20 Summit to be exact. And no matter how often I vow
not to write about controversial and divisive topics here I am again, ready to broach
the event that brought homegrown hate groups together last weekend in
Charlottesville, Virginia---the Alt-Right, Neo-Nazis, White
Nationalists, White Supremacists and the KKK. Their Friday night Unite the Right torch-lite rally where at one point hundreds
yelled obscenities in front of a church filled with area clergy who were inside
praying as part of the counter-protestors was shocking and downright scary. “You will not replace us!” they
shouted along with “Blood and soil!” and other Nazi inspired slogans.
The next morning many of Unite
the Right attendees donned their protective gear, grabbed their guns, flag poles and shields and took to the streets and we all know what happened after
that including a young neo-Nazi from Ohio plowing his car into a group of peaceful
counter-protestors killing one and injuring nineteen. President
Trump still has not called that deliberate mowing down of people an act of
domestic-terrorism. If the driver had been a Muslim, he would have tweeted that
out within an hour and that fact is a dog whistle telling the hate groups all
they need to know. Silly me, why would I expect any better from a president who
installed Alt-Right Steve Bannon and White Nationalists Sebastian Gorka and
Stephen Miller into key positions in the White House? Even before the latter two were added to the administration, one of Trump’s first acts in office was to shut down the arm of
Homeland Security that kept track of home-grown domestic hate groups. Thanks, guys, for helping to elect me.
Many people, no doubt, saw nothing wrong with what the
president said on the weekend: "We condemn in the strongest possible terms
this egregious display of hatred, bigotry and violence on many sides, on many
sides.” The president dug the hole he found himself afterward by adlibbing the words
“on many sides, on many sides” that weren’t in the written text of the
statement he was given to read. Almost immediately people took that to mean he
was lumping the counter-protesters in with the hate groups who converged on Charlottesville.
Surely, a president should be nuanced enough to know there is no moral
equivalent between the white supremacist groups and those who came to counter-act
that kind of hate. Senator Kamala Harris made that point more bluntly when she tweeted: “It’s not hard to spot the wrong side here. They’re the
ones with the torches and the swastikas.” The Tweeter-in-Chief could have put
this controversy to a rest swiftly after it started, but he didn’t. It took him
over two days to come before America to read another scripted statement, trying
to undo the damage he did with the first.
“As I said on Saturday, we condemn, in the strongest
possible terms, this egregious display of hatred, bigotry and violence. It has
no place in America…,” he read off a teleprompter Monday, looking like a hostage forced to do it. “We must
love each other, show affection for each other and unite together in
condemnation of hatred, bigotry and violence. We must rediscover the bonds of
love and loyalty that bring us together as Americans. Racism is evil. And those
who cause violence in its name are criminals and thugs, including the K.K.K.,
neo-Nazis, white supremacists and other hate groups that are repugnant to
everything we hold dear as Americans.”
Republican strategist and CNN political commentator Ana Novarro said: “I've been embarrassed about having Trump as President, many times. But no time, worse than today. I'm beyond embarrassed. I'm ashamed.” I share that shame and embarrassment with Ann, especially now after Trump made his third statement made on Monday about Charlottesville, showed his true colors and emboldening those in the White Supremacy Movement. Make no mistake about it, Trump came down on the wrong side of history and I hope I live long enough to see him pay a heavy price for that. ©
Bella in the comments suggested this video. My God, half way through watching it I was choking up. It's 22 minutes long so if you can't watch it now, come back. It's worth it if you are still struggling to understand what happened. The girl reporter, Elle Reeve, is impressive and very brave.
Stephan Colbert's Response to Charlotteville
Jimmy Fallon's response to Racism
This photo and Nelson Mandela's words below is what President Obama tweeted out in the aftermath of Charlottesville. Always a class act.
