The Charlottesville rally shone a light on what every American needs to separate from.
From reports from The Sun and CNN, white supremacist groups gathered for the Unite The Right rally in order to protest the tear down of General Robert E. Lee’s statue from a city park that was erected in 1924. In these groups included self-proclaimed neo-Nazi Richard Spencer and former Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke. From there, a counter protest against these groups joined in peace, but the rally quickly turned into a riot.
During the riot, the counter protest came to a standstill when 20-year-old James Alex Fields drove into an anti-racism crowd, injuring 19 and killing one person. That person, Heather Hyer, was marching for social justice. Since the riot, many people, including public officials and politicians, have spoken up specifically against the hate of neo-Nazis and KKK members. But out of these individuals, one failed to call out that hate.
The first comment from President Trump started out with the statement, “We condemn in the strongest possible terms this egregious display of hatred, bigotry and violence, on many sides. On many sides. It’s been going on for a long time in our country.”
Many were angered by his comment because he failed to call out these individuals by name and Rep. Maxine Waters perfectly replied with, “Trump refuses to condemn white supremacists and terrorists who showed up in Charlottesville. Is he sending a signal? Everyone must be careful.” Since then, he has mentioned the weekend twice, once going back on what he first said and the other time truly saying he meant his first statement. Whether he fully knows it or not, he is promoting a fascist idea. To understand fascism, we must look at what it truly means.
According to the website Dictionary, fascism is defined as “a governmental system led by a dictator having complete power, forcibly suppressing opposition and criticism, regimenting all industry, commerce, etc., and emphasizing an aggressive nationalism and often racism.”
We see that these white supremacist groups have the same goal: to get rid of others who are different in terms of race, ethnicity, sexuality, religion and other factors. They want one type of individual, so they claim that white Christians are superior to anyone else. We have seen these ideas take actions in events such as the Holocaust and the Jim Crow/segregation era through the actions of Nazis and KKK members. They claim to be patriotic but are the farthest from it.
President Trump’s defense of the supremacist groups resulted in support from Duke, who tweeted, “Thank you President Trump for your honesty & courage to tell the truth about #Charlottesville & condemn the leftist terrorists in BLM/Antifa.” If Trump does not see a problem with this, then there is a situation with him.
Everyone needs to denounce these hate groups by specifically calling them out on what they are: white supremacists and white sympathizers. By not calling them out, Trump is basically saying that the hate groups are free to carry out this hate without punishment or consideration. Fascism does not belong in a nation that has such a huge melting-pot of different races, cultures and religions, to name a few. To say one type of person is superior to others who are different defeats the progress that we have worked so long and hard to achieve for everyone, especially for minorities.
Someone who promotes and does not denounce fascist ideas has no right to claim patriotism or American pride, and if these past events continue to happen, everyone must band together in unity and peace to denounce the ideas. There is no room for hate here.
A crowd stands outside the White House in vigil for Charlottesville rally. (Photo Credit/Creative Commons)
