Here’s a link to one of the articles published in the Guardian – it pretty well covers today’s events as the Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville and all the violent ugliness it brought. After last night’s white supremacist/neo-Nazi (let’s call these assholes what they are, rather than alt-right) rally, complete with lit torches, where they were chanting old Nazi Germany slogans (e.g., “blood and soil”) among other white supremacist slogans.
Even a cursory scan of Memeorandum or twitter will turn up plenty of stories, and video footage, of the ugliness. The man who mowed down counter-protesters was arrested and will be facing homicide charges. Suffice it to say, tRump’s statement after today’s events was weak, to say the least, and stunk of false equivalence.
Look. It was only a matter of time before a right-wing rally of that size, and with weaponry, occurred. These goons have been emboldened to act increasingly brazenly and violently. It is no coincidence that dozens of the white supremacist marchers wore “Make America Great Again” hats. tRump has been channeling neo-Nazi and white supremacist animus for quite a long while, from his retweeting specific white supremacist accounts to his very public birther tweets and statements directed toward former President Obama a few years ago. Digging deeper…today’s actions were cultivated over years and decades. Let’s look at the increasingly shrill hatred that has been broadcast and published via outlets that were at one point in the margins but has become mainstream. David Neiwert, on his Orcinus blog, used to right quite forcefully about the threat the right-wing posed to our democratic institutions and public safety. These fascists have been enabled by what passes for law enforcement in this country that has often given their marchers a wide berth while coming down on counter protesters. If these are bad apples, they were cultivated within a very rotten barrel.
Let’s call it for what it is. And as far as I am concerned, we should be climbing the fucking walls whenever white supremacists, whether as lone wolves, or massed together as was the case in Charlottesville, commit acts of violence, or otherwise attempt to terrorize us. This is not acceptable, to state it mildly. To put it as clearly as possible, this is home-grown terrorism, plain and simple. We’ve seen this too many times over the course of my lifetime. When someone or a group decides that the way to make their point is by running down political opponents with a vehicle, or by gunning down others, or bombing mosques, churches or other buildings, they’ve crossed the line into terrorism. Those who advocate the use of these tactics may be able to hide behind the First Amendment, but I have no qualms calling them out as terrorism apologists.
In the meantime, if like me you need to vent, here’s a space.