Protestors originally gathered to fight against the removal of the statue of a well known Confederate general, Robert E. Lee. The protest quickly escalated into a white supremacists rally. There were many violent, torch wielding, people preaching hate against those who aren't white. Many of them also had Confederate flags and held their arms at the signature nazi position.
Not only were hateful words spoken, there were many violent outbreaks. Heather Heyer, a 32 year old woman who was part of the counter protestors, lost her life because a protestor purposely drove their car into a crowd. Many other people were severely injured. Police responded to the scence very lately. Once they were there, most police guarded the Robert E. Lee statue and witnessed the violence unfold. There was very little police involvement and very few police trying to protect counter protestors.
After the protest was over, President Donald Trump gave a debatable speech. In this speech he avoided naming any of the hate groups involved in the protest. He then continued to place the same amount of blame on the counter protestors, who were fighting against the neo-nazis and white supremacists, and the protestors.
I believe this hatefulness is unacceptable and should be fought against and stopped. Nazis in the past were taken down with force, and our country shouldn't be afraid to do the same to neo-nazis. Do you think that people fighting against hate should be blamed for violence that was a result of self-defense? Should neo-nazis and white supremacists be able to express their views without facing any backlash or consequences?
-Hailey Angulo
I agree that any hateful movement that attacks races or society should be stopped, but not necessarily with force. I myself see violence as foolish, and there will never be a complete and positive outcome from it. Just think of all of the losses from war, but we as humans go in blindly without looking back at history and we do not realize where violence has taken us before- nowhere. In most cases I would say that violence should not be considered, but maybe it should be considered to give neo-nazis a sense of equality since they started these violent movements, and because I know that once people get caught up in a movement it is really hard for them to stop. If people do not stand up against the neo-nazi movement, while it is still somewhat small, they neo-nazis will continue to do as they please because they are not suffering any consequences at the moment and probably wont in the future.
ReplyDeleteThe argument that “everyone should just be peaceful and love each other” and “violence from the counter protests is just as bad” is nonsense. Equating people who believe they are superior and want everyone but white people to suffer to people who want to stop said supremacists is absurd. If you are not angered by the acts of these literal Nazis, you are not paying attention. If you are staying silent, you are part of the problem. This country has protected these terrorists for far too long, and our President’s comments on the Charlottesville situation prove it. He did not specifically say that the actions of the white terrorists were disgusting, he simply avoided taking any particular stance on the matter for fear of offending his voters. He did not specifically attack the terrorists, and they know it. Trump seems to have no problem ostracizing ISIS, but when it comes to his faithful, white voters, there are “many sides.” There is a huge difference between people who want to commit genocide and people who want to stop it. If you are unable to see that, you are part of the issue.
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