Charlottesville and A Bunch of "Very Fine People"
The legacy of the Charlottesville rally and what it represents lives on.
I live over 500 miles from Charlottesville, VA, but what happened there just over four years ago could have happened in my town.
I wasn’t there in 2017 to see the hateful slogans and banners, or hear the racist rhetoric, but if I listen hard enough, I can see them and hear them where I live - in my city, my state, or anywhere in the United States of America.
I didn’t die on August 12 like Heather Heyer when a White supremacist whose name I won’t mention ram her with his car, killing her and injuring 35 others, but anytime a racist decides that I’m not worthy to continue living, they can the lives of others dedicated to eradicating racism.
The two-day “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville wasn’t remarkable in American history.
Racists have marched before emboldened by the political climate and buoyed by their own self aggrandizement.
Counter-protestors have been attacked and lost their lives during other peaceful demonstrations.
Even the fact that the former president said that there were “very fine people on both sides” wasn’t shocking. He just said the quiet part out loud.
He’s not the first US President or presidential candidate to make racist statements or take racist actions:
Woodrow Wilson said that the blatantly racist film “Birth of a Nation” was “history written in lightning”
Ronald Reagan began his 1980 Presidential Campaign just seven miles from where Goodman, Chaney, and Schwerner were murdered in 1964, and proceeded to give a speech oozing with states rights rhetoric
The previous president said that Mexican immigrants were “bringing drugs…bringing crimes, they’re rapists,” and referred to El Salvador, Haiti, Honduras, and African nations as "sh-thole countries"
No, Charlottesville and everything surrounding it is as old as time.
Deplorably racist.
Inherently vile.
Potentially occurring anywhere.
Especially in America.