He has a Jewish daughter and Jewish grandchildren and he couldn't even denounce Nazis.
Couldn't, by name, denounce Nazis.
Couldn't denounce racism at all, really. And all white supremacists hate Jewish people along with everyone else not them. So, really, even if he didn't care about anyone else in the world, this should have been a no-brainer for him - his own daughter is Jewish.
He should have denounced all the hate groups - and by name - for the filth they are and everything they represent. But he couldn't do it. Not simply wouldn't do it - couldn't do it. And his daughter needs to ask herself why her own father couldn't denounce Nazis at the very least. I already know the answer.
He couldn't denounce Nazis. Meaning, he couldn't denounce the Holocaust - the death camps and slave labor camps. They were all death camps really. Being worked to death in a labor camp makes it a death camp. Being shot for no reason, other than because you are Jewish or one of the other "undesirables". Living in constant fear - terror, really. And even before the wholesale genocide begins, you were a target for attacks and the elimination of who you are as a person. They could take your home, your business, your job, your money. You became a non-person....and then they killed you.
Trump, instead, made the argument that being against hate is the same as being a hater. That protesting hate is the same as celebrating hate.
Which carries the nasty subtext of blaming the victims of hate. Just beneath his comments is the belief that you are somehow to blame for a racist running you down with his car and killing you.
I've been to several hate rallies as an observer and name taker (and I don't care if anyone has a problem with the name taking) and these hate-fest have included the Klan, doc marten/red suspender wearing skinheads (because haters love them some uniforms), Neo-Nazis, and assorted other white power groups - and they all hate Jewish people. They hate everyone - to include what they call race traitors - that isn't them...white, Christian, straight, and full of hate.
I marched for civil rights with Coretta Scott King in Forsyth County, Georgia. The haters were present and they threatened marchers along the parade route. I was almost killed by a group of men in a car. At the end of the march while crossing the street to get to my ride home, a car sped up and attempted to run me over. College students from Morris Brown saw what was happening and one of them ran out and grabbed me just in time. He risked his life to save mine. I heard the car, turned, everything went into slow motion, I saw the driver & passengers clearly, and the next second I was in the arms of my protector - seriously - just in time.
Heather Heyer's death has brought back all kinds of memories and feelings from that day. I wish she had had someone to grab her out of harm's way. I wish they all did.
Then sheriff, Wesley Walraven Jr., told me to my face to get out of town before dark because he couldn't control what could happen to us then. He said it with a smile.
I saw white adults threaten African-American children - one child little more than a toddler who ended up next to a sidewalk full of haters during a slow-moving part of the parade. I moved over, pushing her behind me, and back towards the crowd. The streets were narrow and packed with people, so it wasn't hard for a small child to get separated from a parent. The parents noticed almost the same time as I did - and we all formed a barrier. I think the haters were going to hit the child, as arms were raised and the most vile words were coming out of their mouths. They had been throwing stuff at us along the route. Nothing compared to the earlier march, but we still got hit with trash and other stuff once we were downtown proper. The march started a few miles away from this point.
I needed to go to the bathroom but it wasn't safe to leave the route because of all the haters.
There were FBI/GBI snipers along the route in the trees and on buildings but that didn't make me feel safe - it only highlighted the danger.
What happened in Charlottesville isn't new to America. I must admit to being disgusted when someone acts as if it is - and some do after each and every attack. (OMG! This isn't America! - yet it happens so often how can it not be America?)
Yes, we are currently living in a time when the haters feel powerful and emboldened - but America has been there before. We've even had presidents who ignored the pain and suffering caused by white supremacy. Think of all the long years of slavery and Jim Crow. Think of GOP presidents in recent history (Southern Strategy, Willie Horton ads, welfare queens).
You don't get to put lynching and slavery into a historical perspective/as something born from "that time" - people were enslaved, abused, murdered, raped - and this happened because some white people thought themselves better than everyone else. So much better, that other humans were enslaved and considered property - not even human in the eyes of many white people.
Attempts to explain slavery away as an economic system (as if that explains it) dismisses the beliefs held by those who enslaved Africans and Natives. In order to enslave another human, you first have to think of them as less than you. The bigotry came first. The disdain came first. The contempt came first. The callous indifference came first. Slavery was a racist system of creating wealth for one group through the torture, abuse, and death of another group - based solely on the color of one's skin. That's wealth through racism - through hate.
Think of all the police brutality and disparity in justice. Think of the various reactions to BLM. To police shootings of African-Americans.
Yes, we've had presidents that spoke out and acted against the injustices as well. It's a mixed bag - but not a particularly shining example bag. I don't see it has a shining example anyway. I feel we as a country don't do everything we can to stop racism. We've had moments of greatness only to lapse back into routine. The go-to targets of hate need more from us than routine and life as usual. They need our constant support and willingness to fight for what is right.
Racism/Anti-semitism in America isn't new. Attacks by racists aren't new. I worry that the outrage at the latest deadly attack by racists will go silent again - as it so often does. A false calm between storms. When we should be fighting against racism each and every day. Especially now with Trump if office - but, really, Trump or no Trump - the David Dukes of the world have been with us long before Trump's rise.
We have to remain vigilant against racism/anti-semitism. Against the hate. No one wants to have to think about racism every day of their life or to be on alert for hate every day of their life - unless you're one of the targets of hate and then you have no choice. Think about that.
Each and every day of their lives they have to be on alert against hate. Against possible attacks on their person. Blindsided on a daily basis by the ignorance and apathy of others. And this includes how women and the LGBT community have to live their daily lives, as well as other handy targets of hate.
It is because some people are the go-to targets of hate that ALL of us need to think about it each and every day and act against it each and every day - with our words and our actions. To accept that the go-to targets of hate know a lot more about what it feels like to be a target of hate than those who are not go-to targets of hate. Listen to them. Hear them. Learn from them.
Stay outraged. Stay determined. Don't let the quiet of tomorrow bring you a false sense of peace - the danger is always out there.
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