The events that happened in Charlottesville this weekend has thrust racism and its effects on stage for everyone to see. There are many areas to address but I'm going to touch on some of them. The dialogue needs to start and should include all of us.
1. It doesn't matter if you call yourself Alt-Right, White Nationalist, KKK or Neo Nazi, it all centers around racism and it's wrong. One race isn't better than another. There's just a diverse group of people that we live among in this world. People's hate is based on either fear of or superiority over others. When you have a heart for others, neither one of those will matter.
2. When groups come armed with torches, baseball bats and automatic weapons, THIS IS NOT A PEACEFUL ASSEMBLY! There's no way you're going to have a civil dialogue with weapons involved. So when you have that, on top of using moving vehicles to harm others, your intent is to terrorize others. Therefore, your group should be know as terrorists. There have been attacks in other parts of the world that's been labeled as terrorism that involved the same ingredients. These groups should be labeled the same thing.
3. We, as the American people, have been played like a fiddle by the current government administration. All through 2016, the politician that was elected as President of the United States(Donald Trump) stoked our fear and pitted us against each other. He touch every soft spot subject he could point out. The focus on people's fears( of jobs not coming back, of others taking those jobs and the unknown) beat us over the head like a baseball player at batting practice. On top of that, every minority group got tagged with every fear label or insult known to man(too long of a list to go through). These racial attacks have been going on for over a year but we couldn't see it through our hurt, sadness and anger. The groups I mentioned before saw this as it happened and figured it was safe to show everyone their true colors. Donald Trump is like us so it's cool to express it openly now. David Duke, former member of the KKK, said at the rally this weekend that "we're determined to take our country back. We're going to fulfill the promises of Donald Trump". Donald Trump, in his statement, refused to denounce these groups that completed these acts and is doing it in his name. He is the President of all Americans, not just some.
Overall, we are better than this and have more in common with each other than not. We need to have this dialogue amongst each other in a civil way. Even if we don't agree on all things, we can have a common ground to walk on. We cannot let others push us into fear. United we stand, divided we fall. I rather stand together with one another and show the world we are better than the ones that terrorize us.
