Sleeping with the Racists

What happened in Charlottesville, Virginia beginning Friday night and ending with a domestic terrorist action Saturday afternoon was hard to watch, but not unexpected.  These people have gone by numerous names over the years (Confederates, KKK, Nazi's, the alt-right) but they're the same as always, white nationalist racists who preach hatred; willingly and eagerly turning to threats and violence in an effort to force people to tolerate their message of bigotry.

This WAS domestic terrorism.  We all knowingly watched the racists waltz into Charlottesville, the beginning flames of the eventually costly hate fire.  It was like treading water in the middle of the ocean, noticing shark fins starting to circle.  There was no way this rally was going to end without tragedy.

When I saw someone had used a car as a weapon, my mind immediately went to the numerous terrorist attacks which have happened throughout Europe, where street legal vehicles have been used to inflict pain and fear on the innocent populations.  Regardless of where these terrorist strikes happened (France, Germany, England) the reaction in the United States from the Conservative Right has been the same.  There's an immediate condemnation of all Muslims, demands for every individual who has preached for acceptance to apologize and renounce themselves, demands we remove all 'unacceptable' religions from the western hemisphere, and gleeful cheers for the USA to drop another Mother of All Bombs on some unsuspecting village in the middle of nowhere, a village which has no connection to the attack.

After this domestic terrorist attack by alt-right racists, I was eager to see what those same Conservatives had to say about this terrorist attack.  I scampered to my computer to pull up Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and other social media sites to read their outrage.  Instead I was greeted by beige conversations of blandness:

Weather, State Capitol reopening, grandma, going swimming, nice dinner, Twins, friends...

These are friends who rarely go a day without making some sort of political statement, and who, when a terrorist strike happens anywhere, deluge their social media with relentless posts and memes.  I started scrolling back further on their timelines, back to Friday night.  Surprisingly, they had nothing on Charlottesville, or politics at all, since about 6 PM on Friday.  They'd gone underground with their politics, a clear sign they knew exactly what had been going on.  They had no idea what to say about what was happening in Charlottesville, and no intent to acknowledge the growing evil in America.  They couldn't condemn their casual affiliation without admitting fault, so they went silent.

Starting on Friday night, when it became apparent the racists had stormed every Pier 1 in Virginia to buy up every tiki torch they could find.

(Daughters fun class, bar-b-que, family vacation, birth of a child, Vikings, ice cream, church...)

When the racists turned violent on Friday and started attacking peaceful protesters, beating them with the torches.

(Game of Thrones, road construction, road trip, out drinking with friends, kitty video...)

The next morning, when a larger group of racists descended onto Charlottesville, and as the bloodlust these bigots created wasn't about to recede, they started attacking anyone they could find, like this African American man in a parking garage.

(Pumpkin spice, canoeing, going to a movie, kids playdate, more drinking photos, bridal shower...)

In their fire and fury of hate, the racists started attacking all non-racists.  They attacked the clergy,  THE CLERGY(!!!), religious leaders from numerous denominations who were doing what Jesus and/or their God told them to do, stop hate and preach peace.  This clearly should've warranted a reluctant criticism, or the slightest bit of shade...SOMETHING from the same people who wrap their Christianity around everything they believe!

(Back to school, sick uncle, Coldplay, love my pet, campfire/s'more photos, picnic...)

Finally, we had a deranged man committing a premeditated terrorist attack on innocent people, running his vehicle into a peaceful protest, killing one, seriously injuring scores, and then immediately reversing over many of his victims a second time, running away screaming victory for the cause of the racists, all caught on camera.

(Delicious peaches, abortion, summer camp, NoDak hockey, family photo, gardening...)

This was too many people, all going mute at the same time.  This was not a coincidence.

Sure a few made vague references to their religious service this morning, and one did the "what ever happened to 'agreeing to disagree'" post (well, about 25 years ago, the right started taking over the media, labeling their opponents with harsh and unjustified rhetoric, while at the same time whitewashing their own party's faults with a 'nothing to see here, never criticize the Republican Party' motto.  After 25 years of continuing the ramp up the hatred towards their opponents, Rightos trying to ask where this came from is like the kid not understanding why the bees stung him for throwing rocks at their hive).

There have been a few brave Republican politicians who've condemned the attacks, and I appreciate their tone.  The problem is the vast majority of Republican politicians and voters remain silent.  They don't know what to say.  

It's like, after getting really drunk one night, they woke up next to Hitler.  Now, they're sheepishly trying to be 'woke up next to you' friendly with him, while internally terrified of Hitler asking when they can hook up again.  The Republicans are finally sobering up and realizing who've they been in bed with.  Their silence about Charlottesville is a shameful admission.

Trump, a man who's criticism is very specific when he wants it to be, still has yet to condemn white nationalism, under any of its banners.  He hasn't called them out for who they really are, and Trump has eluded to "all sides" needing to tone down the violence.  For the record, 'all sides' would be either the racists or their victims.  Trump has actual Nazis in the White House (Sebastian Gorka, likely Bannon, likely others too) and has a special place in his heart for his 'Orange Shirts', the same people he applauded when they roughed up and dragged protesters out of campaign rallies.  It's clear, Trump doesn't want to upset his base, so he's intentionally being vague in his criticism.

But the question needs to be asked of all Republicans who still swear they only voted for Trump because they hated Clinton:  what's your excuse for not condemning the unacceptable?  We ALL need to condemn this.  Your lack of condemnation is a silent endorsement.