Whitewashing The Darkness At Charlottesville

On August 11, Charlottesville experienced an invasion of
torch carrying anti-Semitic neo-Nazis and white supremacists,
mostly from surrounding states, here protesting the proposed
removal of at a statue of Confederate general Robert E. Lee.

In the aftermath of the recent violence on Charlottesville's streets there have been many attempts to fix equal blame on "both sides". 

But in light of the blatant fascist ideology in evidence on that tragic weekend, should there be any talk of changing the subject to "another side"?

I deplore and denounce violence of any kind, by any group and for any reason. But I am equally distressed by any attempt at downplaying the seriousness of increasing anti-semitic and racist influences in our nation.

Here are five ways I see such evils being rationalized and minimized in some peoples's responses to what happened August 12:

1. By comparing the core ideology and behaviors represented by the (invading) protestors to the violent behaviors and ideology of a fringe minority of counter protestors. 

The initial organizers of the resistance to armed hate groups coming to demonstrate in Charlottesville were not members of Black Lives Matter, antifah or of alleged Marxists groups, but members of faith communities in the city and surrounding areas who prayed for, and consistently advocated for, a peaceful and non-violent response. These good folks far, far outnumbered any other single protesting group, yet have gotten little notice from the press compared to those who acted inappropriately.

2. By focusing primarily on the question of who committed the first act of violence.  

While there is legitimate debate over who actually started the first fight on the street, there can be no debate over which group initiated the actual hate filled, anti-semitic and racist event itself. Without these armed groups there would have been no violence and no tragic loss of life on that weekend.

3. By labeling all of the event's counter protestors as "leftists".

There was no collaboration or coordination between the majority of peaceful and faith-based counter protestors and their violent counterparts. The former in fact have completely and consistently disavowed the latter, but were nevertheless lumped together, without differentiation, as discredited members of a despised "left".

4. By not differentiating members of the so-called "left" from each other. 

Not nearly all members of "Black Lives Matter", for example, are prone to violence, and by far the majority of those (BLM) folks would also champion the cause of "Jewish Lives Matter" if their lives and their dignity were perceived as being under similar threat.

5. By overlooking the tragic lessons of anti-semitic history. 

I am distressed by the lack of outrage over the coordinated and intentional racism and anti-semitism represented by the invading outsiders, by their shouting in unison things like "Jews will not replace us" and the Nazi slogan "Blood and Soil".  Too many seem to forget how much blood was shed on European soil just a generation ago due to this intolerable ideology, a threat judged as being so severe that the US was willing to even collaborate with Marxists to defeat it.

In short, I reject the charge made by some that the hundreds of good people who met to pray and prepare prior to the demonstrations were largely un-American "leftists". Nothing should be seen as more urgent, more patriotic, or even more Christian, than to counter Nazism, racism and anti-semitism in any form, wherever and whenever it manifests itself.

And yes, to always do so non-violently.