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“WHEN YOU’RE ACCUSTOMED TO PRIVILEGE, EQUALITY FEELS LIKE DISCRIMINATION”
This past weekend, racists took to the streets of Charlottesville, Virginia and the University of Virginia campus. I will not refer to them by any other name. They can call themselves Neo-Nazis, Alt-Right, White Nationalists, or associate themselves with the Ku Klux Klan. I will solely refer to them as racists. These individuals decided they would protest the removal of the Robert E. Lee statue in Emancipation Park and the oppression of white people in the United States of America.
They fear that Caucasians will soon become the minority and there has been an ethnic cleansing. While others are fighting for the equality of the actual minorities in this country, these racists feel as though the white race is being ignored and discriminated against. What a joke. On Friday, August 11, these white, heterosexual men and their female counterparts were not met with the same military presence of those in Ferguson, Flint or North Dakota on the UVA campus. Instead, the authorities allegedly felt it necessary to remove themselves from the situation because they “feared their lives.”
There were men walking the streets with their weapons visible, torches ablaze while angrily chanting sentiments such as, “You will not replace us,” “Jews will not replace us,” and “Whose streets? Our streets.”
The next day, they went to protest the removal of a statue of Robert E. Lee at Emancipation Park. There was a police force present but they did not diffuse any violent situations or protect those who were there to combat the racists who attended this event. It was at Emancipation Park that Heather Hyer and other protesters were ran over by one of these racists. Heather Hyer died protesting hate in this country.
Now, let me explain this for those who are unaware or surprised by the events that took place in Charlottesville: racism, racists, hate speech, bigotry, etc. did not magically disappear after slavery, the civil rights movement or when Barack Obama won the presidency. Hate has always been here, especially towards brown people, in the United States and across the world.
This year especially, we have seen an influx of racists having the courage to take off their white hoods, show off their swastika tattoos, walk out in broad daylight, and spew their hateful rhetoric wherever they go. How are you a Nazi but claiming that you are patriotic and love America? The whole world legit fought against this type of thinking lol.
We are aware of this now more than ever because the technologies we are exposed to. I go on social media every single day and see a new video of some hateful person having the courage to scream at women in hijabs or call young black people the N-word to their face.
I wonder why this sudden spike in hate has come about in 2017? Oh wait, I know exactly why. Donald Trump.
I will take this to my grave: this man has incited feelings such as pride, power, rage, and courage in the heterosexual, white man. He really just strengthened their belief in an ideology they already subscribe to. His hateful rhetoric throughout his ENTIRE campaign has turned this country into absolute chaos.
In my lifetime, I never thought I would live in such a tumultuous time in history but then Donald Trump decided he would run for president. So, now here we are.
As for the so called “oppression” these men decided to protest: I am truly speechless and I clearly always have something to say. Do they know what oppression even feels like? Do they know how it feels to have to work twice as hard to get even a piece of what others have been deemed worthy of since the day they were born? Do they know how it feels to live in a country that’s infrastructure was built entirely against your existence and continues to be to this day? I figure we all know the answer to this.
Removing the statues and monuments of the racist monsters of this country’s bloody past is literally the simplest thing this country could do to come to terms with its real history. As an African American woman, it’s a slap in the face to have to live in a country that glorifies the enslavement of African people by continuing to praise men like Robert E. Lee. He's put on a pedestal as if he didn't wish to continue the murder, rape, and the plethora of atrocious acts against brown people.
White people question what the difference is between black pride and white pride. They wish to keep this part of history but refuse to come to terms with the pain this history brings to many races in this country. They believe that we are attempting to erase history by removing these shrines.
I am of African descent. My family was never in slavery and I am a first generation American in my family. I am very lucky that I can trace my roots back to where I come from. Not all black people in this country are that lucky so of course they need to be prideful in being black. Why are we glorifying a men who are a constant reminders of African people being stripped of their identity and spread across the globe?
I do not want to waste anymore of my energy addressing racists whose hateful thinking is supported by the man who is supposed to be running this country. I would like to address the people who voted for Donald Trump simply because he was the lesser of two evils in their eyes or because they support some of his policies but not all of them: This is your fault. You should have stayed home on Election Day and saved your vote.
These are the same people who continue to say they aren’t racist just because they voted for someone who refuses to condemn racists in this country. Maybe they’re not but the only thing worse than a racist in my eyes is someone who is complacent and refuses to speak up when it comes to racism in this country.
Minorities have been fighting against this type of hate since Donald Trump was elected. But now it’s your turn. I beg my white peers to not sit there when your father says something ignorant about black men being thugs. Speak up when your mother decides it’s okay to speak down to immigrants or any person of color. If you don’t agree with your friends, say something. Innocent people are losing their lives at the hands of racists and other white people need to be the ones to stand up against them.
Lastly, educate yourselves. The American schooling system has only aided the type of thinking that led to Charlottesville. We are taught to blindly love this country without being properly educated about its dark past. We are in the age of technology. It’s time for those who believe men like Robert E. Lee, Christopher Columbus, or even Thomas Jefferson are heroes to google what these men did to people who look like me.
White people need to realize that no race should have a claim over the United States of America in 2017. No white people did not build this country. White people stole it and had Africans, Asians, Mexicans, and Native people build America for them.
This has been the land of immigrants literally since Christopher Columbus landed here by accident. Everyone deserves a piece of the pie and no we do not have to get over the atrocities that our ancestors endured at the hands of Europeans. We need this country to own up to it and help us heal.
I know that there is a lot of love in this country. I see it. I know it’s there. But if we don’t do more to combat all this hate and evil, all the bad will surely win. I don’t know what these next years of the Trump presidency will entail but I do know that we need to be more vigilant.
Get off your phones. Get up and get out of your comfort zone. Have the uncomfortable conversations before it’s too late. And remember, love trumps hate.
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