Post 20/23
Recently, there was an incident in Charlottesville Virginia that brought the issue of Confederate flags and monuments back into the national limelight. Several KKK, neo-Nazis and white supremacists were protesting against the planned removal of a statute of Robert E. Lee from a park in Charlottesville. There were several counter protesters supporting the removal of the statute. At some point, some of the protesters on both sides engaged in an ugly altercation. Unfortunately, a young woman was killed and several others were injured by a white supremacist that drove his car into a crowd of counter protesters shortly after the initial violence. That guy is a coward and a terrorist. There were many individuals and groups from all walks of life, politicians from both sides of the aisle, religious leaders, media types, CEO's, university types, entertainers, sports figures, you name it and they were all condemning President Trump for his response to the violence. I have never seen a more apoplectic group of individuals in quite some time. Here is some of the criticism they had for the President. He didn't denounce the white supremacists by name. He didn't respond quick enough. He gave support to the white supremacists because he said that there was violence from both sides. That one sounds real silly to me. Now here's the one that really leaves me baffled. He gave moral equivalence to the white supremacists and the counter protesters. This is Trump derangement syndrome and political correctness gone way too far.
Come on folks! This is utter nonsense. As a nation, it appears that we are intellectually dishonest. The individuals from both sides of this spectacle that showed up with weapons and were geared up to fight were on an equal footing. They came with hatred in their hearts and with the mutual desire to engage in violence. Trump was not wrong for criticizing the violence coming from "many sides." Because there is moral equivalence between the individuals from both sides that engaged in mutual combat based on hatred for each other. I of all people understand the dark history of race relations in this country. I am black/African American, and I grew up in the South during Jim Crow. I understand that people get very upset when they hear the hateful rhetoric coming from the likes of David Duke and other white supremacists. But that should not exempt the violent counter protesters from criticism because they too engaged in violennce just as the white supremacists. The fact that they were protesting the hateful rhetoric of the white supremacists does not make their violence acceptable. After all, we still claim that we believe in freedom of speech, no matter how distasteful and offensive. It is quite clear from the Bible that there is moral equivalence between the violence and hate that came from the white supremacists and the violence and hate that came from the counter protesters. It is all unacceptable in the eyes of God.You can not credibly dispute that.
The officials that deserve criticism here for their response to the violence in Charlottesville is Virginia governor Terry McAuliffe and Charlottesvile's mayor Michael Signer, not President Trump. It was their responsibility to maintain order during that spectacle, and they failed miserably. By only condemning the white supremacists for their part in the violence and basically condoning the violence of the counter protesters who were on an equal footing with the violent white supremacists was political grandstanding and cowardice. When protesters engage in violence, no matter what the reason, it threatens the security of our communities and President Trump was right to condemn all sides for their involvement in the violence in Charlottesville.
