The terrorist attack in Charlottesville, Virginia, was preluded by a plethora of white nationalists flooding into the area and a relatively quick response by counter-pro- testers meeting them in the college town.
The particular rally, “Unite the Right,†was full of the vilest examples of hatred this country has seen in a long time. The rally was attended by the subscribers to ideologies that feel they would be more at home in a world where minorities weren’t human and racial purifying taunted the dreams of the nation’s leaders.
To those sympathetic to these “Free Speech Defenders,†I’d remind you the first amendment guarantees the right to speak, not that your fellow citizens will like what you say.
Not realizing this, one of the racists ran his car into a group of counter-protesters because, apparently, free speech only applies to him.
Obviously, this isn’t new. We have had racists living in this country for years, and that will more than likely continue.
What was really telling was the lack of any sort of leadership coming from the White House. Not only did President Donald Trump fail to give any convincing condemnation, but he successfully alienated most of the country when he rolled back his statement on the issue in his “infrastructure†press conference.
Showing his true opinion on the matter, Trump made it clear that he feels absolutely zero empathy for the family of the young woman who was killed and truly believes that all confederate monuments should remain standing.Â
Trump also seemed to imply Antifa and the Nazi party are equally horrible. That is a logical fallacy called false equivalence.
Antifa attacks people to prevent a fascist movement from gaining traction in the United States government. This is, by itself, directly contradictory to our founding principles and a crime. However, it is in no way as terrible as turning government power into the cold and efficient elimination of minority groups.
Finally, to address the reason the event occurred in the first place, Confederate statues have no place in our modern world.
They glorify men who fought and killed Americans to preserve the states’ rights to own people. They were erected during the Jim Crow era and are a direct link to the oppression that haunted the South.
They belong in a museum or melted down for the metal. Some say this would erase history. They’ll be happy to learn that we didn’t erase the Cold War when the Berlin Wall came down.
The City of Memphis voted to remove their statue of Nathan Bedford Forrest in 2015. Unfortunately, the Tennessee Historical Commission was against the removal and blocked the proposal.
To those who consider the Confederacy part of their heritage, this should be appalling, regardless of the statue itself.
The Confederacy fought against a large government so local communities could govern themselves. If one truly supports the Confederate ideal, then he or she understands a city like Memphis should not have to engage in the forced hero-worship the state has mandated for them.
Ian McCord is double majoring in business economics and finance at the University of Memphis. He grew up in and around Memphis and is the Vice President of the U of M College Democrats. He believes a fully functioning democracy has an energetic population capable of critiquing the every move of those in power.Â
