what is left to say about the events in charlottesville? the actions of the white nationalists protestors and that of one of their number in killing a counter-protestor and injuring others are reprehensible. every person, including president trump, should condemn these nazis, racists, white supremacists, members of the alt-right, or whatever label should be applied to them. such views must be strenuously opposed by anyone who believes in human dignity and equality.
in a democracy such as ours it is difficult to balance the right to free speech for even the most repugnant points of view with the danger of allowing hate to fester and multiply. the alienated and hopeless of a society are attracted to those who provide them with a scapegoat to blame for their problems. it is too easy to blame those who are different from us in some way or other for our problems rather than looking for real solutions and recognizing that we are all in this together. we look to our leaders to develop solutions but what we are getting with the current regime is a frightening attitude of blaming the victim, sometimes in veiled terms and, in the case of mr. trump, overt bigotry.
the issue of racism in this country is a difficult one. in the south, we've been taught to revere people such as robert e. lee. for those of my generation, he has been proclaimed as a reluctant leader of the confederate forces, a man whose loyalty to his place of birth superseded loyalty to the nation as a whole, an anti-slavery advocate who would have freed the slaves he owned through marriage to his wife had the civil war not erupted. we were taught that stonewall jackson and others like him were heroic defenders of their homes, rather than traitors to their country. this myth of southern heritage runs deep in the confederate south, covering up the enslavement of a millions of people who toiled to enrich a land-owning aristocracy that lived in ease--an inhuman system that endured far too long in a country that proclaimed itself the bastion of freedom.
we look at jefferson, washington, madison, monroe, and other "founding fathers" who advocated noble ideals and served honorably in the early years of our republic, while participating in the "peculiar institution" even during their presidencies. we honor them and at the same time abhor their complicity in the scourge of slavery. many of us who have deep roots in the south have ancestors who owned slaves. my great-great-great-grandfather and his son from whom i am descended were slave-owners. are we to disavow them because of this immoral practice? how do we live with our families' role in such evil? does the depraved ownership of other human beings negate the good things our ancestors accomplished?
many more generations must pass before the corruption wrought by slavery can be ameliorated. in the meantime, we must resist the calls of those who would divide us into black versus white, native-born versus immigrant, english-speakers versus spanish speakers, or any other artificial boundary marker. we must be one people, one common humanity. we must speak out against the hate-mongers and those who use hate for their own purposes of controlling others and enriching themselves. people like donald trump have no place in our government, and the sooner he and his ilk are gone from positions of power the safer our republic will be.
may we never pretend the great cancer of slavery was excised at the end of the civil war. may we work to eliminate the lingering effects of slavery. may we not fall into the trap of blaming scapegoats for the problems that exist. may we fight demagogues whenever and wherever they appear. shalom.
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