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Donald Trump's Reaction to Charlottesville Is No Surprise

Fine people need to speak up.

By Rich MonettiPublished 7 years ago 3 min read
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From WhiteHouse.gov

Charlottesville and Trump — it’s my turn to finally weigh in. Of course, no Charlottesville was necessary to figure out where the President resides on issues of race, equality, and decency.

The President blamed both sides for the events and the tragic death of Heather Heyer. In a sense, he’s right. In videos that I saw, fisticuffs are occurring, and I assume the confrontations weren’t between white supremacists and white supremacists.

In contrast, Martin Luther King and the Civil Rights movement can attest to the effectiveness of not going down that path. But their involvement amounted to a trained and disciplined force overseen by a top down leadership that keyed on not retaliating.

Not Within the Confines of Rational Discourse

These counter protestors, on the other hand, are simply a group of people who gathered and have taken a position that fits within the confines of rational discourse. Unfortunately, they were not confronted by the reasonable side of the counter.

Instead, their town was descended on upon by torches and chants of “Jews will not replace us” and the Nazi slogan of “Blood and Soil.”

Sorry, there is no place for this. So “many sides,” Mr. President — my ass.

Monuments Men

As for the future of Confederate Monuments, I am sympathetic to keeping them up. But I remain open to the discussion because of the history the statues represent, and the intended affront against a targeted audience.

According to Kevin Drum of Mother Jones, the majority of the statues went up between 1900–1915. In accordance, Drum connects the dots. “With blacks disenfranchised and Jim Crow laws safely in place, Southern whites continue their campaign of terror against blacks. This era features continued lynchings, the growing popularity of “Lost Cause” revisionist histories, a resurgence of white supremacy organizations like the KKK, and the erection of Confederate statues and monuments in large numbers.”

Are you familiar with the history, Mr. Trump? That answer is pretty obvious if he thinks Andrew Jackson was upset by the Civil War.

Even so, I recommend reading Black Boy by Richard Wright. This would give you a keen understanding of the systematic form of state sponsored terrorism that African American lived under. The same goes for those who think the issue is not up for any discussion.

Regardless, my preference is to let the statues remain. Otherwise, their removal does nothing more than piss the white supremacists off and give them something to rally around. More importantly, it can align them with more moderate southerners who might be open to the argument against and someday have them join cause to remove the statues.

In this regard, I believe it would be more effective to place plaques alongside the statues that bring greater context to the history and discusses concerns from both sides. This hopefully starts real conversations, and maybe “the fine people” Donald Trump was talking about would actually emerge.

No Surprise

You know, the kinds you definitely don’t find marching around with torches and Nazi slogans. But none of this should be a surprise.

Donald Trump could not immediately disavow David Duke last year and that makes him a first among American politicians. In addition, he recently took issue with transgender people in the military when they represent 0.3% of the armed forces and suddenly has cause to roll back anti-discrimination legislation based on sexual orientation.

But the most telling indication of his less than reputable standing is his proposal to build a wall. It has no practical application as a solution, and all it does is give too many of his supporters reason to salivate.

And therein lies his primary purpose in so many of his initiatives. A stark message to the deplorables in Charlottesville, and all those that couldn’t make the trip, that this disgusting man has their backs. So if you are among the many decent people who felt they had good cause to vote Donald Trump but don’t want to be counted among the dispute, it’s time to speak up.

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About the Creator

Rich Monetti

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