People across the country reacted in shock and horror after a neo-Nazi rammed his car into a crowd and killed one woman and injured many more in Charlottesville on Saturday afternoon.
President Trump was initially silent. He then offered a flaccid condemnation of violence on “many sides,” and was justly criticized for not calling out the white nationalists, white supremacists and the KKK.
Closer to home, Pima County Supervisor Ally Miller apparently took umbrage at the discourse and weighed in on the criticism by responding on Facebook:
“I’m sick and tired of being hit for being white. … It is all about making us feel like we need to apologize. I am WHITE — and proud of it! No apologies necessary.”
If Miller cannot see criticism of white people who are actively, aggressively and violently racist without taking it as a personal insult, the residents of Pima County should be seriously alarmed.
The woman who was killed, Heather D. Heyer, 32, had been attending a protest against a “Unite the Right” rally of white nationalists, white supremacists, the KKK and other white power groups in her hometown.
Reactions from elected officials are important, but we must pay the closest attention to the alarming development and mobilization of white power, neo- Nazi, racist and nativist groups.
Trump’s initial response to Charlottesville was appalling but not surprising.
It wasn’t until Monday that Trump denounced the hate groups. His delay matters, as what is not named and condemned is seen as being tacitly condoned.
Trump was endorsed by white power groups and leaders. He brought them on to his campaign and into the White House. People such as adviser Steve Bannon, whose record of promoting racism is clear.
Some of the white men who marched in Charlottesville were dressed to emulate Trump – khaki pants, white polo shirt, black belt and red “Make America Great Again” baseball hat.
To the white nationalists and white supremacists and others, the message of Trump’s silence was received. They weren’t openly, swiftly and immediately rejected by the president. He gave them space and tried to equate known fascistic groups with people gathered to oppose the racists.
Now, apologists are trying to excuse the actions that lead to the death of Heyer, a paralegal from Charlottesville.
Even if the driver had been yelled at, taunted, exposed to tear gas, even shoved or punched by anti-racist protestors, it offers no moral cover for going to his car, getting in, turning on the ignition, putting it in gear, driving to a street that led to the gathered crowd and accelerating — and then backing out in reverse.
Trying to rationalize killing as the inevitable outcome of words or even a fist fight is pathetic, and a dangerous lowering of the bar on what is acceptable.
The hate groups consider their rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, a terrific success. They are unafraid, no white hoods necessary.
“We achieved all of our objectives,” Matthew Heimbach, a founder of the Nationalist Front, a neo-Nazi group that bills itself as an umbrella organization for the white nationalist movement, said in an interview with the New York Times Saturday.
“We showed that our movement is not just online, but growing physically. We asserted ourselves as the voice of white America,” Heimbach said. “We had zero vehicles damaged, all our people accounted for, and moved a large amount of men and materials in and out of the area. I think we did an incredibly impressive job.”
Such a chilling and calculated response from an event where a woman was killed, and others injured, reinforces the need for our vigilance against hate.
Supervisor Miller’s apparent response to the killing and violence in Charlottesville was bizarre and self-absorbed. Trump’s was weak and tardy. We must call them out but not get distracted from the most important work of defeating white nationalists, neo-Nazis, racists and the rest as we fight for the soul of our community and country.
