Last weekend, a group of between two and six thousand tiki-torch baring white nationalists, neo-Nazi’s and alt-rightists congregated in Charlottesville, Virginia to take part in the largest ever ‘Unite the Right’ rally of its kind.
This particular rally followed just one month on from a march organised by Ku Klux Klan members across the same area of Charlottesville, from Lee Park through to the University of Virginia grounds. The Klan, however, was heavily outnumbered by counter-protesters at the time.
Saturday’s gathering, organised by Charlottesville resident Jason Kessler, was said to be in protest of the same cause – the removal of the statue of General Robert E. Lee, a commander of the pro-slavery Confederacy during the civil war.
Kessler, a well-known far-right blogger had previously accused the state of Virginia of “anti-white hatred” and organised the rally in retaliation to recent changes, such as the renaming of nearby Lee Park (after General Lee) to Emancipation Park. Kessler described the event as an “incredible moment for white people who’ve had it up to here and aren’t going to take it anymore.”
Unfortunately, under the First Amendment, Kessler and his gang of angry white cronies have the right to peaceful protest and the right to speak out and have their grievances be heard. However, the insidious torch-lit march, very much evocative of KKK parades of old, quickly descended into violence and openly racist rhetoric.
The crowd paraded across town shouting “we will not be replaced” and “white lives matter” but as the night fell, true colours began to be revealed. Chants soon turned into “one people, one nation – end immigration” and the far more spine-chilling chants of “blood and soil,” a phrase made famous by Nazi Germany, began to fill the air.
The entire spectacle was a sight to behold, the scene looked far more like a modern-day re-enactment of the 1951 propaganda film Birth of a Nation than a modern-day protest in a politically progressive city 2017.
The argument set forward by Kessler (who ironically, is a University of Virginia graduate) was that white people should be able to stand up for their own interests “just like any other identity group.” Personally, I find this statement both frightening and laughable, especially when it comes from the spokesman of a group consisting largely of heterosexual, white males between the ages of twenty and forty who are irrefutably the least oppressed group in American society, and probably even the world.
I do agree that the monument of General Lee is a piece of American history – that is undeniable but I completely and wholeheartedly do not agree that the removal of the statue is the equivalent of the erasure of his story from the history books. The idea that people will somehow forget what happened all those years ago because they are no longer faced with General Lee’s effigy every day, on their commute to university is quite frankly ridiculous. People will never forget.
Native Americans, who are possibly some of the most persecuted and understandably aggrieved people in America don’t have the privilege of having statues of their tribal leaders and war heroes standing proudly in public spaces, despite the land being rightfully theirs – but they still remember.
Monuments and statues by their nature are built to commemorate a person or event and stand as a tribute to what happened in the past. The fact that such a large number of white men want to keep the statue of General Lee erected just shows that the values and belief that he held as a pro-slavery confederate, are the same values and beliefs that they hold dear to themselves. And if you don’t see what’s wrong with that then frankly, you are part of the problem.
The statue of General E. Lee is a commemoration of abused power. A commemoration of abused white power and dominion over black people and it represents nothing but the unearned privilege of one race to rule over, subjugate and enslave another.
A wise man once said that to those who are privileged, equality can begin to feel like oppression and that is exactly what we witnessed last weekend in Charlottesville. Those tiki-torch wielding wankers weren’t actually worried that people would forget their great American history if the statue was taken down, they were just worried that certain people would eventually forget the authority they once had over them.
The black people of Virginia have had to live in the shadow of that statue since it was first put up in 1887. Every day they have had to walk past General E. Lee’s image looking down at them from atop his war horse and every day they’ve had to be reminded that there are people who once wanted them enslaved and now, some who never want them to forget that they were.
Fortunately, the Unite the Right march was denounced by both civilians and politicians alike, the Mayor of Charlottesville; Mike Signer called the event “a cowardly parade of hatred, bigotry, racism, and intolerance.” However, the one person who should’ve spoken out louder and more strongly than anyone else (and has a record of doing just that) remained sickeningly neutral on the matter.
Donald Trump’s statements following the events in Charlottesville were half-assed and insincere to the point of nausea. The President did not address the Nazi’s, racists and violent white supremacists directly but instead chose to speak on “hatred, bigotry, and violence on all sides”. The only other side being the vastly outnumbered counter protesters marching against the backward beliefs of the radical far-right.
Although upsetting, Trump’s actions can hardly be called surprising. These are words coming from a man whose chief strategist, Steve Bannon, was a founding member of the notorious far-right ‘news’ website Breitbart News, and whose father was said to have been arrested at A Ku Klux Klan riot in the 1920’s.
In the words of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr; “The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.” And now we all know just how much of a man Donald Trump really is.
The fact of the matter is Trump was well aware that majority of those men marching in Virginia were his supporters and that’s why he tried his best not to offend them, despite all the pressure from the media and the White House.
Sadly, racism is not a new phenomenon in America. Racism never died, they’ve just been concealing it, but now it seems to be rearing its ugly, unmasked, torch-bearing head yet again and we must do all that we can to stop it.
To quote the final words of Heather Heyer, who died fighting for the rights of others in Charlottesville;
“If you’re not outraged, then you’re not paying attention.”
1985 – 2017
Words by Pauline 
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