Hope Remains After Charlottesville

“[N]ot all of those people were neo-Nazis, believe me. Not all of those people were white supremacists, by any stretch….You had some very bad people in that group, but you also had people that were very fine people, on both sides.” — President Donald Trump

Mr. President, they came chanting “Jews will not replace us.” They came chanting “blood and soil.” They came armed to the teeth, with torches that they would later use as clubs, bashing protesters and spraying them with mace.

For years, before that, they came bringing whips. They came burning crosses. They came bearing nooses. And they left behind them a trail of blood and bodies that have this nation searching, still, for redemption and reconciliation.

They came with hate in their hearts.

They came with pillowcases over their heads. They came to reclaim some twisted legacy that they thought was rightfully theirs, borne on the backs of people they subjugated, enslaved, tortured and on whose forced labor they profited.

They came with brown shirts. They dragged innocents from their homes. They paved the paths to the ovens with the tombstones of their victims’ dead. And they massacred millions because of the vicious, misbegotten belief that they were the master race, and this somehow justified the extermination of these others, who to them were not people but vermin.

They continue to come, today.

They invade college campuses. They speak at televised rallies. They infest the darkest recesses of the internet. They spew their detestable bile to anyone who will listen, and who might lend a sympathetic ear.

And now they do it with the imprimatur of the presidential seal.

They do it with the backing of a president who seeks to ban people from entering this country, simply on the basis of their faith or even their inability to speak English. They do it with the support of a Commander-in-chief who demeans Mexicans, calling them criminals and rapists, and threatens them economically. They do it behind a “leader of the free world” who impugned the impartiality of a judge based solely upon his heritage. And they are openly encouraged by the coddling of this man, who just called them “very fine people.”

But there is hope.

There are some who will work to quench such anger. Some who will work to defeat such hatred. Some who will refuse to recognize the bigotry, racism and division espoused by such groups.

There are some who will oppose injustice. Some who will fight to ensure equality. Some who will dare to speak for those without the courage or means to speak for themselves.

They — we — will fight against unconstitutional orders which proscribe members of a religion, ANY religion, from entering this country simply because they worship at a different altar. We will strive to embrace the wonderful diversity inherent in this country in the hope that we all might benefit and learn something from those who are different. We will shelter those tempest tossed refugees fleeing death and destruction, because it is humane, moral, decent — in short, American.

We will work tirelessly to ensure that all are treated fairly under the law, and do not have impossible hurdles to overcome because of their creed or race. We will make certain that all have the right to vote, and are not disenfranchised because of pointedly burdensome requirements. We will break economic impediments which seek to maintain the status quo so that all citizens have the unfettered right to pursue the American dream.

We will show up at the ballot boxes. We will march at the state houses. We will argue at the courthouses. And we will not rest until justice, decency and morality prevail.

That, Mr. President, is what we will do. And we will do it with the support of good, courageous, patriotic Americans who will stand up to this abomination because they believe there is no place for hatred in the United States of America, the land where ALL men and women are created equal.

I am a proud board member of Lawyers for Good Government (L4GG) and the L4GG Foundation. You can follow me on twitter @axidentaliberal.