Charlottesville

As I look back on last week’s deadly protests in Charlottesville, Virginia, I am, again, filled with gratitude for the men and women who show up and put their lives on the line in the battles against the forces of hate and bigotry.  Their courage stands out in glistening relief against the backdrop of stupidity and moral cowardice supplied by the White House.

It was a chilling scene in Virginia, one I can’t remember seeing so vividly—the hoods coming off so that the vigilantes could march in full pride, their hatred paraded forth in full sunlight.  It also posed a particularly ugly dilemma for the University: academe doesn’t get to choose whose speech is free and whose is not.  School officials knew the haters were coming.  All they could really do (I assume) was to alert local law enforcement, lock down anything loose, and hope for the best.

Who are the haters?  It’s easy to think of them as a lunatic fringe who are feeling their oats since helping to elect an unfit president.  But, of course, it is not that simple.  These marchers were not just trucked in from Central Casting.  They are neighbors and friends.  They are family.  They have deeply held beliefs.

But the voice of reason also attended the demonstrations in Charlottesville.  Full-throated.  One of those who spoke the truth, Heather D. Heyer, lost her life as a result.  And this week the speakers are showing up again, as they have done so many times before, in front of Trump Tower.  They will not stand idly by while this administration attempts to steam-roller the Constitution.

These events remind me yet again—as the organizers of Act Up so clearly understood—that the most powerful path to effecting change is in-your-face demonstration.  If the forces of negativity are brash, then the voice of peace must be louder still.  And that takes guts.  So let me say thank-you, yet again, to the foot soldiers in this war.  Without them, we would surely lose our national soul.

Bruce