Editor,
I would like to comment on President Cheatolini’s statement about Charlottesville and the “violence on many sides.” Having been in many protests against the KKK and Nazis, I offer my observations.
We, the anti-racists, come to the Klan’s marches in our jeans and tee shirts with our signs. They, the KKK and Nazis, come armed with shields, dressed in military mufti with pads and other protective garb. Sometimes they carry concealed weapons. They are purposely dressed in intimidating costumes: sheets, black military-type uniforms with KKK insignia, carrying black KKK flags, Confederate battle flags on sticks, wearing boots, marching in Nazi formations.
Do not say to me: Freedom of Speech and it is their right to dress as they wish. Yes, Freedom of Speech, but not the freedom to organize others for racist violence. They hurt people, run cars into innocent people or terrorize folks from fighting racism. The reason they dress in their scary costumes is to frighten people. The president of Austin’s Black Citizens Task Force told me racist attacks against black youth increased after each KKK march.
Their history is one of burning houses, burning crosses, rape, beatings, murder and terror. I remember Emmett Till murdered in my birth state, Mississippi. The violent racists are still active, even in Arkansas.
I have participated in many anti-KKK, anti-Nazi protests and am proud of it. My observation is that the cops who come in Darth Vader dress, often, while protecting the Klan, attack us and arrest us. They do not equally attack and arrest the Klan. And, the KKK and Nazis start the conflict!
We anti-racists must always strongly resist these haters. Look at Germany in the 1930s, look at footage of the Nazis at their nighttime rallies with torches, marching in their black or brown Gestapo outfits. FOLKS, WAKE UP! If we do not resist these haters, we will end up living under Fascism, if not “living” in the concentration camps.
It is not violent for us to resist the KKK and Nazis and the growth of Fascism.
Yes, it is true, frighteningly true, that if we do not resist, democracy will die and some of us will die, also.
Trella Laughlin