We've seen the enemy and it's white supremacists
Published August 24, 2017
Editorial by Asheville Citizen-Times, August 22, 2017.
We have met the enemy and he is here.
The people who pose as our leaders have been busy insisting that the great danger to our Republic comes from a tinhorn despot in Pyongyang, a group of fanatics hiding in caves in Afghanistan and Central Americans sneaking across the Mexican border. In fact, the greatest danger has been growing relatively silently in our midst.
A week ago, this ugly reality came into view in Charlottesville, Virginia, when white supremacists rallied to protest plans to remove a status of Robert E. Lee. They clashed with counter-protesters and one of their acolytes is accused of driving a car into the counter-protesters, killing one and injuring 19.
The roots of this movement run deep, all the way back to Brown v. Board of Education in 1954. When Democrats in the 1960s pushed through the civil-rights and voting-rights acts, Republicans elected to rebuild their fortunes by relying on the support of white racists.
The movement simmered for decades as African-Americans steadily gained in power and influence. Republican leaders seemed to look upon the racists as an annoying irritant who were useful at the polls.
When an African-American was elected president in 2008, the irritants suddenly became major players in the GOP. Still, even though white resentment was a major factor in the Republicans’ 2010 gains, this fact was masked by other issues.
The mask fell off in Charlottesville. These people had one issue, and one issue alone: race. When they say they want power for whites, they do not include in that group non-Christians or people with Spanish surnames. Their message is a spewing of hate not heard in the circles of power since 1945.
How do we react? The hate-mongers say they want to be part of the national debate. Absolutely not. The national debate is for people who want to form a more perfect union, not those who want to destroy it and replace it with a fascist police state.
To a large degree, the onus is on the Republicans. They are the ones in whose midst this cancer has grown and they are the ones who must cut it out if they are to survive. Republican leaders need to declare, loudly and forcefully and continually, that there is no place for the racist right in their party.
In a larger sense, we all must do the same. Racism is anti-American. It has no place in our national discourse and those who espouse it have no place in our society. They must be condemned and ostracized. Were they in power they would condemn and ostracize us, and they would not be nearly as nice about as we should be.
It would be helpful if leadership in this effort came from the top, but clearly it won’t. The coward who occupies the Oval Office either supports the racists or wants their support so much he will endanger public order to get it.
In either case, he has once again demonstrated he is morally unfit to be president.
We live in a dangerous world. The North Korean threat is real and must be met with forceful diplomacy. We must assume that Kim Jong-un is not suicidal.
The jihadists who disgrace the name of Islam can wreak some havoc in the U.S., though it appears Europe is in more danger. We must hit them hard wherever we can without getting bogged down in endless wars.
Immigration is not, and never has been, a security issue. It should be addressed with sensible laws, not walls.
But the great danger, as we saw at Charlottesville, is from within.
August 24, 2017 at 3:11 pm
Johnny Hiott says:
I hate to burst ones bubble but it was NOT the democrats that pushed through the civil rights act of the 1960's it was republicans. There was at the time one of the most evil presidents lyndon baines johnson whose opinion of blacks was well known and not favorable in the least, it was republicans in congress that passed civil rights. As far as the race problems within this nation today the onus does not fall on republicans. It falls on the most racist president the US has had in a century ! One barack hussian obama. It also rest a great deal in the laps of such nefarious creatures as george soros who is and has been paying these violent demonstrators dressed in many disguises to create havoc and chaos throughout the entire nation. The fact is soros and his allies such as obama and the clintons should be charged with sedition for trying to overthrow the US govt.
August 24, 2017 at 7:02 pm
Norm Kelly says:
Don't know the political or ideological bent of the author. But what is obvious is the author has no regard for truth. The author must be a huge lib, left-wing zealot, Trump hater. There's no other way to describe someone who lies so blatantly. And we all know that libs like to refer to other libs who lie as 'being misquoted' or 'misrepresented' or some other excuse. Yet, a lie is a lie even when told by the likes of Obama and Clinton. Or for that matter, any number of recent demoncrats.
Let me demonstrate why I refer to the author in the same line as Obama and Clinton, 2 demons who lack the ability to even recognize truth, let alone be able to speak the truth. Direct from the story: ''When Democrats in the 1960s pushed through the civil-rights and voting-rights acts'. Democrats DID NO SUCH THING. The likes of Al Gore's dad voted against it. The ONLY reason either of these acts became law is BECAUSE OF REPUBLICANS!. This is no small mistake. Unless the person who posted this or retyped this for posting made a big mistake, the author deserves to be treated like libs are treating statues!
It's also important to note that it was Republicans who eliminated slavery. It was demoncrats who fought to KEEP SLAVERY! So no matter how arch-left-wing zealots, Anti-Fa, Black Lives Matter (one of the few times I'll refer to them by their chosen name!) LIE about the history of their beloved demoncrats, facts are still facts and history is still history. It was demons who stood in the way of school desegregation. It was demons who were KKK members before moving to Congress. It was demons who refused to pass either civil rights or voting rights.
So, if you've ever wondered why I refer to democrats as 'demons' you now know. They LIE! They re-write history to make themselves feel good. And for some reason too many supporters simply accept their lies without question. Like most black voters, and their goofy 'leaders', who continue to vote for demons even though demons have done NOTHING to improve the lives of average blacks. Especially when it comes to school choice.
So, lib supporter, lib author, lying demon pol, go back to your history books, the ones you haven't altered yet, and read up on your actual history! It's truly a sad day in America when hatred for your President so badly colors your entire outlook on life that you have to mislead, lie, distort, and mis-characterize not just the President, but all of history!
August 25, 2017 at 10:22 pm
John Moore says:
Why do some people want to ignore the violence that the left wing radicals carried out at Berkeley University and on a host of other colleges? When violent wild animal thugs at Duke University threatened murder and mayhem to keep Former Governor Pat McCroy from being hired at the Terry Sanford school of government yet did nothing in 1995 and 1996 when defeated congress member David Price took an exosphereic pay check from Duke to teach nearly nothing and spend the rest of his time organizing a political comeback, how can they dare criticize anyone who is attacked by the criminal ANTIFA crowd just for peacefully protesting the cultural genocide that is being prosecuted against Confederate Americans? They would be better off directing their vitreol at Gene Nichol and the Julius Chambers center as well as the Pigford plaintiffs who are themselves the most racist thing the Old North State has ever seen, and about that their is no debate!
