Like many, I am still staggering from the fact that the President of the United States blamed “both sides” of the recent Charlottesville white supremacy rally and subsequent attack without openly condemning the white nationalists, let alone doing anything about their actions.
His statements have the white supremacists raving Trump’s praises:
Newsweek just ran an article that “White Nationalism is Now ‘State-Sanctioned’ Under Donald Trump, Experts Say,” which included this video:
These “both sides” comments come from the same president who has made obliterating Muslim terrorists one of his primary calling cards.
My question is, what’s the difference? You have a group of Muslim extremists who think being their version of Muslim is superior to all else, and they’ll kill you if you disagree. You have a group of white extremists who think being white is superior to all else, and now, as of August 12th when a grey Dodge Charger rammed into a group of anti-racists, killing one and with intent to kill many more, they will also kill you if you disagree.
And of course, August 12th, 2017 is not the first time white nationalists have killed. Let alone the many years of slavery, beatings, and lynchings that formed our country, one only has to go back as far as 2015 for another contemporary front page story like Charlottesville. On June 17, 2015, Dylann Roof walked into the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, South Carolina and killed 9 black people in cold blood.
The Muslim terrorists who bombed the Boston Marathon were hunted, ready to be killed on sight. Dylann Roof on the other hand was escorted by police who put a bullet proof vest on him. Dylann Roof was never called a terrorist, he was called mentally ill.
In Charlottesville, five white nationalists beat a black man within an inch of his life and none of them have been arrested. You can read much more about this here, from Shaun King, and learn what you can do to help. Can you imagine if 5 black guys did this to a white guy? I’d bet a lot of money you wouldn’t have 5 black men walking around, not having been arrested, that’s for sure.
Trump condemns Islamic terrorism with more vitriol than any could think imaginable, mentioning this week a myth about a group of Muslims that were killed by bullets dipped in pig’s-blood by an American General as a way of stopping terrorism, and has made it his calling card that he aims to blow Islamic terrorists off the face of the earth.
Why wouldn’t he say that in cases of Islamic terror, both sides are at fault? Certainly this would apply to the Paris terrorist attacks that were egged on by disrespectful, satirical cartoons of the prophet Muhammad in the French magazine Charlie Hebdo. You could look at almost every Islamic terrorist attack to date and find something the victims did to bring on the attack, but no speech has ever been given that those attacked were equally at fault with the terrorists!
That only happens when the terrorist is white.
It is dumbfounding to me that our white privilege extends as far as to terrorists.
Meanwhile, there are white people who are lobbying to formally recognize Black Lives Matter an official terrorist organization.
It seems having white skin makes you exempt from the terrorist label, while the Huffington Post points out the majority of US domestic terrorism acts are done by white people who are not Muslim. Why aren’t we passing bills to keep them out of our country???? White extremists are possibly the most terrifying people on the planet.
The whole conversation around “terrorism” is incredibly racist.
It is so easy as a white person to just coast through life, not ever thinking about these things. When I pause and think about it, I would be terrified to be a person of color living in our country today, especially since Trump took office. There were certainly white terrorists around before Trump (like Dylann Roof), but white supremacy and white nationalism have been fanned into flame like I’ve never seen before in my lifetime by the Trump campaign. Whether this was intentional or unintentional by Trump is not the point, the point is his campaign and rhetoric have been very intentional, and they have woken up the Alt-Right, the KKK, the Nazis, and all forms of white nationalism. These groups see a green light and they are taking it.
Who are these people who show up for white nationalist rallies? They don’t just come out of the woodwork. These are regular people who hold regular jobs. They are your co-workers. Some of them are in the military, some of them are police officers.
Did I mention I would be terrified to be a person of color living in America today, especially as a husband and a father?
I barely know how to respond to this except to pray, lament, and mourn. I feel so feeble crying out from my little blog, hoping it makes some shred of difference.
White nationalists are terrorists living under our very noses. How sad it is that this is okay and accepted by the White House and so many other Americans. I praise the many Republican politicians who are publicly stepping up since the Charlottesville tragedy to denounce white nationalism and to call out Trump by name for the awful direction he is leading our country in surrounding this issue. It is not an easy thing to stand up to your own party in a day and age when towing the party line seems to be the only thing that is rewarded.
Related: Blacks and whites see racism in the United States very, very differently
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I agree with you 100% on trump and have a lot of admiration for what youre trying to acheive but for someone who strives to reach a moderate position, referencing Shaun king and the Huffington post is a curious decision.
Not really specific to this post but I noticed your last 15 or so blogs about race have taken an extreme left apopogist position that often places emotion before logic and feelings before facts. Has this been a conscious decision understanding that is likely the only way to achieve your multiracial church or are you truly not aware of how biased you’ve become?
Hi Tj, when I reference Shaun King or the Huffington Post, I don’t have them in preset categories like it sounds like you do. I’m not saying that to be antagonistic, I’m intentionally ignorant about what media outlet is “liberal” and which are “conservative” — maybe people categorize these two in that way, which is okay, I just didn’t know that because I stay intentionally ignorant of that (I mean, I don’t watch/listen political tv or radio). I believe truth can come from either side of the aisle, so if Shaun King says something is true, I’m fine to link to it, same for Huffington Post. King was just showing a black guy getting the crap kicked out of him by some white supremacists and that we can help them get arrested. I can’t imagine any facts that would change what was happening in that photo. That’s simple biblical justice in my opinion. I love being free to see things biblically without a preset political slant clouding things. I don’t know you or know if that’s where you’re coming from, but I have noticed that over and over again when it comes to any area of societal injustice. Many Christians read their Bibles through their political lens, rather than seeing their politics through a biblical lens.
You may not be able to clearly identify the political ideologies of every news source out there but i feel like you’re likely aware of the views of Shaun King, the Huffington Post and also Fox news.
Anyway let’s pretend that you truly don’t know the ideologies of people you’re linking in your posts. Do you think that’s a wise idea? Using that logic you could accidentally end up using David Duke quotes about the Bible. Or what would happen if you linked a breitbart article in one of your pieces on racial injustice? Even if the article itself was not biased the source clearly is and that’s very important.
For what it’s worth I actually agree with everything Shaun King wrote in this instance but the source absolutely matters. Very few conservatives will pay any attention to what you have to say after seeing those two sources just like few liberals would pay attention if you linked rush Limbaugh and Breitbart. With today’s increasingly polarizing political landscape, you’re going to turn a lot of people off of you continue to use extreme left sources the same way you would if you used extreme right.
Does all that make sense? I’m saying people should focus on the substance over source but that just isn’t the way a lot of people think today. By remaining intentionally ignorant you will unintentionally offend and alienate a large percentage of the population. Now the next big challenge is to find sources that most people deem to be moderate. 20 yrs ago that was easy but these days it is getting increasingly difficult.
I see what you’re saying and that’s helpful. I’ve heard about Fox News because it’s the butt of a lot of jokes and memes out there and I know about Rush Limbaugh but honestly I haven’t even heard of Breitbart. I do see your point about David Duke, very good point. I did not know Huffington Post was liberal/left.
I would push back that the last 15 articles of mine about race have taken an extreme left apopogist position. Several recent ones that come to mind include what a multi-ethnic church really looks like, and why becoming a multi-ethnic church is biblical, not political. I do write posts when blacks go through injustice and I don’t balance those out with posts about when the black person was wrong, or something along those lines, but that’s because the category of my post is social justice or racial reconciliation so someone committing a crime who gets punished for it doesn’t fit into that. I do see what you’re saying and I try to show an objective point of view, like when I did a post “Where #BlackLivesMatter lost me” –which I took a lot of flak for http://www.atacrossroads.net/where-blacklivesmatter-lost-me-this-doesnt-negate-what-they-protest/
I’ve also written strong posts against abortion, and many posts uplifting what would be categorized as “conservative” values on sex and marriage. I end up taking flak from both sides, usually conservatives think I’ve very liberal and liberals think I’m very conservative.
I’m gonna admit my ignorance and maybe it’s because I’m not old enough but this whole white nationalist deal seems so dated. If I understand it right, they want to live only with other white people as if being white is the answer. Question I have is, where has that gotten ya white nationalist? It’s not like people of other races have been in a position to screw this American experiment up, I think whites have done a pretty good job of that on their own. For the record, screwing up is not a function of race. If I had to choose, let non whites have a shot at power, not to mention more women. My hope is that when the ‘movement’ comes out into the light, they themselves will see that history has moved on and they truly are an incredibly small minority. And hopefully some light will come to the evangelical church who have embraced Trump, a church that honors men who have no love or concern for truth is no encouragement to seek Christ.
Total side note, looking forward to your book release dude.
Thanks Alan! It’s looking like mid-October at the latest for my book, it’s about time!! lol
Hey Noah, not sure if you’re gonna blog about the Nashville Statement and the Christian backlash but it’s really dividing the church. Thing is the Nashville Statement is biblical truth but somehow in stating truth as bullet points it has the effect of not loving the people whose behavior is being criticized. Passing on this video which has the message of Listen which seems much needed in the church:
https://vimeo.com/231166638
It’s good cause in speaking truth it calls to love. Truth does discriminate and discerns the heart but somehow in this case it seems to divide God’s own. You’re good with words, hope you blog about it.
Hi Alan, I bookmarked a few things I saw on social media about the Nashville Statement but I haven’t had time to sit down with it yet. I’ve been really swamped recently with our 2-month-old baby, lots of big stuff going on at church, as well as prepping for book which should be coming out in October. I do hope to look at the NS and write something on it soon.
Big congrats on the new kid, a few more and ya got your own team 🙂 Now I wanna know if it’s a boy or girl. I’m gonna have to listen to your vids more. God will bless the vision he’s given to you at Crossroads. I was out in Holland MI for a wedding in June and really wanted to hit Lansing and stop by to say hi but it was too full a weekend. I’m gonna pick up a couple copies of the book; one of my buds at church is the guy who leads the mens group at church and hoping we can go thru your book.
It’s a girl, so I’m 3 for 3 on having girls! Thanks for spreading the word on the book! I think it will be very impactful, especially in a small group setting.
Congrats on the new girl, betcha she’s beautiful. Enjoy it while you can outrun them, you might be saying 3 for 3 now, give it a few years and it will be 4 against 1 🙂 And good job on getting the notifications going again.
The idea that both sides of an issue are behaving with the same level of violence means that both sides of the issue are equally valid is just silly. If a man breaks into my home and threatens me and my family with violence and I have the capacity to respond with equal or superior violence, I will respond with violence. The Jews in Europe certainly wished they and those whose were willing to oppose the Nazis early on would have responded more forcefully in 1930 when the Nazi party was in its infancy. This is not to say I support the tactics of the Antifa, because I do not. I am only saying that they are on the right side of the issue of White Supremacy verses racial and cultural diversity.
There is a difference between initiated hate and violence and reactive hate and violence. As a teacher for thirty years I watched as victims turned on aggressive bullies.
More often than not the bully said in his/her defense that the victim was fighting, too, claiming equal culpability. It never washed with me. I always sifted through the facts and assigned culpability to the one who initiated the attacks.
1.First, it wasn’t a terrorist act. It was a reprehensible reaction to the violence taking place already. A terrorist act is one which is preplanned. Second, he will be punished according to the law. Third, there is plenty of responsibility or irresponsibility to go around. A legal, permitted protest was attacked by an unlawful counter protest….the city, mayor and state governor were negligent in protecting the lawful protest and the situation escalated. I don’t support white separatists but I still believe in the 1st amendment.
2.Because the white nationalists were not the only people responsible for the violence that day. The people marching had a legal right to do so. Antifa was also there, however, and they were assaulting white people just for being there. They pepper sprayed people. They punched people. They beat unarmed people who were trying to leave. To look at what happened that day and say that the “nazis” and WS were the only ones at fault is to be either ignorant of what happened or to be dishonest. Nobody is excusing what the “nazis” did, nor the murdering terrorist who killed a woman. But the fact is if Antifa and BLM hadn’t shown up then there would likely have not been any violence.