Heather Heyer was murdered, and the individual who ran her down deserves judgement and sentence as a murderer. It was a Nazi sympathizer that murdered her; she was a non-violent "counter-demonstrator" who wasn't harming anyone. That should not be forgotten and it should not be obscured.
But what also was true is that there were counter-demonstrators in Charlottesville that WERE there to provoke violence, and did so. However repulsive Nazis, KKK, White Supremacists of various stripes are, they have first amendment rights, and they had the proper permits (with the imprimatur of a Federal Judge to boot) to demonstrate. While the Nazi/KKK/White Supremacist crowd had the least defensible political viewpoints, the counterdemonstrators were, in fact, responsible for a good part of the actual lawlessness that went on outside of Ms. Heyer's murder. That fact shouldn't be forgotten, either.
If we're going to make a 1960s analogy to the Civil Rights movement, let's remember that it was the COUNTER-demonstrators that were the goons. It was the counter-demonstrators that, in the words of Mike Royko, were the worst elements of Southern Beer-Belly Manhood that were allowed to provide the response to the demonstrators. The demonstrators in Charlottesville were poles apart, morally, from the demonstrators in Selma, but they DID have a lawful right to demonstrate, and they did have a lawful right to enter Emancipation Park; it was counter-demonstrators that locked arms to try and block them from entering, and that is something the counter-demonstrators, however noble or ignoble they may be, had a right to do.
Let's revisit President Trump's statement (in part) of 08/12/2017:
There is a lot of romanticizing the Civil Rights demonstrations and the Vietnam War demonstrations by the media and by old leftists. But the reality of the time is that Middle America was sick of the demonstrations. Pro and anti-war Middle Americans were tired of their lives being constantly disrupted by demonstrations in which violence seemed to be a staple. They were all for the democratic process, but they saw what went on in the streets incessantly as people doing nothing but causing needless division for their own selfish purposes. This is why a nation that was, pretty much, becoming more socially liberal and anti-Vietnam War re-elected Nixon with 60% of the vote and a 49 state landslide. They trusted their institutions to bring these problems to an end because this was America, not some failed state.
And that's how they view the Alt-Right today. Yes, there are Nazis, KKK, White Supremacists out there, but the narrative that they're a massive force ready to assume power is laughable. That is, however, an intellectually cheap narrative that folks want to push because they have other agendas that are controversial. They see the media as giving attention to folks that ought to be ignored, and egging on counterdemonstrators whose presence in the streets serves no useful purpose. These folks want to live their daily lives, recognizing that life is short, and they recognize that much of the "Alt-Right" threat, given their real numbers, is grossly overstated, but grossly overstated for political reasons; it feeds a cherished narrative. That's why they hate Hillary Clinton; they saw lives being lost in Benghazi and falsely explained for the sake of a narrative favorable to Obama, and they saw Hillary push it.
And that's why they grudgingly like Donald Trump. He gets THEIR concerns. He gets it that tranquility in their communities is THEIR right, and it's the President's job to ensure that right. He gets it that "counterdemonstrators" from a number of leftist groups (BLM, Antifa) are at demonstrations to egg folks into violence. (BLM intimidated Bernie Sanders off his own platform, and he was their ally, for crying out loud!) Trump, not David Duke nor the national pro-leftist media, is the only person I have heard who has spoken to that particular concern; the concern for the right of folks to live their lives unobstructed by unruly demonstrators, regardless of the nobility of their cause.
I want justice for Heather Heyer, and as much closure as possible for her family. But I also want my 12 year old son to grow up in a peaceful nation where folks are not raising hell over symbolic issues such as these Confederate statues, and to equate this issue with the struggles of the 1950s and 1960s trivializes the Civil Rights movement. Trump could have handled 08/12/2017 better, but his initial statement was not the travesty it was made out to be. And it IS about time that the "Silent Majority" that works, pays taxes, and obeys the laws, be able to enjoy domestic tranquility that is disrupted by nincompoops with dime store radical agendas that want to stir crap on national TV for agendas that are either faux or hyped.
Poll
