I decided I would post what I understand about all the crazy events happening in Charlottesville. I'd ask that anyone who reads this doesn't forward it on or post it elsewhere. I am by no means an expert and there is already so much misinformation and extreme reactions taking place that I don't want to add any fuel to the fires already burning.
However, these times feel like historically significant ones and shouldn't be forgotten out of hand.
The New Threat
For my school, we locked the front door and the students all had to remain in the main building. The gym and cafeteria in the other building were off limits because of all the glass windows. Normally, we take students on walks around an outdoor track behind the school when they need to stretch and/or talk with a counselor, but it was all off limits today. Attendance was low and several of the kids who showed up were mad they showed up when they realized it was a modified lockdown. Many thought (and some said) that it would have been a great day to skip (especially with the gym out of bounds). One or two acted nervous, and one of those was angry she was even at school and called her mom to get permission to go home.
Overall, it made for a strange day. The general feel to me was annoyance and frustration, but we went through class business as usual (albeit with few kids).
At other schools, I heard that there was an influx of parents picking up kids. Carrie texted me that she was resisting the urge to pick up Shane, and I told her I felt Shane should stay in school. He'd probably never realize anything had happened (and when we asked if anything exciting happened he said, "Nope.").
All after school activities were cancelled. Except CLASS care. That was a separate email after I assume several working parents panicked and said, "What about after school care?!"
Room for controversy during the day:
-The schools didn't initiate the modified lockdown until 8:30 AM. By that time, elementary schools had already began their day. Some parents wanted to know why the schools waited until after kids were on the buses to sound the alarm if the warning had come in the middle of the night.
-Some parents were concerned there wasn't enough of a police presence.
-Including that some private schools had "more support" than the public (in quotes, because I cannot verify. I can say that my source told me private schools pay for an officer to be present).
-Several county schools are within city limits. None of them were put on lockdown. This made some county residents upset.
-Many parents pulled their kids from school.
-There was a rumor that a group of protesters was marching outside the high school. Someone even called our school upset. My boss called the HS and there was no such thing.
A look into the future: The next day, there was no outdoor recess for elementary kids. We opened back up our other building, but kids had to be escorted outside. The front door remained locked. When I went to the HS for wrestling practice, they held all the kids at the HS in rooms until a final bell to make it harder for a sniper to target them piecemeal. Practice started slightly later.
So why did all this begin? Why are the crazies targeting Charlottesville now?
I feel like a research paper could be written on the topic. In no way is this going to be fully scientific and thorough, but I hope I manage to make it fair and balanced enough to give an outsider an understanding of the area.
Going way back, there's Jefferson. He's a controversial figure and Cville is his home. UVA is the college he founded. Some laud him for his role in the birth of the nation. Others feel his mistakes, slave ownership, and the liberties (rape) he took with his slaves are glossed over. While there were no large conflicts or events around Charlottesville during the Civil War (one source), there were regiments raised from the area and then a slave population freed that outnumbered the free population. The city schools were segregated and I've met people who attended those schools and remember what Charlottesville was like before, during, and after the Civil Rights movement of the 50s and 60s.
Today, Cville has a wide spread of incomes, experiences, and opinions. Recently, it was identified as the city with the largest disparity between the 1% and the 99% in VA (source). UVA is huge and tends to have very active and well to do students while the city itself has a different feel. There is a large African-American population that is poor and in 'project' housing. The local police force has been accused of disproportionately stopping and frisking citizens of color. Critics of the force point to the math and numbers ("More than 70 percent of all people stopped by Charlottesville police for an “investigative detention” this year have been black" source). Critics of the police critics say there's a reason the cops do so (There have been two shootings up the street from us at one of the city housing locations this year - April and September). For a smaller city, Cville has been noticed by larger media outlets for crime (Hannah Graham murder - 2014) and the police (Black student injured by police - 2015). And then there's just outside of Charlottesville. If the city is a bastion of liberal politics, the county around it is quite the opposite.
Personally, I find Charlottesville to be a city of extremes. The wide variety of people, backgrounds, jobs, and ideologies in the city and surrounding area make it interesting, but volatile. There are lots of things to be proud of and lots of things not to be proud of. Depending on who you are, your outlook, and experiences, different things will pop out at you. There's lots of ammo for different viewpoints.
Okay, that's an overview. It's safe to say the area has 'history.' But what led up to the KKK marching and the violent rallies on 8/12?
To start, racism still exists. History books like to make it look like MLK Jr and the Civil Rights movement managed to 'fix' the country, but the job was less than complete. Once again, individuals widely disagree over the degree of racism that exists and others experience. I could start talking about the Confederate flag debates or the shooting in Charleston in 2015. I'll keep it more local instead.
Charlottesville has a Democratic party affiliated vice mayor who is black. Already, a conservative racist wouldn't like him. What happens when an 'alt-right' blogger finds online posts made by the vice mayor that were reported as sexist, homophobic and anti-white(source) to confirm and exacerbate their hate?
The blogger got loud. I'm sure he riled up his online supremacist and nazi friends. He started a failed petition to try to get the vice mayor to resign. He even assaulted a man downtown who said, "You're being kind of an asshole." (Note: The blogger tried to claim the man assaulted him and he even tried to have him assaulted, but it turned out there was video camera footage from a store of the whole thing. The blogger is due in court in December now for perjury - picture of what he wrote to court).
Now, I've met the vice mayor. He's a friend of a coworker I respect. The vice mayor has spoken at my school, brought lunch for the kids, and shaken my hand. What he tweeted was inappropriate, but I believe him when he says he's learned and grown a lot since then. Jesus can lead to radical changes in a person's life. And even if you don't believe in Jesus, everyone has said things they regret. Some of my own friends growing up used to think a joke that didn't offend anyone wasn't funny at all. We didn't have social media to have any of our stupidity immortalized on (Thank God).
No matter how heartfelt the apology, online white supremacists and the KKK weren't about to forgive the vice mayor or forgive that he was in a position of power. He gave them a face to hate in relation to another problem that had been brewing for some time...
Do you mean the statues?
I mean the statues.
In Charlottesville, there are two statues of Confederate Generals: Lee and Jackson. For a couple of years now, there has been a clamor around them. Some people view them as signs of oppression and racism. Some people view trying to remove them as signs of government oppression and trying to erase history. Others I've spoken to see the statues as a distraction from important matters (article on Belmont bridge from three years ago that has continued to deteriorate and had sidewalks closed and lanes reduced since) and tinder for a conflict between left and right extremes.
People in favor of the statues say they want to preserve Civil War history and respect for fallen soldiers.
People opposed to the statues say they glorify the Confederacy and slavery and signify oppression.
People I've talked to who don't fall strongly into either camp lean all over the place, but many mention the estimated $300,000 price tag to move the statue as being better spent on other needs in the city.
The city council voted to remove the statues early in 2017 which started off a legal battle over whether or not they have the legal power to do so. Charlottesville is about an hour from Richmond, the capital of the Confederate States of America, so aside from local opinion there are strong outside opinions who seem to view the vote as a referendum on all Civil War statues.
I could write much more about the history of the statues, views from either side, but there are others who have done so eloquently (look it up! I'm tired and running out of steam to find sources).
How does Trump fit in?
Behind all of this, there was Obama. President Obama was the first black president of the United States (in case you didn't know), and reviled by white supremacists and neo-nazis. When Trump ran a campaign of vitriol and antipathy towards the government and Obama, radical fringe groups celebrated and were all in (Interesting article on Derek Black, an ex-white supremacist spokesman that talks about how pro-Trump the "White Nationalists" were). There were reports of a rise in hate crimes after Trump won the election.
Trump's presidency has made many 'deplorables' feel emboldened and many minority groups and their supporters feel threatened (I chose that word because I feel it helps exemplify how charged the primaries and election were. There were many who wore it with pride due to their dislike of Hilary Clinton, but I wonder how that will change over time and especially after the rallies).
And that's what led to the rallies?
Honestly, it's been going building up for years. I feel like it's been a murky morass that's hard to negotiate.
For example: When a local business owner compared Black Lives Matter (BLM) to the Klu Klux Klan (KKK) in 2016, there was a local outlash and eventually the vice mayor called for a boycott of the restaurant. This happened over the period of time BLM became more prominent as there were several police related shootings and then some peaceful and some violent protests followed.
One group said, "Black people are dying! We feel compelled to speak out!"
Another said, "Police are threatened every day! Support our police! There is no justification for violent riots!"
Another said, "Look! Government is trying to censure opinions! What happened to free speech?"
Yet another said, "Why are we creating so much drama?! Can't everyone get along?!"
And another (probably) said, "If there are riots here, can they be near the Best Buy? I want a new TV." (We are talking about people....there will always be some who think purely
There was Black Lives Matter, Blue Lives Matter, All Lives Matter, and Stay Out of Our Lives.
And for the most part, many groups (online at least) said that if you weren't for them, you were against them.
The online world (local and national) jawed for months before the summer rallies. Online commentary on any local news was a cesspool of toxicity. People screamed opinions. Trolls (or just angry and/or threatened people) accused, threatened, insulted, and drew lines in the sand. Even foreign governments got in to stir the pot.
Are we to the rallies yet? This post has gone on and on and we're not even there yet...
Yeah, sorry about that. Like I said, the whole situation is a convoluted mess. My Facebook feed has articles of the same event from different perspectives that are incompatible. I avoid 'liking' anything, because then Facebook starts to feed you more of the side you 'like' which I feel feeds into creating confirmation bias.
Leading up to the rally, people were mad. They were mad about removing the statues, mad about not removing the statues, mad that the city was talking about the statues, mad that the city was spending money and time in court on the statues, mad other people were mad, and some were mad that they felt unheard among all the mad.
During the legal dispute, the city council decided to form a committee and poll people about renaming the parks where the statues were. Politically, since they couldn't legally move on the statues it probably made sense to them to take action on something within their power. It ended with some people rejoicing, some people outraged, and others scratching their heads when the council chose not to go with any of the names recommended by the committee they formed. If you read the last article I linked, you will notice at the bottom "Monday, NBC29 learned the Loyal White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan also applied for a permit to hold a rally in Charlottesville, which is set for July 8 at the Charlottesville Circuit Courthouse."
So is that why the KKK came to town?
Traditionally an area the KKK was active but had lost power from their earlier heights? Check.
Civil War statues they revere? Check.
Vice Mayor who's black and said things they don't like? Check.
Liberal city? Check.
White nationalist/supremacists/terrorists present and active in the area? Check.
New president they feel is more sympathetic to their cause? Check..
Ability to organize online? Check.
Tons of other crap going on and people upset? Check.
Before the rally there were people urging others not to attend the rally to counter-protest and there were people urging other to show or their silence would be supportive to the KKK.
Again, there are many articles about what happened that day online. I was not in town, so I cannot provide a first hand account of the day of. I recommend you look up first hand accounts (and beware of bias) to get a better picture.
My own bias is that I wish the KKK had never come to town. I wish they had shriveled and died out years ago. They are a hate group. I'm sure the local government wasn't happy when the KKK filed all the forms correctly for their march. For one, the city council is all Democrats and opposed to all the KKK represent. For another, they knew it would bring trouble and cause fall-out (Some conspiracy theorists and angry people have accused the council as working with the KKK, but that's their crazy and/or hurt talking in my opinion).
What happened after the rally?
People were hurt and angry. The KKK felt victorious. The president failed to condemn the KKK's action strongly, and that was a morale victory for the nationalists/racists to come. There were already
The police response was criticized as heavy handed (and even as in league with the KKK) which probably played some in to how they responded at the next rally.
The next rally on August 12th was the big one where people were hurt and even killed.
I'm running out of steam to write all this.....but the next rally was bigger and nastier. Three people were killed. One woman was killed when a car drove into a crowd. Two officers were killed when a helicopter crash. There were skirmishes between protesters and counter-protesters, armed militia, and the police were accused of standing idle.
And yet again, the president's response was lacking.
Made for a tough start to the school year, I'd bet.
There was definitely an odd feel to things. Some were much more affected than others, though.
And it continues?
Last Saturday night (the 7th), another group of torch-bearing white nationalists showed up at the statue.
Right before the threats that closed schools today, a warrant was issued for the black man who was severely beaten in the parking garage by a group of white nationalists during the rally.
It sparked an outrage. The rumor mill said that the warrant was issued by the Charlottesville City Police, but that was confirmed to be a lie (too late, though, it had spread virally). What did happen was someone affiliated to the white nationalist cause went to a magistrate to get a warrant issued for "unlawful wounding." There was a video taken before the beating. White nationalists have slowed the video down and cropped it to say that the wounded man assaulted a white man carrying a flag by swinging a flashlight (or 'club') and hit him in the head. Others say the video is not clear and the man had been defending himself against the man with the flag who was trying to use it as a spear against the crowd. They then point out that "even if he did swing the flashlight, does that justify being beaten by a mob to the point he required hospitalization?"
The city council meeting that week was swarmed with protesters screaming that "Cops = KKK." Eventually, the council members did call the police. The police let the protesters county to chant and yell at them for 20 minutes before they declared, "Get out."
The fall out continues as police, courts, and individuals pour through photos and videos of what happened that day. This came out on Friday, too.
What are your final thoughts?
This post is nowhere near comprehensive or even unbiased. I tried to include some reasons and counter-reasons to illustrate the conflicts, but I wasn't about to post links to any white nationalist sites and risk giving them ad revenue either.
Personally, I find the white nationalist and KKK agenda abhorrent and the work of evil. Ironically (for them), the protests against removing the statues may have accelerated the demise of other Confederate statues. I don't think it's right for counter-protesters to rage and throw bricks at them (kill them with kindness if you can) especially when you're claiming the moral right. However, it's really easy for me to see why someone would be angry that the Nazis were advocating for the removal and killing of large groups of people (At one point does someone telling you, "I hope you die and I'd love to be the one who does it" lost free speech status? When does it become domestic terrorism?). I hope that the more the white nationalists are out in the light that it will extinguish their movement.
It's more proof to me that the world needs Jesus. I ask the Lord to use me to serve others for His glory every day of my life and that Shane will grow up in an America that truly believes we are "One nation under God," and seeks to live out, "Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free."
I ask again, please don't post this anywhere else or link people I don't know here. These are my thoughts in case my relatives out of state are curious about what's happened. I don't have the time to tell the same story over and over again and I'm not sure I even did it justice writing an unplanned rough draft out here.
TL:DR? However it started, the crazies have a target they've decided on. It's Charlottesville. Lord protect us all.
You better move to Greenville!
ReplyDeleteYour comments were well written. And I agree the world needs Jesus!
Love,
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