Charlottesville

I've seen plenty of things that have shocked me in my 27 years of life. Columbine,9/11, Aurora, numerous terrorist attacks around the world and one right here in Chattanooga. The march of white supremacists in Charlottesville yesterday can be added to that list. Grieving over the lives of children and people killed in a terrorist attack is one thing, this was a whole new type of grief. I sit and watch people decry abortion as they rightly should, but this happens and nothing. We cannot call out murder and ignore people calling for the death of anyone that isn't white.

One of my best friends and I were texting back and forth this morning and he said indifference is no longer an option. Here's the thing, it never was. People always have and will continue to choose to do nothing but it isn't really an option. You are either for or against something. Being indifferent doesn't exist as an option. I could ask you how you felt about coffee and your answer would tell me how you felt about it. We have to have an opinion, for or against, there isn't a middle ground. As I watched videos and news conferences of the tragedy in Charlottesville I wondered just how many people are going to ignore this and write it off. I'm not saying you aren't entitled to your beliefs because I've got mine and there are plenty that the world at large don't agree with. I'm saying you have to feel something about this.

One of the saddest aspects of all of this is that people actually hold to the belief that anyone that isn't white doesn't deserve to live. I like history, I especially enjoy war history. Last time I checked schools taught that we fought a man named Adolf Hitler who believed these things. How in just a few generations do we go from trying to stop a man who reigned terror throughout Europe killing Jews, and anyone that wasn't his idea of a model human to marching to his beliefs? How can you be American and spout the very ideals people bled and died to stop? We can't just let people spout the same hatred and let it ride.

We must stand up. We must speak out. We must call it what it is. White supremacy is racism.The R word exists, it never went away. This isn't the subtle racism that hides behind a keyboard or is disguised as words muttered under breath. Yesterday was in your face, deadly, hatred. It was racism for sure and it can be called that, but the root was surely nothing but hate. It must stop. As a nation, as a people, as a community this isn't okay. We can't see each other this way. Our blood runs red. We are different, yes, but those differences should be celebrated not shamed. I'm getting really tired of hearing 'I'm colorblind.' Don't be. But isn't that racist? Nope. Racism is treating someone different because of the color of their skin. Racism is not seeing a person for who they are in all attributes, physically and not, that's called celebrating the fact that God didn't use a cookie cutter to make us.

I'm a red-headed, sort of pale (burn like a lobster with too much sun) white male. I do not know what it is like to be a black man, woman, or child. I do not know what it's like to be Asian,Middle Eastern,Hispanic or any other ethnicity. I only understand what it means to be white and I will not disrespect you by pretending to know what you are going through. But, I will say I hurt with and for you.

I've got brothers and sisters who have death threats thrown at them, slurs hurled from mouths of people who hate them, and physical violence acted upon them because their skin is not like mine. That is not okay. As someone who wants to adopt in the future who will likely not be the father of children who look like me, this weekend scares me, it grieves me. This is a depth of hatred I've not really seen until now. It needs to be condemned. It needs to be stopped. We stand up, we speak up, change won't happen until that happens.