Under the Rock

Let’s face it, they have been there for a very long time.

“They”, the haters, the bigots, the racists have been under the rock for a very long time.  These people will come out from time to time.  They will march.  They will chant slogans.  They will, sometimes, cover themselves with white sheets and pointy white hats.

Perhaps they are hiding pointy little heads beneath those hats.  Who knows?

Sometimes they wear veils with little slits for eyes.  Ironic, isn’t it, that they look like women wearing burqas and abayas.  And these haters really hate those women who wear these clothes.

They hate Jews.  Boy oh boy, do these haters ever hate Jews.  They don’t hate Jesus, though, because they are good Christians.  Hey, guys, hiding your pointy little heads in white sheets, just in case you forgot or never bothered to find out…Jesus was Jewish.

From time to time these white hooded haters will march in one city or another.  This time around the haters decided to march, and quite openly  so, in Charlottesville, Virginia.  This beautiful town is the home of the University of Virginia. The core campus was designed by Thomas Jefferson, visionary, president of the United States, signer of the Declaration of Independence.

Michael Signer is the mayor of this beautiful town.  He is a Jew.  Maybe that’s why the Nazis and the KKK wanted to march there.  Certainly they did not come to object to the removal of the Robert E Lee monument.  There he was, Robert E Lee, on horseback, and the town decided that the statue represented something no longer relevant to Charlottesville.

Doctor (PhD) W. Bellamy is Vice Mayor of Charlottesville, VA.  He spoke so very eloquently when the media interviewed him about the haters who descended upon his town this past weekend.  Those haters seemed to have done some serious homework.  Doctor Bellamy is a black man.  Mister Signer is Jewish.  Nazis and KKK haters had found their perfect storm, and they even threatened to burn down Beth El, a Reform Synagogue in Charlottesville.  Do you think that all of these haters came to protest the removal of the statue of Robert E Lee?

Some of these haters were able to stand opposite this Jewish house of worship (the synagogue’s name means House of G-d) with semi-automatic weapons.  Charlottesville VA, like most places in Virginia, allows the open carrying of guns.

And so, carrying torches, just like the Nazis did prior to WWII, and just like the KKK for so many decades, chanting their hatred “Jews will not replace us” and “Blood and Soil” these haters surrounded St Paul’s Memorial Church this past Friday.  Police urged those inside the church not to leave and once those people were given the “OK” to leave, it was only via a side entrance.

The next day, dressed for “battle” these haters carried out the violence they came for on the campus of the university.

So as I said, this hate and these haters, the Nazis, the KKK, the “let’s make this place white again” folks, they’ve been around in the USA for a very long time.  However, with true leadership, strong rhetoric denouncing these haters from the President of the US on down, they have mostly stayed under their rock.  From time to time they crawl out.  The bright light of leadership, the united voices of acceptance, respect and love inevitably force these vile creatures to retreat back to under their rock.

It does not seem to be the case, however, this time under 45.

By not condemning these haters in the strongest of terms, by not stating clearly and unequivocally that there is NO PLACE in the US for this kind of bigotry and hatred, 45 has emboldened them.

It is not enough to pay some kind of lip service to their condemnation.

There is need for the leadership of the President, the Congress, the Governors and the Mayors, speaking with clarity and unity to condemn these haters in the strongest of terms.  For the good of the nation.  For the future generations to come.  For our standing in the world.