I was appalled by the alleged “Unite the Right” gathering in Charlottesville, Virginia. What organizers claimed was an event to bring people together about white plight, was a thinly veiled threat against all who disagree with them. It didn’t take long for that veil to be pulled away and their true colors to show.
Like many others, I believe wholeheartedly in free speech. At times, I would say I’m nearly a First Amendment fundamentalist. But free speech requires responsibility. And free assembly requires temperance. The would-be avengers of the alleged oppression of white men donning assault rifles and chanting racist slogans clearly want to dominate the rest of us while they get special free passes. They are not welcome in Ferguson Township as far as I and many others are concerned.
Last weekend, a community was plunged into hateful turmoil. I recognize the deep history of slavery and the illegitimate Civil War that took root in Charlottesville. I also see that it was coupled to the most enlightened ideals that founded this county and gave us free and fair education and the belief that all men–and eventually women–are created equal. All people are owed the dignity and the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Not just disgruntled white men.
Every person should be disturbed by the malice that reigns in some people’s minds. They formed a mob that turned a man in a car into a weapon. He became the American equivalent of the jihadists that the so-called “alt-right” decry. They have tried to claim that immigrants, refugees, and Muslims are savages and terrorists only. But these men, bent on race wars, are the lighter fluid and the match in a hoped-for clash of civilizations. Hellbent on identity politics, they seek to rip us asunder from within. We won’t let them.
Our deepest sympathies go out to the people who were brutalized and attacked. Heather Heyer was killed for no reason other than her commitment to loving her neighbor as herself. She joins martyrs who have given their lives to bring blacks and whites together and to heal our nation’s racist history. Though tragic, their lives can make each of us better. They must.
Here in central Pennsylvania, we are blessed with a tight-knit community. But do we know our neighbors? Do we love them as ourselves? Do we look in the mirror, name our own problems, and resolve to fight for good? Do we confront bigotry at work, at church, at school, and down on the corner? I hope so. I know that I have and always will. I know that we on Ferguson Township’s board of supervisors believe that we are a community that welcomes all no matter your color, your creed, sexual orientation, or nation of origin.
You are welcome here because in Ferguson Township, we stand for justice & love.
Peter Walks for Democracy 