Many protesters are being identified by named and outted on the internet as White Supremacists and those that are employed seem to find themselves now unemployed.
Now, these protests seem to be over the the removal of the Robert E. Lee statue.
Everyone does have the First Amendment right to free speech, including hate speech. However, there are some limitations. Such as, you can't yell fire in a crowded theater. We also have the right to PEACEFULLY assemble or protest. So, where do we draw the lines between what we allow and what we don't?
One of the counter protests, someone drove their car into the crowd, killing one and injuring many others. So, while reading countless news articles on the subject, I came across one where a local Grand Master said he is GLAD a woman died!
The article was from The Charlotte Observer. (You can read the full article here: http://www.charlotteobserver.com/news/local/article167303682.html)
The article in part says:
Monday night, Justin Moore, the Grand Dragon for the Loyal White Knights of Ku Klux Klan, said he was glad Heyer died in the attack.
“I’m sorta glad that them people got hit and I’m glad that girl died,” Moore said in a voicemail to WBTV. “They were a bunch of Communists out there protesting against somebody’s freedom of speech, so it doesn’t bother me that they got hurt at all.”
“I think we’re going to see more stuff like this happening at white nationalist events,” Moore warned.
The Trump family and the Vice President all condemned the protests and the behavior. While many disagree on what and when President Trump made his statements.
So where do we draw the line?
We should draw the line at hate speech and hateful actions. So, no Nazi/any confederate flags (battle or "main" flags), no racial slurs/comments/or jokes, no antisemitic slurs/comments/or jokes or anything similar.
I do believe that such history should still be taught in schools, museums and/or historical societies. And up to each historical society/museum if they want artifacts or flags in their displays about that time period or event in history. Because, after all, it IS apart of history, but shouldn't be "promoted" by any form of government (local, state or federal), such as, Confederate Battle Flags flown from government buildings or on public property (for example, the town green/town center).
I don't mind people having pride of where they are from, such as, being proud of their Irish heritage and join clubs or organizations for those that are Irish, as long as they aren't promoting hate. Or being proud to be an American or anything similar to these examples. As long as NO hate or violence is being promoted or accepted.
So in conclusion, I DO NOT agree with these Neo-Nazis, Alt-Left, KKK or any other hate group. I believe these have no place in society. At the end of the day, in the words of my great-grandmother "you rip away our skin and we are all red." We all the same. Pigmentation of ones skin is only skin deep, beauty is skin deep. Lets all learn from each other, ACTUALLY LISTEN to each other and learn from our past and move forward united not divided.