I hear it several times a week.
"We must fight racism with love! We shouldn't be trying to silence people because they have opinions that differ from ours!"
These statements are idiotic. Super idiotic. The "fight racism with love" part is troublesome because the statement assumes that racist people will stop hating black people if people(especially black people) show them enough love and adoration. While showing love to despicable beings might have worked in How the Grinch Stole Christmas, this is real life. My local neighborhood racist won't have their heart grow 2 sizes bigger if I'm kind to them. Generally, they're too being hating my guts to notice the positive sentiment. Besides being unrealistic, statements like "fight racism with love" also place blame on the affected community. People who say this are basically blaming the marginalized community for being unjustly hated. News flash: there isn't anything I can do to change those people's minds! Acting as if they don't wish evil upon me doesn't particularly address the issue. The sad truth: nothing you do will make those people change their minds. Logic doesn't change your opinion when you came to the conclusion through an illogical means.
As for the "We shouldn't be trying to silence people because they have opinions that differ from ours!" statement? Sigh. Where do I begin? This isn't an issue of differing opinions. It's one thing to favor white cats over black cats. It's a totally different thing to value white lives more than black ones. Watching people defend these viewpoints is sickening. The most unfortunate part of the whole deal is that the defense of these problematic statements most often come from liberal white people. The people who are supposed to be allies in the fight often side with the enemy, whether they realize it or not. Being a principled person doesn't always mean that you protect "free speech". Sometimes, being a principled person means that when someone advocates for the "peaceful ethnic cleansing" of black people(https://www.splcenter.org/fighting-hate/extremist-... ), you make sure they know that they are unwelcome to spew such hatred and bigotry in our society. When people start actively advocating for genocide, we shouldn't be trying to protect "free speech." We fought one war to get rid of Nazis. Don't let them feel welcome here.
