I feel like I shouldn't have to be celebrating the fact that 1,000 counterprotestors outnumbered 50 Ku Klux Klan members at their recent rally in Charlottesville, Va. But this sort of thing doesn't just go away if it's ignored.

It's a question of which side of history you want to be on. Do you want to be silent in the face of daily hatred and brutality? Do you want to carry Confederate flags like the KKK? Do you want to protest the removal of Confederate generals like Robert E. Lee like the KKK? Or, even further, do you want to support our president like the KKK? Personally, I don't want anything to do with this domestic terrorist group. I feel like that should be common knowledge.

This is the question I have for the Charlottesville and Virginia state police: what side of history do you want to be on? Tear gassing threatened citizens while escorting and protecting terrorists? The choice for justice is clear.

The only option is to speak up, to oppose. As one anti-Klan protestor, Precious Williams, said at the rally, "I believe that if you just stay silent, nothing gets done."

This rally is not an issue of free speech. The organization's speech threatens African American lives. It is historically terroristic and genocidal.

Your rights end where mine begin.

I cannot support your free speech if it shackles others. If your speech is threatening someone's life, liberty and/or pursuit of happiness, it's indefensible. Opposing, and even banning, hate demonstrations like KKK rallies is not a slippery slope. It protects Americans from terrorism.