It is a strange world we are living in, it feels like 2017 is just a blast from the past, and I have had some time to really reflect on the recent events in Charlottesville, VA. I have always tried my best to understand any given argument, reasoning with logic. I have had time to think about the atrocities.

Race -- in the eyes of the Smithsonian, and the eyes of almost all other scientific entities -- is a social structure. There is nothing fundamentally different about one race or another. Race is not real, it is a construct. Everyone has bones, muscles, bladders, hearts, eyes, and brains. We all have a pulse. We are all human. That is the only race. However, in the eyes of some people, who feel as though they are the backbone of all of humanity, race is a matter of stature, a matter of superiority and inferiority, and a matter of violence. But the history of race and the issues that people are facing are not issues of the past, it seems that they are very much alive and present in societies.

It is apparent that within America’s present culture that there is another rising of White Supremacy that is getting more dangerous by the year. Race is a sensitive issue, an issue that is difficult to talk about but the conversations must continue because it is imperative to resolve these issues. The Neo-Nazi’s feel as though America is forgetting its history, and that the integrity of history is being threatened. Unfortunately, what they fail to comprehend is that America has a different set of histories that are often pushed aside and ignored because they are not white history. America wasn’t a land purely founded on religious freedom, but freedom for all. Freedom to live in a society with cultures that are different but accepted. History is not one sided, history is not a matter of one “race” or another. It is a matter of fact. The fact is that across history, the people who are not of Caucasian descent have faced significant discrepancies, unfair treatment, and outward xenophobic behavior. The fear of other is not inherent but rather, it is taught.

Many studies are done on children, notably, by Eva Telzer (an Assistant Professor of Psychology). She received her Ph.D. in developmental psychology from UCLA and studies of the amygdala sensitivity in the brains of adolescents. Amygdala sensitivity is a brain structure correlated with sentiment and, particularly, with the recognition of threats. Tezler discovered that the sensitivity in children only generated a response starting at the age of 14, where significant emotional knowledge would have been the only reason for this kind of response to be elicited.

The more diverse a child’s peer group is as a child, the less sensitivity in the amygdala. This study only further proves the inherent and disgusting behavior of racists is taught. With exposure, a diverse society is harmonious, and pretending that the ignorance and downright refusal to understand other cultures is okay or normal, and trying to give it an excuse is repulsive.

Leader of the White Nationalists, Christopher Cantwell, believes that there should be an ethno-centric state, that he hopes more people will die before he is done with his mission, he is tired of “black on white violence” and calls African Americans animals, he critisizes Trump for “giving his daughter to a Jew” and furthermore, Cantwell cries in a video because he is “trying to save [his] race and nation.” Cantwell made threats, harmed others, and was heavily armed in Charlottesville, finding the murder of Heather Heyes to be justified. He expects his fellow comrades to follow the same ideals, and he expects that wearing a swastika and calling himself a Nazi makes him superbly American. The same America that fought against and freed both Jews and POC alike from the grasps of Hitler himself, that is the America Cantwell is talking about. The long history for fighting for freedom and equality can’t just halt it’s progress because some people feel as though the history and culture of white people is threatened.The only history ever told is about the “victories” of the white people in this country, but we forget that history has two sides, and for every “victory,” there is immense suffering and atrocities.

The minorities of this country have always lived under a microscope and with unfair -- and frankly racist -- disparities. As a group with privilege, it is uncalled for to start whining when fair and equal opportunities are given to minorities. They try to say they worked hard for what they have accomplished, and that all may be true, but they also have never had to face any type of racism, and that is what people with white privilege fail to acknowledge. For every ounce of work a white male does, a POC male has to put in thrice the effort because they must overcome a system that is betting against them, intended to keep them down. Cantwell and his followers try their best to take the attention away from these hardworking individuals who are trying to beat a flawed system and be treated as human beings, and whines on and on about how white people are treated unfairly, and how being a Nazi is hard because no one wants to listen him, and how hard his life is. The Black Lives Matter movement is not about trying to be recognized for working hard, it is trying to put an end to systemic racism. The Neo-Nazi movement is trying to sweep that racism under the rug and get rid of all the “animals and Jews,” to have a “peaceful, non-racist, all white” society. Fundamentally, they want to destroy the very mission America set out to achieve. This grandiose infiltration of Nazi ideals is ultimately detrimental and preposterously un-American in the simple notion of removing diversity. If Cantwell wants to call POC “animals” but refuses to acknowledge his part in the violence that occurs, then he is vastly out of his league in the terms of his knowledge of current events and history.

It is the hope of the these hate groups to create some sort of equivalent in leftist politics, but such extremes are not easily found. Anyone can easily talk about the Antifas and the violence they would like to incite against these hate groups, but to think that the majority of people support the violent outbursts of these proportions make it evident that if you are not choosing a side, if you are remaining neutral or silent, then it is clear that you have chosen to let hate take the reigns but not supporting those who oppose it. If you do not feel strongly enough about not letting the ideals of Nazi’s rise, then you are have chosen the side of hate, and you are on the wrong side of freedom. As William Faulkner once said, “Silence encourages the tormentor, not the tormented.” Neutrality in this situation is just empowering the already powerful and taking away power from those who need it to resolve the issues within their own communities.

The events in Charlottesville are an exemplification of the immense damage racism can do, it shows that racism is not just something in the past, but it is very much alive and it is growing stronger every day. Charlottesville proves that the left was not wrong about Trump: his statements incite violence and embolden racists to take more risks, ban together, and create bigger and more intrepid acts to generate substantial amounts of power to an already powerful group. Violence and the backlash of violence are not an open invitation nor the basis for blame to be placed on “both sides.” There is an intrinsic contrast between fighting for equality versus fighting for the exclusions of diverse individuals so-as to have an ethno-centric state.

Violence isn’t an answer, but throughout the history of America, it is sometimes a step the people have to be willing to take in order to create a change. People lost their lives trying to fight for their independence, against slavery, against racism before, and this present moment will go down in history, and being on the right side of it is important because hate will never win. We are fundamentally drawn together by the need to carry on our species and we are all one species whether or not we look the same or look different. The evolution of people to adapt to the areas they lived is not something that should define who is human and who is not, everyone is human. The religions that people chose the follow is about their own system of beliefs, and it is not our place to cast judgements. If we continue to remain silent then that silence speaks volumes. Stand up for what is right, walk away from the ideals of the past, embrace the diverse culture that America stands for, that was written in our constitution. Humans are humans and to attempt to make them anything less if barbaric.