On Friday, August 11th, 2017, Black Lives Matter-ers and Antifa (an anti-fascist and anti-racist group) stormed the University of Virginia campus in Charlottesville, VA by the hundreds, with lit tiki torches in hand, chanting phrases such as “black power!” and “whose streets? Our streets!” and “you will not replace us!” They were met by a group of about 30 white nationalist students, peacefully protesting with signs claiming that white lives matter. The BLM terrorists threw their torches at the students and began shoving and punching. Shockingly, the police were nowhere to be found, except for one university police officer.

The next day, the racial hatred and chaos continued, with BLM and Antifa terrorists gathering in the park where the rally was to be held. They arrived armed to the teeth with shields, clubs, BLM flags, helmets, pistols, rifles, and shouting anti-white slogans. The BLM/Antifa group looked like a militia that was ready for war, but the white nationalists also arrived ready to fight, with sticks. With the two groups barricaded and shouting obscenities at each other, the only thing that could prevent an all out war would be police intervention.

As the white nationalist counter-protesters formed a line in the street, the BLM/Antifa group attacked first, charging at the white nationalists with sticks, police tear gas, mace, and other various weapons. The white nationalists fought back by also swinging sticks and throwing balloons filled with paint or ink. Still no sign of the police.

This racially motivated violence ensued throughout the day and the Governor of Virginia even issued a state of emergency. The police remained unmoved.

The BLM/Antifa ralliers even threw lit flares at reporters and beat up any white person that came their way, just for being white. By this point, the police had shown up to make arrests. But the brutality had already given way to countless injuries. And then, by the afternoon, a young black man intentionally drove a car into a crowd of white people, killing one and leaving 19 injured. Luckily, he wasn’t treated to Burger King on his way to jail.

President Trump took quite a few hours to respond to the events of the day, which is unusual for him. Normally when an anti-racist movement acts criminally and exhibits violence toward opposing groups, he has his Twitter app open, at the ready, calling the offenders domestic terrorists in less than 140 characters. When he finally did comment, he said that the display of bigotry was condemned on many sides, not pointing the blame at one specific group. This was definitely considered a victory for the BLM/Antifa hate group, considering they got away with a slap on the wrist and only half the blame, as the president expressed.

Sounds incredible, doesn’t it? Actually, quite unbelievable. That’s because that’s not what happened. In fact, the exact opposite happened. White supremacists, KKK members, and neo-Nazis charged the streets of Charlottesville, attacking clergy members and members of the Black Lives Matter and Antifa movements, while the police looked on. And President Trump didn’t denounce the neo-Nazis without also denouncing the counter-protesters, who were there to stand up against hate. This does not only count as a victory for the neo-Nazis, but it is inspiration for them to continue hurting, hating, and killing.

Watching from afar, this whole day sickened and disturbed me. But what really, really, really bothered me was that the white supremacists were dressed like a militia, strapped with actual guns, and said things like “we’ll kill [the counter-protesters] if we have to” and the police stood by. If the narrative I outlined above were true, the rally wouldn’t have even survived past Friday night’s event because the entire campus would’ve been flooded with police, ready to arrest any BLM or anti-racist groups that started hurling torches.

And therein lies the huge disparity between the “many sides.”

One side was racist, anti-semitic (and proud of it) and threw torches at people and the other side were members of the community speaking out against discrimination and racism.

To put both sides on the same moral plane shows that Trump is completely devoid of a moral compass.

And for those of you who still choose to believe that there’s a gray area and that Trump made some good points in his Tuesday press conference, look, I know no one’s a slave owner today, but if you’re in support of Confederate leader statues remaining standing, you are still acting as the oppressor and you have to accept that. And if you believe it’s wrong to change the way we view history, ask yourself what side of history you’re on right now. Because the issue this time was a statue, but at its core, this racial tension in America is not about a statue; it goes much deeper than that. So really ask yourself if you want to stand up against injustice or if you want to perpetuate it. You don’t have to attend the next Black Lives Matter protest or even be a leftist, but you do have to think about how you want your kids and your grandkids to remember the side you took and the choices you made during this time of racial turmoil.