On Inauguration Day, a known white supremacist, Richard Spencer, was punched by an unknown protester while being interviewed. Since then, an ongoing debate about the morals behind punching Nazis and the like has gone on. Spencer claimed during the interview pre-punch and at other times that he is not a Nazi or a racist, despite leading fellow white supremacists in a Nazi salute and chanting "Hail Trump!", among other extremely offensive acts. The debate regarding the morals over punching a Nazi has taken form in memes, interviews with ethicists, Twitter fights, and even opinion articles here on The Odyssey. And here's another!

I'm a full-blooded Jew. I am also physically disabled and LGBTQ. Adolf Hitler or Josef Mengele would probably take one look at me and wet himself. I am lucky enough to have been raised in a very Jewish area in which anti-semitism, should it ever occur, would never be considered "okay" or "free speech." If a Nazi rally took place in my neighborhood, I bet there would be some punches thrown. Hatred of Jews is not an "opinion." It is a harmful prejudice. There is no place in this country for that, despite an unsettling amount of people making room for it. Hatred of Nazis is not an opinion or a prejudice. Everyone should be against Nazism, but they're not. These days, they're way too open to it. But I'm not having it.

Nazis killed over six million Jews, and over two hundred fifty thousand disabled people. The number of gay people killed is unknown because their persecution was not studied because it hadn't ended for a long, long time. Still, Nazis have targeted pretty much every aspect of my identity. My great-great grandparents did not come to this country for that to continue.

I have not committed many acts of physical violence in the past. I have purposefully hit three people in 18 years on this earth. Once when I was five over a fight with a friend, once when I was 11 in self-defense, and once when I was 15 after a boy who had frequently harassed me in the past threw a Frisbee at my chest without warning. I don't regret any of those times, though. After the incident when I was 15, that boy stayed far away from me and never gave me any more trouble. Violence is never the answer, but neither is genocide. Which is worse: punching a hateful person for spreading hate or mass murdering a group of innocent people because you don't like them? I'm going to go with the latter.

If I were in that situation near Richard Spencer, realistically I probably would not have punched him. I certainly would have screamed and spat at him. But if a neo-Nazi were addressing me with their hateful agenda, I might punch them. If a neo-Nazi punched me, I would most certainly fight back with everything that I have. I don't think that punching Richard Spencer was the best and only response to the situation, but when I saw that video I cracked up and replayed it. I thought for a long time whether I would do the same. The answer I came to is that it's possible.

Richard Spencer is white, straight, and non-Jewish. He was born into privilege. He has never been persecuted for existing. He persecutes others for existing. The same people who are defending him by saying he has the right to free speech and shouldn't have been punched are quite often the same people who defend cops for killing Eric Garner, Michael Brown, Tamir Rice, Alton Sterling, and an atrocious amount of others.

I realize as I think about it that I am condoning violence, just like Nazis and their like. But I do it for justice instead of hatred. Justice for relatives that were in the Holocaust. Justice for my ancestors who lived in an anti-semetic world. Justice for every single non-white, non-gentile, disabled, LGBTQ+ person. These groups of people live in a prejudiced world that seems to be out to get us. Punching prejudiced people is most certainly not the way to end it. I wouldn't encourage people to punch Nazis and their like. There are tons of other ways to fight them without violence. But loudly prejudiced people don't feel real pain, just unreasonable hatred. How can we make them realize what it feels like to be attacked physically for existing? In the real world where not everything is righteous, a punch kind of does the trick, at least in my opinion. It's not the best thing to do, but it's bold, brave, and obviously got everyone thinking.

Prejudice like this has no place in this country. I dream of a future where it is eradicated, at least for the most part. It's on us. If you disagree with punching Nazis, that is most certainly your right. Still, you must do your part to make a better future for everyone with nonviolence.