So there I was minding my own business, wondering if there was a shower hot enough to boil the ick off my crawling skin after deciding presidential candidate Donald Trump sounded vaguely reasonable on some issues (Planned
Parenthood and Social Security), when stories and video of a Ku Klux Klan rally in Anaheim started coming across social media. Next thing I know I’m feeling sorry for white supremacists and anger, sadness and dismay toward the people counter protesting the Klan rally.
The anxiety I felt as I watched video of counter protestors surrounding an SUV of arriving Klansmen gave way, momentarily, to amusement as footage later showed the vehicle speeding away, leaving behind a few white supremacists running after it.
The amusement quickly turned to horror and then revulsion as a group of counter protestors chased after one of the men who had fallen to the ground and started beating him.
Beating someone because they express a belief is not acceptable.
It was not acceptable when civil rights supporters were beat by police and white supremacists during peaceful protests in the ’60s.
It was not acceptable when young men and women were attacked during Occupy protests almost five years ago.
Beating someone because they have a different way of thinking than you do is not acceptable. It seems like the point is so obvious it need not be stated.
But there they were, pummeling a man with fists and feet, threatening him with wooden stakes. To what end? I’d be stunned if any one of those white guys changed his attitude toward non-whites because he got kicked upside the head.
To me that does not suggest compassion or a higher moral ground.
To be clear: I would not vote for Donald Trump for president of the United States even if he was running against his musical equivalent Kanye West —though I could be persuaded to stump for Trump if his opponent was one particular member of the Chula Vista City Council.
Nor would I ever subscribe to the small-minded philosophy espoused by the Klan or any other hate group.
But I will unapologetically and, hopefully, unflinchingly argue, defend and advocate for their right to express their repugnant ideology without fear of being violently — physically — attacked.
Should the Klan have anticipated they would have elicited that sort of reaction from demonstrators? Sadly, they probably did and the violent reception they received will bolster the idea that they are the true victims, thus creating more division among us.
And it also prompted me to, in this instance, feel sympathy for people I would rather avoid.
There aren’t enough showers to wash off the ick I’m feeling this week.
