Here are five actions to take regarding the neo-Nazi violence in Charlottesville, Virginia this weekend.
Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
1. Donate to one or more of the following:
- C-ville Victim Relief GoFundMe for the medical and other expenses of the victims of James Alex Fields, who killed Heather Heyer and injured around 20 others with his car
- GoFundMe for the medical expenses of Dre Harris, the black man brutally beaten by white supremacists
- the Charlottesville chapter of the NAACP
- the Charlottesville chapter of Black Lives Matter
- the Charlottesville chapter of Showing Up for Racial Justice (SURJ)
- IMPACT Cville (an interfaith pro-social justice org)
2. Attend any anti-racist/solidarity rallies in your area.
3. Be ready to protest any upcoming neo-Nazi/white-supremacist/alt-right rallies in your area.
4. Do not let yourself go into denial about what is happening. It’s very easy right now to look at groups of white supremacists marching with Nazi flags, giving Nazi salutes, and chanting Nazi slogans, and just mentally check out because it’s too much to deal with and it doesn’t directly affect you. It’s very easy to see Trump, who has viciously insulted virtually every other group and individual imaginable, refuse to outright condemn neo-Nazi violence, and think, “There’s no way the president of the United States could really be pro-Nazi, is there?” Please don’t, especially if you’re white. When you go into denial and say things like, “Oh, they don’t really mean it, they’re just trying to shock people,” or, “These people are on the fringes, they can’t do that much damage,” you’re doing exactly what the white supremacists want. (In fact, here’s a screenshot of them explicitly saying so.)
5. Be very clear, in your social circles and on social media, that you consider being a white supremacist shameful, unacceptable and inexcusable. Say loud and proud that you’re against white supremacy, neo-Nazis, the KKK and the alt-right. Say that it’s shameful Trump won’t condemn them. Memorialise and honour Heather Heyer, who gave her life protesting them. Per the aforementioned screenshot, neo-Nazis deliberately try to keep their real goals secret in order not to scare normal people away. They’re afraid of social opinion turning against them. So turn social opinion against them.
This piece originally appeared in Lauren O’Neal’s email newsletter Activism for Non-Activists. It is reprinted here with permission.
Comments
6 responses to “Five Things You Can Do In The Wake Of The White Supremacist Attacks In Charlottesville”
6. Completely ignore any violent actions by Left activists. If a white supremist is attacked by a mob of antifa & they dare to retaliate to protect themselves then attack them with sticks, rocks, bricks, whatever is at hand then tell MSM or Lifehacker you were simply being aprt of the good guys.
Did that happen?
It happened! But it has been completely ignored by mainstream media.
Oh. Nazis are all good then. Carry on
@Antina – Nazis are never good and associating yourself with nazis should be heavily frowned apon by society, however in this case both sides were perpetrators in the violence. Condemning one side only validates the side that wasnt condemned.
7. Spread false accusations on Lifehacker that Trump refused to condemn the attacks when he actually condemned violence on all sides.