The country watched in horror this weekend as “alt-right,” white supremacist radical groups bombarded the city of Charlottesville, Virginia, with one mission: division, destruction and hate.
The crusade left 35 injured and 3 dead.
In the 2017 age of social media, millions were watching live as history unfolded. Then, like we do, immediately responded with our virtual presence, a heart-felt post and call for action.
I’ve agreed with what I’m seeing a lot of people post. Love beats hate. Love is the answer. Love wins. Beat them with love. We (white people) don’t stand behind this group. These are radicals.
These are all true statements, but words alone aren’t moving us forward.
What are we really doing to change this?
You’re going to teach your kids how to love everyone no matter the color of their skin, their social background, or their religion/ethnicity? I think you need to, but is it easier to love something distant from you or something close to you? Here’s a tough question… does the group of people you surround yourself with look about as diverse as the group of people that were marching with torches on Saturday? What about at your church? What about the people your children are surrounded by?
If you’re anything like me, things affect you more, and your emotions are more involved with people and events that are physically and emotionally closer to you. How many of you are broken about the ongoing migrant crisis in Africa and the middle east? Over 5,000 people died trying to cross the Mediterranean last year. If there was a place that 5,000 Americans died trying to escape slavery and poverty would your heart react differently to it?
It’s easy to talk and say that love is needed in these situations. But, when we aren’t close enough to the situation, it’s easy to leave it at words. The real solution to this problem is to create diversity where we can.