No serious person thought that in 2016 our country had left white supremacy behind. But until November 8 we were clearly making slow, painful progress toward that ideal. It’s harder to see that now when there are nazis in our streets and our president tells us that being against racism is just as bad as racism itself.
But we are in the streets too. They killed one of us in Charlottesville and hundreds of thousands stood up to take her place in solidarity rallies across the country. We also—and today, for once, “we” includes many Republicans—eventually compelled our president to denounce his white supremacist supporters. It’s disgusting that he had to be compelled, but at least we were able to compel him.
With powerful forces dragging us backward, we have no choice but to become even stronger to keep moving forward. Luckily our righteous anger only increases our strength. We can no longer afford to ignore this minority of hatemongers. We are mightier than their small minds can imagine. We will drown out their noise in the streets and continue to supplant their violence and bigotry with kindness and justice.
