This editorial column written by Maria McCoy was previously published in the print edition of The GRIP.
I have seen post after post on social media regarding the removal of the General Lee statue in Charlottesville. Many people are glossing over the real issue and focusing on the statue removal. If you look to Facebook, you’ll likely see all sorts of memes addressing that issue. I’ll tell you what you won’t see – memes telling protestors that there would be others there to protest them, but everyone that could do it is at work.
You know I’m right, so quit shaking your head. When the Black Lives Matter Movement sends protestors that is what people say. You see multiple comments from various sources implying that the BLM protestors are all unemployed and living off welfare.
Why aren’t we seeing that now with the protests in Charlottesville? Because the protestors are white. That is the very ugly truth of it. As a society, we have told ourselves that racism no longer exists because we had a black president, and yet at the same time, as a society, we have allowed ourselves to believe that black people are less.
That black people live primarily off welfare. The “ghetto” or the “projects” is where black people live. That black people all have weird names. That black people do not have jobs. That black people are not as smart as white people. That black e all gang members. That black people aren’t clean.
And then there are the things you don’t say, but feel. How you feel flabbergasted when a black person drives by in a nice car and your brain tells you it’s because they are all drug dealers. Or when you see a successful black person and you get upset because they are making it and you are barely scraping by. You get irritated and even angry. You do this because you have been conditioned to by a society that would prefer to make you that racism no longer exists.
Stop believing the lies that society is selling you because it makes you feel better about how black people are treated in America. You may not be racist, but society is, and the ideals you have learned from society are as well.
Every time you make one of the above statements, or any other statement regarding any race, you are displaying racism, and it would be remiss of me to forget ANTIFA. Antifa is an alt left group that shows up specifically to incite violence in the name of “protesting oppression.” These people are also hateful, despicable members of our society who show up and counterprotest anything that is considered right wing, assaulting others and leaving thousands of dollars in property damage in their wake. They are not your friends. They are not standing up for the oppressed. They are simply there to stir the pot to bring even more discord throughout our society.
These most recent protests aren’t because the statue is being removed. That’s just the cover story they are using to propagate their agenda. That’s the broad story that people are using to garner support from Trump fans. The narrow version, and the one most people are overlooking, is that these are white supremacists.
They aren’t conservative protestors objecting to liberal agendas. They aren’t Republican protestors. These are white people, wearing hoods and Nazi symbols, using our President and his supporters to spread hate. These are not good people. Not one of them could possibly be good because they have hate in their heart.
We have protestors using the Nazi salute that hailed Hitler. Do you want to sit here and tell me Hitler was good? Do you want to associate with someone who thinks Hitler was a swell guy? Of course not, because you are not racist. Well, your heart isn’t, but your actions are. Your brain is because you have bought into the Kool-Aid society is selling.
So, why are you allowing liberal news media sources like Fox News and CNN to influence how you react in the face of inherent hate? Stop doing this. Stop responding exactly how the media wants you to, just because you feel obligated to do so by the standards and rules society has set for you. Stop believing the lie that racism is from the old days. It’s alive and well, right here in Spalding County. Retrain your brain to think differently. You can change the outcome. In fact, we are the only ones who can change the racism in society and we do that by speaking up every time it is displayed. Speak up and unequivocally denounce it every single time.
Please understand that your silence is just as damning as the ones who are touting their superiority over anyone who isn’t white. Our President didn’t realize his mistake when he got on national television and denounced “both sides” of the aisle, meaning the right and the left. He tried to make up for it later, but the damage was already done.
In one speech, his supporters rallied around him and unknowingly (maybe some knowingly) around the white supremacist group. Our President must also realize that he is now the leader of all groups in America, not just the ones that support him (but that’s another article for a later time). So, I’ll go ahead and say what Trump should have said in the first place – there are two sides to this. One side is full of vile, hateful, ignorant and intolerant racists and the other is everyone else who decides to stand up against them.
The GRIP 
Silence hurts but the hypocrisy that gets spewed on top of the wound is worse…especially when the wound never heals. Every minority in America has suffered from racism, silence & hypocrisy. THIS country was founded on racism and hypocrites continues to tell fairy tales about how GREAT this country is. I would have said OUR country but with me being a minority I’m excluded by some who would tell me to go back to Africa for speaking out against injustice. America has never been GREAT for the black, asian, latino etc people. The poor Native Americans enjoyed a little bit of freedom before the hypocrites sailed over here trying to get freedom of their own and EXTERMINATED them. And those same hypocrites created a club called “America” where they CLAIM that we’re “One Nation Under God” “Liberty & Justice for All”. That claim is the biggest and longest running lie & fairy tale that has ever been told. And what kind of liberty & justice for all allows slavery of Africans, the kidnapping, whippings, lynching & rapes. And they called themselves patriots & some still do today. The so-called patriots today are still breaking the club rules like their ancestors did. No true patriot or Christian would condone racism or turn a blind eye to it.
Members of Club America poison America everyday with hypocrisy. Our one sided American history books teach generation after generation of fairy tales. Our white friends/classmates grow up thinking that slaves were just maids & cotton pickers. They don’t know that the slaves were brutalized, whipped, burned & raped because know one taught them. That’s why ignorance is bliss to members of club America. They rather silence unsavory unChristian history because they know when good people know better they do better. They don’t believe the stereotypes & get to know people who don’t look like them. They won’t see the 3 or 4 black friends as “the nice ones” or the exception while they see all the other blacks as thugs. That’s what I was considered to my white classmates “the nice one” 1 black in a class of 31. And I forgave them because I knew they didn’t know better. That’s what Christians do forgive & practice empathy.
Where’s the empathy from the majority to realize that black Americans can’t feel the same way about America as they do because of our history’s hypocrisy. Our great great grandparents were slaves, I know mine was. And most of your black friends aren’t just black either were mixed because of rape. I have at least 3 ancestors that were slave master & rapist so do the majority of your black friends. Why would we black people celebrate Confederate history. Our great great grandmothers were raped. To us those Confederates soldiers are worse than Ted Bundy & Ariel Castro. Those soldiers fought to protect their way of life…beating & raping our great great grandparents. Us black people don’t understand how ya’ll can say you’re American patriots & Christians and not see the Confederates as just as evil as the Nazis. Where’s you insight & empathy to realize that the flag & anthem was written with your black friends in mind. Don’t you love your brown brothers & sisters in Christ?
And we’re supposed to be “One Nation Under God”. When has America ever served God? God teaches us to “treat thy neighbor as thyself” ” I will not make my neighbor my footstool” America’s minorities have always been footstools because of racism. Wouldn’t true patriots & Christians see racism as disrespecting the flag & most of all God? Why would our Heavenly Father get mad at someone fighting against racism? Let’s stop lying about the protest being about the flag & anthem. Those who are angry are mad that someone of COLOR is breaking the Club America rules. Rules that never included them anyway.
You can’t be a true patriot & Christian and not care about the domestic terrors of racism here at home & only worry about the foreign threats that you fear personally. It’s a cop out to make it seem like it’s diisrepecting our veterans. The black veteran for WWI, WW2 & Vietnam went to war to protect so-called patriots & so-called Christians who still called them “ni#%ers” when they came back home. Hypocrisy at its best. If you’re really tired of racism & want to resume watching your game with the civil rights warriors blocking your conscience, start blaming the racists and not their victims. Can’t relate the situation because you’ve never been the victim of racism consider this. Being silent about racism is no different than the mothers on the news that don’t protect their child from her child molestor boyfriend. Just imagine when the child has the courage to speak out against her abuser she tells her mother expecting to be saved. Unfortunately the little girl doesn’t get saved because her mother doesn’t want to believe her child. The mom claims there’s no evidence, her baby must be lying. The bruises & scratches are all recorded in her memory but the mom denies they’re there. She blames her child of looking for it & inviting the trouble. She shames her daughter to keep her quiet. The real truth is she doesn’t want to give up what she loves or what she enjoys from it. It’s too uncomfortable for the mom to think about her daughter suffering now. So she silences her & keeps turning a blind eye to her daughter’s abuse to ensure her own happiness. The little girl never gets saved because of silence.
Be a real patriot & Christain! SILENCE KILLS.
While a lot of what you said is somewhat true, there is more journalistic hype in this editorial that rings of the “I hate Trump” bandwagon. Silence is just as damning, I agree, but jumping off the handle because the media incited hatred and an emotional reaction on purpose is even more damning. The protesters that are protesting as so uneducated and opinionated, it is leading to stupid acts of violence and idiotic protests of protestors who stand for issues they don’t even understand. They just hear what they want to hear on fake news. Journalism has no integrity any more. The media is supposed to share facts, good or bad, not what they choose to and make it about emotions and hatred. Racism is not gone in this world. But now it isn’t just about race it is about hate. Hate the right and hate the left! Not support your president or your country because you are the people of America and have many freedoms unlike most countries. NO!! Not the case. Whites must be all racists because they had ancestors who bought and sold slaves. Some of the biggest slave traders in the world then and now are Africans. A prize slave is a blonde haired blue eyed white girl. Slavery was and is an economic solution to many problems and control of others, albeit a very harsh and wrong solution. It isn’t good at all especially when people abuse this power and treat others as less than human. We all are slaves in a way, to our jobs, family, money issues, drugs, alcohol, I could go on and on. The men who fought bravely in the Civil War on both sides fought for state rights and the fact that the South was so far behind the north in education and commerce and industry, they didn’t like being told by the government what they should or should not do. The Civil War was about state rights and only one of them was the right to own slaves. Our ancestors in this country were not perfect and raised to believe, if they had wealth and property, then they were supreme to others. No human race is immune to this idea of belief. In fact a lot of people get away with crimes because of their standing in society, no matter the race. Hate sucks and many things in our collective American past suck big time. However, each individual goes through life making choices and either suffer the consequences or reap the benefits. Look at some cops nowadays abusing their power of the law and thus others. It makes good cops look bad, just as bad white people make white people look bad, or bad black people make good black people look bad, etc. Today because of the lack of education in our school system esp in lower income areas regardless of your race, people tend to form their emotional opinions based on their life and the media. “Well, I must be poor and oppressed since the media says so and I live in this neighborhood. I can’t really choose to better myself (even though you can) because of my environment and circumstances, so I will play this card or that and people will respect me.” Really? People make choices in life on who or what to believe and how to act on that. When in the public eye, the news would rather report the negative to cash in and keep inciting the mob mentality to make more news. Trump condemned the act of hatred on both sides of the protestors. And no it isn’t about right or left. Nazi’s and White supremacists are socialist and on the far left of the scale. One would know this if they took Political Science. Fascists too are on the left. Conservatism is on the right of the scale. Trump condemned white supremacists, ANTI-FA, Nazi’s, Black lives matter, etc. Groups who seek to destroy us from within and the media can’t handle it. The media has to give it a right or left side. They seem to be uneducated as well and America’s enemies love it because we are destroying ourselves from within. Hitler was a brilliant man. He pulled Germany out of a terrible economic depression post WW1 and thus gained the trust of the people and the power he craved and need to carry out his plan. His plan was to eliminate ALL races except for ARYANS. They are the blonde haired, blue eyed Caucasians. He believe them to be the strongest and most beautiful and close to the Gods. He had doctors like Mengel experiment in eye coloring and trying to restructure humans of one race to make them Aryan. He gained the trust of the people of Germany so much so many did not even believe the in the war or the existence of concentration camps and mass executions even when some events happened in their face. Hitler had many people killed, not just Jews, but those not Aryan and those who disagreed with him. This is the mind of a genius, albeit evil man. He deserves some respect for that. Now today they media is attempting to “sway” the public in much the same way. Incite an emotional response and see who will act on it so we can have more news to report. It is ridiculous and so against traditional journalism of “just the facts, ma’am.” It incites some things in me too. Anger with those who can’t see the truth or learn about it on their own, and rather choose to believe the lies. I wish I could do more than just spew my opinions at times. However, I have an elderly mother a sister with Down Syndrome and a disabled husband to deal with and work for that my job right now is to pray and possibly respond to some articles with as much truth as I can. Erasing what we don’t like in history does nothing to change it, but harms our future generations for not knowing the consequences for people’s actions in the past so they are doomed to repeat it. Unfortunately their are stubborn people on all sides of the matter who genuinely believe what they are doing is right. They can’t even understand they are being arrested for breaking the law by destroying public property or hurting others. They believe they have a right to protest anyway they want regardless of the law or who might be giving them a paycheck for it. I am saddened by the state of our country now. I pray wholeheartedly for God to intervene. I believe the radical Islamic jihadists are just loving this and can’t wait to get in here illegally and destroy us up some more. They might even come in as Hitler did and promise peace to our differences but really are manipulating us for the slaughter. You, as I do, enjoy the freedoms given to us by our God and our forefathers in the 1700’s when our country was formed. Therefore we can share our opinions legally and without government involvement, just as those protestors who have a real issue to stand on. But those who are getting paid to riot deserve jail and whatever the consequences are in the law. I just pray it is destruction from outside because a lot of non-racist lives, are on the line.
A, At the top of this post, it plainly states that this is an EDITORIAL COLUMN. It is the individual writer’s OPINION. It isn’t presented as fact-based journalism.
B, may I have your permission to consider publishing your response to this column? Thanks!
yes