We Need to Talk About What Happened in Charlottesville: Why Silence is Betrayal

“Take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented.” -Elie Wiesel

By now, if you haven’t heard about Charlottesville, you must be living in la la land. It’s been covered by every online news source and television program, as well as plastered all over social media platforms. Most Americans are shocked and outraged at the brazen display of clear hatred, but there’s also a terrifying number of citizens who think that the violence on “both sides” is to blame (*cough* the president… *cough*). Let’s get one thing straight: likening the Nazi rally in Charlottesville to anything Black Lives Matter or any other minority activist group has done is ludicrous. And quite frankly, I can’t believe I even have to say that…but let me explain. The comparison of white supremacists (whites are the master race) to Black Lives Matter (stop murdering black people) is mind-blowingly ignorant, bigoted and down-right stupid. A white supremacist plowed down 20 people, killing Heather Heyer, and injuring the rest. A group of Nazis brutally assaulted a young black activist, Deandre Harris, with poles. So, while these terrorists are actively killing people-innocent Americans-BLM demonstrators have, at worst, destroyed property and caused chaos.

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Scars and Stretch Marks

Everyone wants to feel beautiful. Society places such an astronomically high value on being aesthetically pleasing to the eye that sometimes we forget what beauty truly is. It took me years to figure out the whole self-love thing and even as I encouraged others to love their bodies, I wasn’t practicing what I was preaching. I could see the beauty in everyone but myself. Becoming chronically ill at the age of 21 added another layer of complication and confusion to the mix.