Charlottesville won’t go away.
Biden’s new campaign opening video, which stresses “freedom,” referred to extremism in the form of the January 6 assault on the Capitol, as his old 2020 campaign referred to the protests in Charlottesville. I don’t support anything about the January 6 rebellion; it was an attack on the United States government on a false theory that the 2020 election was invalid.
The Charlottesville violence was sparked by an attack by blacks, Jews and liberal whites against Southern white people by removing and destroying monuments commemorating Confederate soldiers who fought in the Civil War. The violent response was wrong, but those defending the statues did not start the confrontation; those wanting to destroy the statues did. Destroying the statues was just like burning books; it was an attempt to hide or change the history of what actually happened. Southern soldiers did fight bravely, albeit in a losing cause. It is perhaps unfortunate that Jews got so caught up in the Charlottesville confrontation, but they did take sides, and when you take up the sword of racist prejudice, as some Jews did in Charlottesville, you must accept being criticized for doing so.
I have written about Charlottesville since it happened, and my views have not changed. Violence was wrong, but destroying the statues was wrong. The blame is not all on one side. It does not deserve to be characterized as some kind of example of white racist hatred. The whites did not start it. They were not attacked physically, but they were attacked culturally and as a race, if not as “whites,” then as “Southern whites.” Here are some examples of my earlier comments: