A city divided. Tear gas. Flamethrowers. Angry faces screaming from crowds. Hate-filled, pain-filled marches. Suffering. All accumulating into one, unforgettable summer of hate.
You may remember the protests that occurred in Charlottesville, Virginia during the summer of 2016. During this summer of hate, angry white supremacists and neo-Nazis made an attempt to take over a small Virginia town, carrying swastikas and torches, with an intent to keep things rooted in the past.
It all started when a 15-year-old girl started a petition to take down a set of Confederate monuments scattered around downtown Charlottesville, commemorating figures like Robert E. Lee and Thomas Jackson. With many people in the town praising the statues and others hoping for their demolition, Charlottesville became so divided that members of the Ku Klux Klan and neo-Nazi groups entered the town in support of the statues, making it essential for those in Charlottesville to protest their hatred.
While working with the youth leadership program Cultural Leadership, I stopped in Charlottesville for a few hours to meet with Jalane Schmidt, a University of Virginia professor known for her activism during the summer of hate. Schmidt emphasized the importance of rejecting passiveness and standing strong in the face of hate.
Throughout my year with Cultural Leadership, I was constantly reminded of the necessity of standing up for my beliefs. Constantly being surrounded by kids my age who organize and participate in protests inspired me to put forth positive change as well. I’ve never been one to go out to protests. I’ve always been the type of person to know where I stand on key issues and what moral guidelines I live by, yet I have never felt comfortable sharing them with people who didn’t already agree with me.
But how strong could my beliefs possibly be if I don’t want to share them? What I believe means nothing unless I act upon it.
My experience in this program forced me to think critically about my own actions as well as lack of actions. Before joining Cultural Leadership, I was hesitant to share any semblance of my beliefs with my friends at my Catholic church, in fear of starting an argument or ending relationships. And while I still struggle with being open with people about my political opinions, I’ve found that I’ve become more inclined to be honest about them.
For example, over the summer I attended the St. Louis Pride Parade with a few friends. Immediately after leaving Pride, I went to Mass and youth group. At any other point in my life, I would have refrained from mentioning Pride to my youth group friends, but on this day I engaged in an open dialogue about it with a few kids. It was freeing; it felt good.
Cultural Leadership has allowed me to be more honest with myself and others about my ideologies, but knowing what you believe isn’t enough; you have to be willing to fight for it. We might all agree that white supremacy is bad, that the Ku Klux Klan is bad, that neo-Nazis are bad, but if these groups came to St. Louis, would we be out in the streets protesting them?
When we met with Jalane Schmidt, she said of white supremacists: “I don’t want to live in the world they’re building.” This is the attitude we all must have – not necessarily a willingness to die in protest, but at least the willingness to join. Calling groups like the Ku Klux Klan evil does nothing to stop them from being evil. Organizing protests does. Going to protests does. Supporting protestors does.
And while we all have this picture of what protesting looks like in our heads, of people with signs marching in the streets with loud chants, that’s not always what protesting looks like. Protesting is as easy as pointing out injustice when you see it, such as calling out friends when they make a racist or homophobic joke. Protesting can be calling state representatives and advocating for your point of view. Protesting comes in all shapes and sizes, negating any excuse not to participate.
We must all reject passiveness and remain active in our activism. If we don’t show up to fight, groups with evil intent and hatred in their hearts will. Change is a give-and-take relationship. If we do nothing good, then nothing good happens. We must fight evil with our good. Because in the wise words of civil rights activist and Congressman John Lewis: “If not us, then who? If not now, then when?”
For more information on Cultural Leadership, call 314-725-3222, email info@culturalleadership.org or visit http://www.culturalleadership.org/.
Leyla Fern King is a junior at John Burroughs School, represents her grade on its Student Court and serves on the Executive Board of its Diversity Education Through Communication organization.
