By now you have undoubtedly heard about the deadly “Unite the Right” rally held in Charlottesville, Virginia on Saturday, August 12. The rally, which had already sparked violence and injury, turned deadly when a white supremacist rammed his car into a crowd of counter-protesters.
As horrifying and disgusting as the events of Saturday are, they are not the real problem; they are symptoms of the real problem.
The real problem we have with racism in this country is bigger than pasty-faced bigots wielding tiki torches and waving the stars and bars.
The real problem is the systemic racism that pervades this country.
The real problem is that we have a president who refuses to explicitly denounce racism because that would mean alienating a significant portion of his supporters.
The real problem is that police are more likely to kill you if you’re black. Traffic violation? Dead. Unarmed and compliant? Dead. Twelve years old and playing in the park? Dead. Lying down with your hands in the air while trying to help your autistic patient? Shot, but luckily, alive. (It turns out the police officer had been aiming for the autistic boy.)
But if you’re white and you slaughter nine black people while they attend church, the police will put you in a bulletproof vest to protect you.
The real problem is voter suppression and gerrymandering that disenfranchises black voters.
The real problem is the prison industrial complex that incarcerates black people at five times the rate of whites despite them comprising just 13% of our country’s population.
The real problem is that school dress codes penalize black girls for wearing the hair they were born with.
The real problem is that our country is littered with monuments celebrating the confederacy. The largest monument to the confederacy, Stone Mountain, was finished in 1972 and is celebrated nightly with a laser show extravaganza.
These monuments glorify a period in our history when we enslaved and brutalized black people. Theses spaces give white supremacists room to spread hate.
If we are truly serious about dismantling racial discrimination, we are going to have to aim higher.
White supremacy is woven into the fabric of our country. We have centuries of untangling to do before we can have any hope of stopping rallies like the one held in Virginia on Saturday.