I just watched a video posted on social media of white supremacists assaulting someone who was a part of the peaceful Black Lives Matter protest. Then, another video of white supremacists yelling “hiel hitler” and “white power.”
THERE IS NO ROOM, NO PLACE for violence and hatred like this. Idahoans must stand firmly by our values of inclusion and white Idahoans need to stand with BIPOC and denounce the individual acts from yesterday and the long standing systems of racism and oppression in our country.
This type of violence is erupting because white supremacy is being challenged and many public leaders are responding and open to change. People who have been marginalized will not be silenced; the reactions I saw on that video from white supremacists yelling “white power” are not surprising (although sickening) because that silence is being broken and people who have been oppressed are demanding equity in a system that has marginalized them for too long, a system that has brutally intimated them for too long, brutally assaulted them for too long, and even murdered them.
Dr. Martin Luther King called for the good and silent white people to come forward and stand up to racism and violence. That reckoning is upon us and we must stand firmly with each other against this real hate and violence. The reason these white supremacists are reacting in violence is because their entitlement and power are being challenged. They know no other way, and the laws have supported them bearing arms and the system that values white bodies over black and brown ones has protected them.
No more. We will continue to speak loudly and act boldly. We will continue to shine a light on the evils that haunt us. We will not be silenced and the truth shall set us free.
There is so much power in naming reality and being able to speak and write the truth. There is no turning back. Stay strong. Stay resolved. Keep love and peace in your hearts and your lives. Seek support and guidance and wisdom. And know this is a hard fight, but one that is calling for justice once and for all.