There's No White Nation

by Bill Onasch

Most of the mainstream media refer to the deadly “protests” in Charlottesville, Virginia as the work of “White Nationalists.” This is not only inaccurate. It is an illusion that offers some legitimacy to a movement of neo-fascist scum.

My pale skin shares the same lack of pigment as those shouting anti-Black and anti-Semitic epithets in Virginia. But that's all we have in common. Unlike the descendants of those brought to this country as slaves there is no basis for a “white nation.”

The incessant right-wing attacks led by Fox news on “multi-culturalism,” “political correctness,” affirmative action, and sanctuary cities, now prevail as policy in the White House and Congress. They may be embarrassed by what has crawled out from the rocks they have overturned. Their attempts to keep the working class majority divided have put wind in the sails of fascism--a risky proposition they don't yet need.

But because they want to keep that option in reserve, they resist calling violent bigots by their proper names. Instead, like Trump, they reject violence “by all sides.” For him, there is no difference between the groups promoting Charlottesville as part of a “Summer of Hate,” and those targeted by the haters.

The purveyors of anti-Black, anti-Jewish, and anti-immigrant hatred in Virginia included those with Nazi banners and tats. Some wore SS-style helmets and one contingent carried rifles.

The multi-color, multicultural counter-protesters first gathered at a church where they were urged by Cornel West to go “bearing witness to love and justice in the face of white supremacy.” They carried no weapons but defended themselves in scuffles. Only after police dispersed the crowds did a cowardly white hater drive a Dodge Challenger at speed in to a crowd of counter-protesters, killing one, injuring dozens.

While people of color, Jews, and immigrants are the focus of the white supremacist embrace of fascism we know from history that suppression of the entire working class is their ultimate goal. The labor movement motto of An Injury to One is an Attack on All is the needed response in Virginia and everywhere else.