It’s horrifying to see the photos and videos of what unfolded over the weekend in Charlottesville. In this day and age, it’s despicable to see such hate flourish in what is supposed to be the land of the free.

 

Granted, we all know there are white supremacists and neo-Nazis in America. However, we’ve been led to believe that the organized rallies by these groups were a thing of the past, and that’s not the case.

 

If anyone still had rose-colored glasses on regarding race in America prior to Saturday, those glasses shattered when seeing a car plow into counterprotesters, killing one person and injuring others.

What’s next? Going back to burning crosses outside the homes of black families? Lynch mobs?

To fight back, people are taking to social media, posting pictures of folks at the white supremacists’ rally and identifying them by name in the hopes of public shaming.

What’s next? Burning crosses outside the homes of KKK members? Lynch mobs?

As for America’s president, he went from blaming both sides of the conflict to directly condemning hate groups. Then he went back to blaming both sides.

Instead of trying to bring everyone together, Donald Trump has played the blame game. We don’t need the president to assign blame, seeing as we have plenty of people doing that already. As president, he should be unifying us, resolving the conflict.

We’re so worried about a nuclear attack from North Korea, but we seem to be doing a pretty good job destroying ourselves. Hate groups are gearing up for ethnic cleansing, but everyone is gearing up for historical cleansing, taking down Confederate statues in the southern U.S. in the hopes of forgetting that, at one point, we were a divided America.

Oh, wait. We still are. I guess it’s true that those who don’t learn from history are doomed to repeat it.

It’s time—check that, way past time—to stop dividing ourselves. Enough of Republicans versus Democrats, white versus black, straight versus gay, bleeding heart versus stone cold heart. Is this really what our founding fathers wanted when they told England to stick it?

Not so long ago, a vicious and horrific act brought Americans together in brotherhood and solidarity. How violent do things have to become to force us to open our eyes and come together again? How many more lives have to be lost before society realizes how foolish it has become?