‘Anger seems to be a common theme these days in my life, and although that’s painful, it’s not a bad thing,’ says writer Lisa White. ‘We should be angry about these things.’
White nationalist and neo-Nazis from across the country converged in Charlottesville, Virginia last Friday to protest the removal of a statue of Robert E. Lee, the leader of the Confederate army from the United States Civil War. Throughout the last year, some cities in the south – including New Orleans – have begun moving statues commemorating the Confederate side of the Civil War. Although some consider the statues to be a representation of an exclusionary version of ‘Southern heritage’, most now recognize the statues as symbols of the slavery and white supremacy which fueled the Civil War and serves as the foundation of this country. Removing the statues is a symbolic denouncement of the structural racism that still permeates American society in general and southern American society in particular.
As images and video of the white nationalist rally spread across social media over the weekend, mini counter protesters arrived in the city as a show of resistance. Violence against the counter protesters eventually escalated into a deadly terrorist attack when a white nationalist deliberately ploughed his car into a crowd of peaceful anti-protesters. One woman, Heather Heyer, died from her injuries sustained during the attack and 19 others were injured. In the hours after the attack, many people – millennial women especially – took to social media to express their horror and anger over the attack.
Since the 2016 presidential election, Millennial women have served as the face of the resistance by leading protests such as the Women's March; calling their congressional representatives and senators about social, economic, and reproductive issues (among many others); attending local and state town halls, writing editorials for unusual, yet prominent publications targeted toward their demographics; and organizing fundraisers to protect the organizations and communities most affected by the proposed changes of President Trump. Millennial women in many ways will be most affected by the numerous policies and economic fallout of the Trump presidency. Already economically disadvantaged compared to the previous generation, Millennials are also the most educated and therefore, the most informed of the ways in which the rise of a loud, propaganda-spewing figure such as Donald Trump will harm their own lives as well as the lives of people around them. The phrase, ‘If you’re shocked, you're not paying attention,’ has never been more apt.
Although the events in Charlottesville dominated the news and social media, many of the young women I spoke to across the county were not surprised by how the events escalated on Friday and Saturday. Nadiya Nacorda, a black photographer based in Richmond, Virginia (about an hour outside of Charlottesville), was in Charlottesville a day before the rally and attack. Nacorda photographed a portrait session in front of the rotunda on the lawn in Charlottesville where the torch-wielding white nationalists marched.
According to Nacorda, a similar rally took place a couple of weeks ago and there was talk amongst the local activist community about last weekend’s rally prior to it taking place. ‘For me, hearing about the first rally a couple of weeks ago was in no way surprising’ Nacorda says. ‘Charlottesville, at least to my thinking, is known for being quite racist. It feels like ghosts coming back to town.’ Still, Nacorda says last weekend’s rally was far larger than she anticipated. ‘I had no idea the magnitude. I imagine that this not being the first time that a situation happened in Charlottesville does explain some of the escalation,’ she says.
To understand what happened is to understand the history of the South and of this area in particular. Richmond was the capital of the Confederacy and Nacorda claims this legacy structures the region. ‘There is so much history here that has not been healed. It's everywhere,’ she says. ‘It's in the houses that you live in, the restaurants that you patronize. The history is like this river running through all of our lives and it's erupting now.’
For many women who are Jewish or people of colour, they feel even angrier it took the loss of a life to make people waffling in the middle wake up to the dangers in our society. ‘I was upset and terrified,’ says Kelsey Riley, a black woman from Chicago who attended college in the South. ‘I also was numb to it too because I know that regardless of the source of the anger or intent these feelings are not new in this country.’
Katie Colt, a writer and mother who identifies as Jewish, felt similarly. ‘I'm just not ever surprised by these displays of hatred. So, there's a part of me that also felt very numb, in a self-protective way,’ Colt begins. ‘I grew up with a very keen understanding that there were people in the world who did not want people like me to exist, so to a certain extent, I've come to expect it.’
Riley viewed the domestic attack as a turning point for many people, largely because the victim was white. ‘I'm afraid that if Heather were a black woman we wouldn't know her name and the story would be received differently,’ Riley says. White agrees, adding, ‘I think this weekend will be that defining point for many Americans, that the people, groups and causes that created the violence this weekend do not deserve [this type of] freedom of speech and that it is acceptable even to react to [white nationalists and neo-Nazis] with violence if needed. It’s sad and makes me angry that it took this weekend and the death of a white woman to draw that line for some, when in reality, the death of many other people, especially people of color, should have made a lot of Americans more aware and angry and caused them to take action.’
For most of the women I talked to, the rally and domestic attack confirmed the necessity of their previous actions and discussions against the current administration. ‘We as Black women have historically been necessary to things shifting,’ says Riley. ‘Recent events haven't changed that. Recent events if anything have only served as a reminder.’ Colt also agrees, even as she fears the violence will continue to increase. ‘There is risk everywhere and it is more important to stand up to hate than be afraid to do so,’ she says.
White attended new protests on Sunday to mourn the loss of Heyer as well as condemn the rhetoric of and actions stemming from the rallies. White attended a gathering in downtown Chicago and marched to Trump Tower. ‘It was frustrating to see people stand by and take pictures or seem to chuckle at us marching, but I know it’s important overall to show large groups condemning the hate displayed this weekend,’ White says.
Howard viewed the domestic attack as a turning point for many of the people she knew growing up in the South. She, like many of the young women I spoke to, felt it was her duty and obligation to continue to speak up against the injustices playing out on the national stage. ‘There's not a day that goes by that I don't think of how my actions are helping or hurting,’ Howard says. ‘I feel like it is on more or less our shoulders.’
White women like Howard and White have more access to the moderates who continue to remain silent as our country's turbulent political developments continue to unfold in this year. These moderates are also the people who decide which way a presidential election will sway. ‘I'm trying not to be angry at them, but I am. I'm really angry it took them this long to learn this lesson,’ Howard adds. ‘At the same time, I know that it's my it's my job to continue their education.’ To not stay vocal and woke (for lack of a better word), is to be complicit in the actions that ultimately disenfranchise and harm large swathes of the population.
White also reached out again to her more conservative parents to discuss what happened. White says growing up in Southern Indiana is a segregated bubble where one is never forced to confront what it means to be white in America because one never sees a culture outside of their own. ‘Getting people to face those ugly truths–to face that we weren’t fully educated on a lot of important topics and that our country has thrived off oppressing people–is really hard work and goes against the culture of avoidance of these topics because they’re painful and difficult to reconcile,’ she says.
And for women like Nacorda, the events over the weekend only confirmed their desire to ultimately leave the parts of the south they previously called home. ‘I’ve decided to leave Virginia within a year or so with no intention of ever coming back, which was not the case before this weekend,’ Nacorda says. She and her husband plan on moving to Los Angeles. ‘We thought Richmond was a great place for families, but not for black and brown ones,’ she offers. If she has kids, she plans on raising them overseas. As Saturday proved for Nacorda and many others, the changing and turbulent political times are a matter of life and death. There is no room to turn a blind eye to that any longer.
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This article originally appeared on The Debrief.