Raise the Hammer

A lot of worthwhile things in this article. Too bad the writer jumped the shark and undermined himself by suggesting an answer to Nazis is not to counter-protest them but to buy them donuts and attempt to understand their ideology so we can all just come together and get along. Seriously?! Especially considering so much of the article was dedicated to historical examples of the power of people coming together to confront oppression and DEMAND change - not be passive and buy donuts for oppressors and attempt to empathize with why they are being oppressive.

I do not want to risk my safety hanging out with entitled, violent people and spending my precious time empathizing with Nazism. These organized Nazis violently assaulted people in our community away from press - they are not supreme gentlemen out on a peaceful walk/"Patriot March". And we already have a diverse city. Nazi's hate diversity. It's kind of their thing. You can't be on everyone's side unless you live in a fantasy world where people don't actually behave according to the ideology they subscribe to.

Suggesting that anti-fascists rely on Nazis so they have something to react to or to "be against" for the sake of being against something is ridiculous and completely ignores the history of the anti-facism movement both in modern terms and origins. There is no personal benefit from facing physical harm and confronting Nazi's - Charlottesville is a perfect example. Conflating Anti-Facists with Nazis is exactly what Trump did after Charlottesville. Booooo! For the people who actually show up to an counter-protest it's a hell of a personal risk and I'm grateful that people care enough to gather and show Nazis they aren't welcome in our community. Why not buy anti-protestors donuts for a change instead of criticizing them in a blog from a position of safety? I challenge the author of this article to rally a group of people to buy donuts for known white supremacist, groups converse with them about their ideologies, and then write an article about that experience. You can many of the groups on Facebook. Let us know how that goes. Keep it real. Peace!