Both Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr. have been quoted as saying, “Noncooperation with evil is as much a moral obligation as is cooperation with good.” I agree. In an essay titled “Three Ways of Meeting Oppression,” Dr. King wrote: “To accept passively an unjust system is to cooperate with that system; thereby the oppressed become as evil as the oppressor. . . . To accept injustice or segregation passively is to say to the oppressor that his actions are morally right. It is a way of allowing his conscience to fall asleep. At this moment the oppressed fails to be his brother’s keeper. So acquiescence—while often the easier way—is not the moral way. It is the way of the coward.”
You don’t need me to tell you that we’re living in troubled times, times when we don’t enjoy the luxury of being “non-political” or of avoiding taking a side. Silence is acceptance, and certain things should never be accepted. Racism, bigotry, white supremacy, and the violence that results from those attitudes are evil. Elie Wiesel, Auschwitz survivor, wrote: “We must always take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented.”
The United States has a long history of human rights abuses, beginning with the enslaved Africans and the displaced Native Americans. Such abuses were so institutionalized that they were not always thought of as abuse but simply as a factual representation of the superiority of the white race and the inferiority of all other races. That hierarchy was the accepted starting point for many people; so signs denying people of color access to libraries, restaurants, and many churches and schools were widely viewed as simply logical outcomes of the basic premise that the black race was inherently inferior and undeserving of interacting as equals with people of the white race. Forcing black citizens to drink from separate water fountains and use separate restrooms as well as assigning black patrons to the rear seats of public buses made perfect sense to some.
Then in the late 1950s and early 1960s, some courageous people spoke truth to power, letting those in power know that their attitudes and policies were not acceptable. As a result, laws were passed which gave black citizens equal rights with white citizens, removed the discriminatory signs, allowed admission to previously all-white schools, and integrated churches and other public places. It seemed we had taken giant steps forward. In hindsight, however, it appears we forgot that attitudes live in hearts and minds, not in law books. The laws were changed, but hearts and minds were not. Bigotry continued to fester, fueled even more by resentment over the whites’ having lost their position of unquestioned privilege and superiority.
What happened in Charlottesville, Virginia, two days ago is the result of that festering hatred finally being unleashed anew because those currently in power have publicly condoned hatred, bigotry, and violence. David Duke, former KKK grand wizard, made this statement about the Charlottesville rally, which he attended: “This represents a turning point for the people of this country. We are determined to take our country back, we’re going to fulfill the promises of Donald Trump, and that’s what we believed in, that’s why we voted for Donald Trump, because he said he’s going to take our country back and that’s what we gotta do.” Donald Trump has both implicitly and explicitly condoned bigotry and violence, from encouraging rally goers during his campaign to beat up protesters and appointing known racists to high positions in his administration to his refusal to condemn white supremacy as the cause of Saturday’s violence and the deaths and injuries which resulted from it. And he is unlikely ever to denounce the alt-right—no matter what heinous things they do—since they comprise a large portion of his infamous base.
When these white nationalists (alternately known as white supremacists, the alt-right, Identarians, and race realists) say they want to “take our country back,” what do they mean? What exactly is it they’d like to see happen? According to CNN’s Ray Sanchez, who quotes Heidi Beirich of the Southern Poverty Law Center, “All civil rights for nonwhites would be removed. All political power would be in the hands of white people, in particular white men because this movement is an extremely male and, many would say, toxically masculine movement. They also have pretty retrograde views about what women should be doing. If anything, their vision of America’s future looks a lot like the 1600s or perhaps earlier.”
Admittedly, there’s little chance their full vision of white-dominated America will ever be realized; but that doesn’t mean they pose no threat. As long as one person dies because of their violence, as long as thousands of lives are diminished by their hatred, as long as their voices are so much as a whisper in the ears of our government officials, every American is affected; and no American should be silent.
I’ve never understood how even one person could have cast a vote to make Donald Trump “president” of the United States, and I never will understand. But okay, so let’s say they were conned. There was all of the fake news, and there was the Russian influence. I’ve been conned a few times, so that I get. It’s humiliating to learn that you’ve been played, and no one likes to admit being made a fool. But as Martin Luther King said, accepting an unjust system (even if it’s to protect your own ego or cover your embarrassment for having been played for a fool) makes the oppressed as evil as the oppressor.
I’m willing to cut a little slack for those deceived into voting for this travesty, but the blinders are off now. Anyone still riding the Trump Train is as evil as he is; the blood on his hands is also on theirs. Trump supporters are complicit in every lie he tells, every time he humiliates our country in the face of the world, every attempt at obstructing justice, every selfish and narcissistic act, and every careless threat that increases the possibility of taking our country and the world into a devastating nuclear war. And they’re complicit in the death of Heather Heyer and the injuries of dozens of others in Charlottesville on August 12.
Noncooperation with evil requires denouncing evil by its name wherever we encounter it. It requires separating ourselves from it by refusing to participate in or be an accomplice to evil. And it means having the courage to speak truth to power. Silence is consent. In Dr. King’s words, silence makes the oppressed as evil as the oppressor; those who are silent share the guilt for everything the oppressor does. Declining to take a side is taking a side: the wrong side.
I love Thomas Paine’s writings, and I quote them often, so I’m going to quote Paine again:
“These are the times that try men’s souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country; but he that stands it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman. Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph.”
Heather Heyer and the other counter-protesters who stood up to the armed mob in Charlottesville, Virginia, on August 12 deserve “the love and thanks of man and woman.” To shrink into silence and implicitly condone the hatred which killed this woman and injured many others is to dishonor our fellow humans and our country. Summer soldiers and sunshine patriots are complicit in the evil from which they shrink; and that’s true whether one’s name is Joe Average Citizen or Mitch McConnell or Paul Ryan.
Speaking truth to power has never been more imperative. It is our moral responsibility and our patriotic duty. As Dr. King said, “Acquiescence—while often the easier way—is not the moral way. It is the way of the coward.” Our country doesn’t need any more cowards, but we’re in desperate need of a few heroes.