Why American Christians Care About Nazis: Honest Thoughts About Charlottesville from a Christian Latina Artist's Point of View

A Young woman is injured at the Nazi Rally in Virginia

Honest Thoughts About Charlottesville from a Christian Latina Artist's Point of View

If you come to this blog on a regular basis, you probably know a little bit about me. You know that I am a composer, that I love music, that I dabble in indie filmmaking, and that I am a writer. I am also many other things - Parent, Decent Cook, Percussionist, Christian, and Latina (Cuban/Dominican). In general I keep the blog about music, more from time constraints than from any other reason. I would love to write a hundred blogs a month for my readers, but it's just not possible.

But I could not keep silent about Charlottesville. 

For those that don't know, last weekend Nazi protestors went to Charlottesville, Virginia, to protest the removal of a Confederate statue. Counter protesters (among those a faction from the Antifa - AntiFascist) movement were also there. The Nazis brought assault rifles. The Antifas brought clubs. In the end, a Nazi sympathizer/Trump follower rammed his car into a crowd of anti-Nazi protesters, killing one young woman and injuring another twenty. At least one young Black man was beaten up by Nazis, and there have been rumors of other acts of violence like synagogues in the area being threatened. Meanwhile the world watched in horror as the USA devolved into what seems to be the beginnings of a civil war.

By now, the president of the United States, Donald Trump, has made it clear in his hodge-podge of tweets and comments that he clearly is a Nazi-sympathizer. It is not surprising, given that he is proud of his reputation as a womanizer and rapist and being elected with on a platform of hatred for immigrants, Muslims, Latinos, and women, not to mention policies meant to harm the Black community.

Nazi Protestor and Trump Supporter Murders 1 and Injures 20 more with his vehicle.

Meanwhile in my social media feeds, white evangelical "Christians" voiced their sympathies for the Nazi protesters, having the absolutely grotesque audacity of comparing the murder of a woman and the maiming of almost two dozen to having to be "politically correct" all the time. Really? Your false perception that you can't say "Merry Christmas" is equivalent to domestic terrorism? 

Is saying the N-word, discriminating openly against women and minorities, and protecting a heritage of raping, murdering and beating slaves the new American Christianity under Donald J. Trump?

People that I care about are sympathizing with individuals that would like to see my family thrown over a wall, lynched, or burned alive in an oven. 

Only one pastor that I know has spoken out openly against the Nazi protesters. The rest --- silent or defending the protection of monuments and Nazis with fervor. 

Didn't we already win a world war to squelch this type of bigotry and hatred? 

Older "Boomer" Christians are adamantly defending the Nazis or posting Bible verses that they somehow think justify the hatred that they hold for immigrants, women, Latinos, Blacks, and others. Somehow I don't think Jesus would approve.

Even today a Buffalo, New York "Christian" radio station had a piece extolling any supporters of preserving Confederate monuments while running ads that talked about conspiracy theories that would have made Trump proud. 

Is being a Nazi so important to the American Evangelical Community? 

And I don't isolate just white Christians as I know many Boomer Latino Christians that voted for Trump and support him even now, as if the fact they voted Republican somehow protects the fact they are also grouped together with Mexican "criminals and rapists". Do they really think that if left alone with a mob of Nazis that they would be protected just because they are wearing a MAGA red cap? 

Meanwhile, tragedy has hit too many individuals, even those that were not killed or physically harmed. Synagogues had to cancel services as the local police were unable to guarantee protection against threats of burning down buildings. Young people that hoped to simply voice their opinions against Nazism were subjected to beatings, violence, and fear. Nazis in riot gear took over an American town, and they hope to go to Boston and Kentucky next. 

What will you do when the Nazis show up on your street, 

with assault weapons and riot gear? 

And this is why I have to speak out, why so many are speaking out. Because we cannot ignore the hatred that is being fanned by the vitriol starting in the White House. It is very likely that by this time next week we will be embroiled in a nuclear war with North Korea because of a careless Tweet. There will be even more violent protests. More people will die, more will live in fear as Nazism takes over the country and the rest of us watch.

And no, I will not soften the rhetoric by calling them White Nationalists. They marched in solidarity with the Nazis. They terrorized a town with weapons, hatred, and violence in the name of Nazism. So no, these were not innocents protesting peacefully. These were soldiers ready to go to war. 

The question is, is America ready? 

Or will Americans, most notably evangelical Christians, choose to look the other way as their children and grandchildren are subjugated to discrimination, violence, and death? 

Both sides of my family came to this country escaping despots. I grew up hearing stories of government soldiers storming a house, of neighbor ratting out neighbors to the Communists, of people starving to death because they did not agree with the party, of despots eliminating their enemies, disappearing them and their families to prison or execution, of underground churches and families saying goodbye forever to each other as they became refugees in a new land. 

#NotOnMyWatch

I will not allow this amazing nation to fall to bigotry and hatred, violence and murder. And I am not alone. Millions have expressed their outcry against Nazi violence, not only in the USA, but around the world, most notably Germany, who knows best how horrific Nazi ideology can be. 

I wonder if the American church will continue to hide behind the hood of bigotry 

or will have the guts to speak out against hatred.

For the sake of my children and my children's children, I hope that it is not too late...