Seriously? Racists Hate Childless Women, Too?
Grief and tears followed by anger. Helplessness followed by more anger. The weekend of August 12, 2017 was rough. And as I sat at home, hearing about the events in Charlottesville through a variety of sources, what I felt most was sadness.
Our country is on the brink of a new civil war that will be fought over ideology and pit rural against city and White against Black. And that is not the country I ever imagined in all my years.
I heard the news that an angry young man that participated in the Unite the Right event was emboldened enough to drive his car into a crowd of counter protesters. And I heard that a young woman named Heather Heyer was killed.
Heather was 32 years old and worked as a paralegal at a Charlottesville, Virginia law firm. Her family and friends say she cared deeply about them, her city and her country, and staying involved in the fight against racism. She got involved that day, and she lost her life for it.
A young woman was killed fighting Nazis on American soil.
Next, I learned that militant white supremacists hate a dead woman they never met, days after one of their own was responsible for her murder.
On a website that was thankfully shut down by webhost Go Daddy, a hateful blogger wrote,
“A 32-year-old woman without children is a burden on society and has no value.”
That’s right, they called out the fact that a she did not have children. And why didn’t she have children? The fact is, we’ll never know and it’s none of our business. But, I would be willing to bet that one reason might be because at the age of 32, a racist white man killed her.
The hate-filled rant went on to label Heather as "fat and a drain on society". Then, this:
“Had she not died yesterday, hundreds of thousands of dollars would have been spent on propping-up this gross creature who had failed to do her most basic duty — her only real duty, in fact — and reproduce.”
Oh, and let’s not forget “Having no children at that age, it can be assumed that she had multiple abortions, and was thus herself a child murderer.”
I’m glad this vile website was shut down, but this hate group – this collection of hate groups - they don’t care. They will keep going. They will buy their own servers and continue their violence against people of color, Jews, Muslims and women because they think it’s their God-given right.
But, it’s humans who have created a hostile culture in 2017 America.
Whether we individually checked his box on our ballot or not, America elected a man who won’t unblinkingly condemn the people and policies of hate. Our country elected a man who won’t say whether or not former Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke is a bad person.
I’m angry, and I want you to get angry that a young woman was killed in support of her country’s highest ideals. Get angry and do something about it.
Get angry that young black men are being targeted. Get angry that our country is becoming fearful of black and brown skin because some white men in power tell us we should be.
Get active in your community. Vote. Condemn hateful racists and bigoted acts and language at every turn. You owe it to yourself and the people around you.
(Image Credit: Time.com)
