# August 2018 White Civil Rights Rally in Washington, DC. **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [June 22, 2018, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/august-2018-white-civil-rights-rally-in-washington-dc/816575 "2018-06-22T15:54:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2018, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/august-2018-white-civil-rights-rally-in-washington-dc/816575/1 "2018-06-22T15:54:52Z")
Jason Kessler, one of the two who brought racism & death to Charlottesville last year, [has filed an application for a permit for a 2 day event in Lafayette Park (11-12 August) dubbed a “White Civil Rights Rally”](https://www.nps.gov/aboutus/foia/upload/18-1166-Jason-Kessler-application_Redacted.pdf). The Park Service has approved the application but has not yet issued a permit. Observant observers will note that the dates coincide with last year’s “Unite The Right” Rally in Charlottesville as well as with the day that Heather Heyers was killed by James Fields (and many others were injured, of course). I don’t have any thoughts to share right now concerning Mr. Kessler and his friends that wouldn’t be considered vile and way out of line for a civilized person to have, let alone express. But my blood boils when I [read/hear things like this](https://www.wusa9.com/article/news/local/dc/white-civil-rights-rally-application-approved-for-dc/65-565729881): > [@Jason Kessler](#): > > This year we have a new purpose. That’s to talk about the civil rights abuse that happened in Charlottesville, Virginia last year. Yeah, see, this guy somehow thinks he’s the aggrieved party here. > [@](#): > > Kessler blames the city and counter-protestors for the violence from 2017. > > “It wasn’t the fault of my group that that stuff happened,” he said. > > Kessler claimed people attending the rally with his group were victimized, :eek:😕 > [@](#): > > Kessler is working with police, the NPS, and giving people coming to the rally rules to hopefully keep things safer this year. > > The rally was organized to protect – what Kessler calls – “white civil rights.” > > “We’re not able to peacefully assemble. We’re not able to speak,” Kessler explained. Rebuttal: > [@Tracye Redd with Black Lives Matter DC](#): > > I keep telling people if your right to rally and your right to protest means that someone else’s life might be in danger, then it is no longer free speech but it is hate speech. Mr. Kessler’s myopia leads him to disagree, of course. > [@](#): > > WUSA9 asked Kessler if he could understand why some groups in America who have been historically marginalized could have a problem with your rally. > > He responded, “to be honest, I don’t think it is mostly black or Hispanic people that are offended by these rallies.” > > Kessler explained that he believes Democrats in higher education and politics target minority groups to get them upset about the views of far-right groups he is associated with. > > “This rally is not about opposing you. This is about us. This is about white people and standing up for our rights,” Kessler said. I would very much like for this to be the last White Power/Racist rally in America for quite some time. I would like for this to happen so much, that I might find it difficult to criticize whatever methods were employed to ensure that outcome. I’d like to see 100,000 or more show up to protest the 400 Nazis and remind them that Americans hate Nazis (particularly Illinois Nazis, I should point out) so much that Americans actually stopped everything and went to war so we could legally kill Nazis. The Park Service will likely issue the permit; do counter-protest groups need one or can they just show up? What if it’s not actually a group, just 100,000 like-minded people all independently deciding to head down to Lafayette Park on those two days to yell at Nazis? Because fuck you, you fucking Nazi fucks. ---
**Author:** ![Jasmine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jasmine/32/2964_2.png) [@Jasmine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jasmine)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2018, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/august-2018-white-civil-rights-rally-in-washington-dc/816575/2 "2018-06-22T15:59:16Z")
White people whining about Civil Rights is like Super Models whining about being body shamed, isn’t it? ---
**Author:** ![Slash1972](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slash1972/32/6461_2.png) [@Slash1972](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slash1972)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2018, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/august-2018-white-civil-rights-rally-in-washington-dc/816575/3 "2018-06-22T16:05:07Z")
> [@Jasmine](#): > > White people whining about Civil Rights is like Super Models whining about being body shamed, isn’t it? Well, as a white person, my right to call minorities racial slurs and treat other races as less than human without repercussion has been severely degraded. Maybe that’s what the Rally is for? ---
**Author:** ![Delicious](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/dbc845/32.png) [@Delicious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Delicious)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2018, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/august-2018-white-civil-rights-rally-in-washington-dc/816575/4 "2018-06-22T16:22:19Z")
“Why can’t I say ‘nigger’ when black rappers can? It’s raaaaaciiiist!” I will admit to some prejudice though, I would probably hire a non-white person preferably to a nazi, I’m a product of my time though and set in my ways. We must look to the younger generation to ensure racial purity. ---
**Author:** ![wintertime](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c68b51/32.png) [@wintertime](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wintertime)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2018, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/august-2018-white-civil-rights-rally-in-washington-dc/816575/5 "2018-06-22T16:32:45Z")
> [@Jasmine](#): > > White people whining about Civil Rights is like Super Models whining about being body shamed, isn’t it? Are we still fighting ignorance? The EU countries have mostly pretty good track records when it comes to civil rights (though Hungary has fallen off the wagon recently), and yet we have a serious problem with human trafficking from Eastern Europe - “white” girls sold into prostitution and labour “agreements” that are difficult to distinguish from slavery in practice (no matter that it doesn’t exist legally). Latvia discriminates its Russian minority also in law. Russia discriminates non-Russians in, well, far too many ways to address them in a single post. Bosnia and Serbia are no innocents either. “White” people face civil rights abuses whereever those are common; and, of course, lets not forget that more than half of all white people are women – and they have plenty to say about their struggle for equal rights. Having said that, Snowboarder Bo’s conclusion sounds fine to me. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2018, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/august-2018-white-civil-rights-rally-in-washington-dc/816575/6 "2018-06-22T16:42:14Z")
> [@Jasmine](#): > > White people whining about Civil Rights is like Super Models whining about being body shamed, isn’t it? Not really; these people are just the classic Useful Idiots complaining about the\* wrong\* things. There’s plenty of white people who are abused or oppressed for one reason or the other; it’s just not the fault of the blacks, or Jews, or Hispanics, or any of the other groups neo-Nazis like this blame. It’s the fault of people like Trump and the Republicans, the very groups such racists support (thus the “Useful” part of “Useful Idiots”). Which is just like the original version. Weimar Germany had plenty of real problems; but it wasn’t the fault of the Jews or the [imaginary “November criminals”](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stab-in-the-back_myth) like the Nazis claimed. ---
**Author:** ![septimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/septimus/32/410_2.png) [@septimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/septimus)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2018, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/august-2018-white-civil-rights-rally-in-washington-dc/816575/7 "2018-06-22T16:46:43Z")
The U.S. was founded on white supremacy. [Repeal14thAmendment.com](http://Repeal14thAmendment.com) is an available domain name; let’s get the movement to reclaim our country rolling. [“Why I’ll never stand again for ‘The Star-Spangled Banner’” – Read a liberal who hates America attack our country’s greatest song.](http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/king-stand-star-spangled-banner-article-1.2770075) In the third stanza — which the liberals don’t let us sing — Francis Scott Key, himself a white supremacist, celebrates the killings of the black “hirelings” who’d joined the British in revolt against their rightful owners: > [@](#): > > And where is that band who so vauntingly swore, > That the havoc of war and the battle’s confusion > A home and a Country should leave us no more? > Their blood has wash’d out their foul footstep’s pollution. > **No refuge could save the hireling and slave > From the terror of flight or the gloom of the grave,** > And the star-spangled banner in triumph doth wave > O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave. If it’s good enough for the immortal author of the “Star Spangled Banner”, it’s good enough for me! Make America Great Again. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2018, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/august-2018-white-civil-rights-rally-in-washington-dc/816575/8 "2018-06-22T17:11:47Z")
> [@septimus](#): > > The U.S. was founded on white supremacy. [Repeal14thAmendment.com](http://Repeal14thAmendment.com) is an available domain name; let’s get the movement to reclaim our country rolling. > > [“Why I’ll never stand again for ‘The Star-Spangled Banner’” – Read a liberal who hates America attack our country’s greatest song.](http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/king-stand-star-spangled-banner-article-1.2770075) In the third stanza — which the liberals don’t let us sing — Francis Scott Key, himself a white supremacist, celebrates the killings of the black “hirelings” who’d joined the British in revolt against their rightful owners: > If it’s good enough for the immortal author of the “Star Spangled Banner”, it’s good enough for me! > > Make America Great Again. Poe’s Law is going to give you a swift kick in the nuts one of these days. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Sailboat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sailboat/32/461_2.png) [@Sailboat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sailboat)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2018, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/august-2018-white-civil-rights-rally-in-washington-dc/816575/9 "2018-06-22T17:23:16Z")
I’m “white,” as the term is commonly used, but this guy has me thinking dark, dark thoughts. ---
**Author:** ![Defensive\_Indifference](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/defensive_indifference/32/6502_2.png) [@Defensive\_Indifference](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Defensive_Indifference)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2018, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/august-2018-white-civil-rights-rally-in-washington-dc/816575/10 "2018-06-22T17:42:05Z")
> [@Sailboat](#): > > I’m “white,” as the term is commonly used, but this guy has me thinking dark, dark thoughts. Aside: how is your wife doing, if you don’t mind my asking. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2018, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/august-2018-white-civil-rights-rally-in-washington-dc/816575/11 "2018-06-22T17:42:11Z")
In Lafayette Park, you say? I wonder what would happen if 100,000 random citizens of DC decided to have a picnic in Lafayette Park and got there really early? So that there wasn’t room for the Nazis to rally. ---
**Author:** ![DoggyDunnit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/5fc32e/32.png) [@DoggyDunnit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DoggyDunnit)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2018, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/august-2018-white-civil-rights-rally-in-washington-dc/816575/12 "2018-06-23T19:42:19Z")
> [@Delicious](#): > > “Why can’t I say ‘nigger’ when black rappers can? It’s raaaaaciiiist!” The sad part is how often I hear just that from these kinds of people. They just don’t seem to get that there’s a _world_ of difference between “-er” (pejorative/slur) and “-a” (neutral or term of endearment). On the latter, I do have issue with other black people who fault white people for using the “hard a” version. I have white friends who use it, including to refer to me, and that’s fine. To me it’s no different than “bro”, “homie”, etc. Context is key. ---
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2018, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/august-2018-white-civil-rights-rally-in-washington-dc/816575/13 "2018-06-23T19:46:13Z")
> [@DoggyDunnit](#): > > On the latter, I do have issue with other black people who fault white people for using the “hard a” version. I have white friends who use it, including to refer to me, and that’s fine. To me it’s no different than “bro”, “homie”, etc. Context is key. That’s not really how such fraught language works. You can decide what it means for you, but you can’t determine what it means for others when it comes from you. Like it or not, the world is a complex place, and with such fraught language, the race of the users of words with such a terrible history associated with racism and oppression can strongly affect how its usage is perceived by others. ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Borgia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/larry_borgia/32/156_2.png) [@Larry\_Borgia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Borgia)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2018, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/august-2018-white-civil-rights-rally-in-washington-dc/816575/14 "2018-06-23T19:53:33Z")
> [@septimus](#): > > The U.S. was founded on white supremacy. [Repeal14thAmendment.com](http://Repeal14thAmendment.com) is an available domain name; let’s get the movement to reclaim our country rolling. > > [“Why I’ll never stand again for ‘The Star-Spangled Banner’” – Read a liberal who hates America attack our country’s greatest song.](http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/king-stand-star-spangled-banner-article-1.2770075) In the third stanza — which the liberals don’t let us sing — Francis Scott Key, himself a white supremacist, celebrates the killings of the black “hirelings” who’d joined the British in revolt against their rightful owners: > If it’s good enough for the immortal author of the “Star Spangled Banner”, it’s good enough for me! > > Make America Great Again. That interpretation is debatable at best. “Hireling” probably refers to the mercenaries that England employed. “Slave” refers to the impressed British sailors. This language was also used in the Revolutionary war. Anyway, Fuck the nazis. That said, is it better to confront a movement that is expected to draw no more than 400 people from across the country, or should they be ignored and deprived of the attention they desperately crave? If there’s a lot of people going to the counter-protest, I’ll probably join them, though. ---
**Author:** ![bobot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bobot/32/21622_2.png) [@bobot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bobot)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2018, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/august-2018-white-civil-rights-rally-in-washington-dc/816575/15 "2018-06-23T19:54:40Z")
Is this associated with that wuss motherfucker that was talking all that shit for the cameras before the rally, then turned into a cry baby asshole later when he found out the cops wanted to speak with him? What became of that douchebag? While I’m here, fuck that asshole, fuck pampered ass kahki nazis, I hope the rally is struck by an earthquake and all of those fucksticks have their spines snapped falling into the earth and then get buried in a torrent of tiki torches, flags, stones and mud. Then the spot is spat upon. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2018, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/august-2018-white-civil-rights-rally-in-washington-dc/816575/16 "2018-06-23T20:08:20Z")
Y’know, it’s a funny thing, but I’ve never found a particular need to call anyone a “nigger” (or “nigga”), and my life has been impacted not at all by the social unacceptability of using either of those words. I wonder why that might be? ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2018, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/august-2018-white-civil-rights-rally-in-washington-dc/816575/17 "2018-06-23T20:18:38Z")
> [@Snowboarder\_Bo](#): > > > [@Tracye Redd with Black Lives Matter DC](#): > > > > I keep telling people if your right to rally and your right to protest means that someone else’s life might be in danger, then it is no longer free speech but it is hate speech. I have this to say to Tracye Redd: **Get the fuck off my side, you moron.** There is no legal definition of “hate speech” in American law, and that’s how it should be. “Hate speech” is a deliberately nebulous concept, something which is used to silence opposition, and it should never be defined in American law. Therefore, what she said is, one, legally incoherent, but, more to the point, two, indicative that she doesn’t like our strong free speech protections. And to that I say, do you think the establishment _wouldn’t_ have banned Martin Luther King’s speeches as hate speech if they had the chance? Why do you think _you_ have the right to speak the way you do? Do you think censorship _can’t_ be used aganst good ideas as well as bad? Yes, the idiots put people’s lives in danger. **That isn’t because of their speech, it’s because of their actions.** ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2018, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/august-2018-white-civil-rights-rally-in-washington-dc/816575/18 "2018-06-23T21:16:21Z")
But he explicitly says its just about promoting white people, _nothing_ against people who aren’t white! Accusing them of racism is wrong. That’s just tearing down without building up, it so negative! This is a _positive_ celebration of white, like _Sound of Music_ but with swastikas! ---
**Author:** ![wolfpup](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpup/32/10618_2.png) [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2018, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/august-2018-white-civil-rights-rally-in-washington-dc/816575/19 "2018-06-23T21:36:01Z")
> [@Derleth](#): > > There is no legal definition of “hate speech” in American law, and that’s how it should be. “Hate speech” is a deliberately nebulous concept, something which is used to silence opposition, and it should never be defined in American law. Therefore, what she said is, one, legally incoherent, but, more to the point, two, indicative that she doesn’t like our strong free speech protections. And to that I say, do you think the establishment _wouldn’t_ have banned Martin Luther King’s speeches as hate speech if they had the chance? Why do you think _you_ have the right to speak the way you do? Do you think censorship _can’t_ be used aganst good ideas as well as bad? Some facts you should consider. Canada has hate speech laws. They are carefully crafted as a balance between the best interests of a peaceful society and the constitutionally enshrined right of free speech. Martin Luther King wasn’t banned in Canada. He was in Toronto in 1967 without a problem, giving one of the famous Massey Lectures to great acclaim. Dangerous neo-Nazis have, however, been banned from Canada, or subsequently deported. Admittedly the hate speech laws weren’t enacted until (I believe) the 1980s, but that isn’t the point. The point is that absolutism in law because you don’t trust the government or don’t trust the courts is rarely beneficial, mainly because it doesn’t work anyway. In the 1950s during the Red Scare you could get arrested and jailed in many US states for being a supporter of communism, not to mention, at a minimum, having your life ruined. Look up McCarthyism, the [Communist Control Act of 1954](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Communist_Control_Act_of_1954), or these things, which had no problem coming into force despite the much-vaunted First Amendment: In addition to the Federal laws and responding to the worries of the local opinion, several states enacted anti-Communist statutes. By 1952, several states had enacted statutes against criminal anarchy, criminal syndicalism and sedition, banned from public employment or even from receiving public aid Communists and “subversives,” asked for loyalty oaths from public servants, and severily restricted or even banned the Communist party; in addition, six states, among them California[40] (see California Senate Factfinding Subcommittee on Un-American Activities) had equivalents to the HUAC.[41] Some of these states had very severe, or even extreme, laws against Communism. In 1950, Michigan enacted life imprisonment for subversive propaganda; the following year, Tennessee enacted death penalty for advocating the violent overthrow of the government.[41] Death penalty for membership of the Communist party was discussed in Texas by Governor Allan Shivers, who described it as “worse than murder.”[42][43] Municipalities and counties also enacted anti-Communist ordinances: Los Angeles banned any Communist or “Muscovite model of police-state dictatorship” from owning any arm and Birmingham, Alabama and Jacksonville, Florida banned any Communist from being within the city’s limits. > **[McCarthyism](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/McCarthyism#Repression_in_the_individual_States)** > > McCarthyism, also known as the Second Red Scare, was the political repression and persecution of left-wing individuals and a campaign spreading fear of alleged communist and Soviet influence on American institutions and of Soviet espionage in the United States during the late 1940s through the 1950s. After the mid-1950s, U.S. Senator Joseph McCarthy, who had spearheaded the campaign, gradually lost his public popularity and credibility after several of his accusations were found to be false.\[2 ---
**Author:** ![wolfpup](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpup/32/10618_2.png) [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2018, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/august-2018-white-civil-rights-rally-in-washington-dc/816575/20 "2018-06-23T21:56:06Z")
> [@elucidator](#): > > This is a _positive_ celebration of white, like _Sound of Music_ but with swastikas! The _Sound of Music_ had swastikas, too! So it’s _exactly_ like the _Sound of Music_! Well, OK, with a little bit of role reversal! [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/august-2018-white-civil-rights-rally-in-washington-dc/816575.md?page=2)