Call me a mush, but I loved watching the black activist hugging the white supremacist in a nonconfrontational manner even if he invaded his space. People hate the caricature of others but it is hard to hate just flesh & blood of a different hued facade.
Someone has to break the cycle. Actions like that of this brave protester are more powerful than one can imagine because it is personal. I wrote the article “Why I give racists 2nd, 3rd, and more chances and it’s about sexism” that is congruous to this story that is worth a read.
Black protestor hugs white supremacist
https://twitter.com/Politics4dum/status/921099711536336896
WGN 9 reported the following.
GAINSVILLE, Fla. — A video shows the moment a black man hugged a Nazi outside white supremacist leader Richard Spencer’s speech Thursday afternoon at the University of Florida in Gainesville.
In the video, which was posted on Twitter by user Politics for Dummies, 31-year-old Aaron Alex Courtney is seen hugging the man and asking, “Why don’t you like me, dog?”
Courtney told the New York Daily News that he could have hurt the man or started a fight but instead wanted to show love.
“I asked him, ‘Why do you hate me? What is it about me? Is it my skin color? My history? My dreadlocks?”
When the Nazi looked away and avoided his questions, he gave him a hug.
“I reached over and the third time, he wrapped his arms around me, and I heard God whisper in my ear, ‘You changed his life,’” Courtney said.
When he asked again, “Why do you hate me?” the man replied, “I don’t know.”
The white supremacist said he did not know why he hated the other. We cannot allow instigators to create divisions between groups. The biggest fear of those in power is for Americans to realize they have a common enemy and it isn’t each other. Activists must cross lines to get that reality cauterized in the brains of our citizens. Then we can work together to fight that which pilfers us, the plutocracy.