The statue of Confederate Gen. Stonewall Jackson Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

Combating Hatred with History

Since US President Donald Trump’s election in the US and the Brexit referendum in the UK, hate speech and crimes against ethnic minorities have started to become normalized across the West. To reverse this trend, all citizens should be encouraged to reflect on the not-too-distant past.

BRUSSELS – After a white-supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, in which anti-fascist campaigner Heather Heyer was killed, and many others injured, US President Donald Trump notoriously blamed “both sides” for the violence. By equating neo-Nazis with those who stood against them, Trump (further) sullied his presidency. And by describing some of the participants in the Charlottesville rally as “very fine people,” he gave a nod to far-right bigots worldwide.

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