There is a lot of talk on the news yesterday and today about the tragedy in Charlottesville, Virginia, on Saturday. But I think there are a few things that are being left out of the discussion. The first is the right of Americans to hold differing views, even if some of us regard those views as despicable or unacceptable. The First Amendment gives us the right to be offensive. The First Amendment does not give anyone the right to violence.

In 1977, the leader of the Nazi Party in America announced that he was organizing a march on Skokie, Illinois, home of many Jewish people and many holocaust survivors. Horrendous idea, but legal. At first the city tried to block the march, but eventually the courts said that the march could go forward because of the First Amendment. As awful as this was, it was allowed under the First Amendment. The First Amendment allows free speech–it does not encourage the censorship of certain speech, even though that speech may be unacceptable to many of us.

According to a Jewish Telegraphic Agency article from 2013, this is what happened the day the march actually occurred:

The NSPA (Nationalist Socialist Party of America) march was held on June 25, 1978, though the march never materialized. About 20 or so  Nazis congregated for only ten minutes, and throngs of Jewish and other groups drowning out their voices. Jewish organizations planned counter marches not only in Skokie, but in New York City and other places.

Meir Kahane also held a rally in 1977, after the initial cancellation but prior to the court rulings permitting it to go ahead. Kahane urged a crowd estimated at 400 to “kill Nazis now” and to arm themselves, exhorting them: “Every Jew a .22.”

President Carter also issued a statement: “I must respect the decision of the Supreme Court allowing this group (the Nazis) to express their views, even when those views are despicable and ugly as they are in this case. But if such views must be expressed, I am pleased they will not go unanswered. That is why I want to voice my complete solidarity with those citizens of Skokie and Chicago who will gather Sunday in a peaceful demonstration of their abhorrence of Nazism.”

Why was the city of Skokie able to avoid the type of violence we saw in Charlottesville? Was it simply a matter of numbers? Another thing to keep in mind was that not all the people demonstrating in Charlottesville were racists, white supremacists, neo-Nazis, etc. I am sure there were people who were there simply to protest the tearing down of national monuments and the erasing and rewriting of our history.

There was also a very interesting post at The Gateway Pundit yesterday which included the following:

FOX News reporter Doug McKelway attended the violent protests Saturday in Charlottesville, Virginia.

…This was after violent Antifa terrorists launched an attack on the white supremacists.

Doug McKelway: We are now beginning to hear criticism bubble up on all sides of this event about the initial slow response by the police. When I got out of my car yesterday in Charlottesville about 10:30 in the morning you knew this was a bad scene and bad things were going to be happening because people were congregating at Lee Park and Emancipation Park wearing helmets, body armor, carrying big heavy sticks. Nobody was intent on peace here from either side. People were intent on causing havoc and causing damage. And even as wounded were being brought out of the park police were sitting idly by. I was standing off a cordoned off area where the police had set up as a staging area, the state police, and they said you can come in here this is a safe area. But when the tear gas started to fly, thrown by protesters, the police themselves began to evacuate then. I asked the guy who was in charge, “Where you going?” He said, “We’re leaving. It’s too dangerous.” They had a chance to nip this thing in the bud and they chose not to.

We had riots in Baltimore when the police stood down. We had riots in Berkley when the police stood down. What is going on here?