If you march with Nazis, you are a Nazi

A group of young men – more accurately labeled boys, given their actions – are learning a lesson about freedom of speech.

Consequences accompany freedom.

Thanks to the Bill of Rights, we all enjoy the freedom to pretty much say anything we want, anytime we want, no matter how hateful, hurtful and untrue those words are, with a handful of limitations. Our own president, reality TV star Donald Trump, consistently pushes the limits, and thus far has somehow managed to avoid serious consequences – other than plummeting poll numbers – despite his daily vomiting of lies and hate. That may have something to do with being a billionaire – supposedly – and the president of the U.S.

Those not fortunate enough to be in such positions of power have much more at stake, such as jobs, friends, family, reputation and so on.

That’s what many who marched Saturday alongside Nazis, who feel emboldened under Trump, during a “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville, Va., are learning. A social media campaign to publicly shame participants has been launched. One man has already been fired and the faces of numerous others are being plastered all over the internet for the world to see them as the racists they are. If you march alongside Nazis, you are marching on the wrong side, and to the rest of the world you are a Nazi, no matter your petty justifications.

One such participant was no other than James Allsup, who quit this week as president of Washington State University’s College Republicans.

To anyone who has followed Allsup, his participation comes as little surprise. Allsup says his detractors “have no proof” he is a racist – other than his numerous social media posts indicating as much and that he eagerly marched with Nazis, as evidenced by a video he posted to YouTube, and quickly deleted, of himself at Saturday’s rally.

Whether he said and did those things because he believes them or because he can’t get enough attention, much like the Milo Yiannopouloses and Ann Coulters of the world, doesn’t matter. He was and is free to do so thanks to the Bill of Rights.

And we are free to shame him and call him out as a racist and bigot.

It is time to stop being silent and to confront racism head on.

This story was originally published August 21, 2017 at 2:45 AM with the headline "If you march with Nazis, you are a Nazi."