I am proud to live in a community where, despite individual political or social views, we can welcome those who appreciate our personal differences and promote kindness, respect and hope.
But those who wish to promote hate, condemnation or contempt, those who would give voice to the most repugnant and dangerous thoughts imaginable in any society, are not welcome. They can never be welcome.
This past weekend, we witnessed an example of profoundly unwelcome actions by a small and disgusting group of unwelcome activists.
White supremacists. Neo-Nazis.
Pathetic fools hiding behind masks in, I must assume, a subconscious effort to acknowledge their shame and idiocy. Call them what you will. I call them dangerous and revolting. They are unwelcome in our community — or any community.
Like many of you, I struggle with what we do to keep these unwelcome marauders away. While I am not a lawyer, I know the rule of law, the First Amendment, and our collective best interests demand we acknowledge their right to free speech, even when what they have to say goes against everything we hold dear.
That said, we must be ever vigilant and aware when otherwise protected speech crosses the line to inciting lawlessness, to real threats of harm. We must take every action available to us to stop these incidents should they occur. But we must always, as happened this past weekend, overcome their hate and intolerance with our collective kindness, respect and hope. We must show these unwelcome few that their efforts are wasted here.
Let us continue to be clear in our full-throated belief in our constitution and the rule of law and in our dedication to freedom of speech. But let us never confuse those sacred rights worth protecting with welcoming those who would take advantage of those very protections to spread their poisoned venom.
These weak-minded, attention-starved neo-Nazis do not represent our community, our values or any semblance of our collective decency and humanity.
They are not welcome.
Sean Swope is a Lewis County commissioner.
