George Graham

Portrait of Pernicious Evil

 

Look at the young man in this picture. He looks innocuous, doesn’t he? He could be your next-door neighbor’s son.

But police records paint a more sinister picture — a portrait of a pernicious evil that is destroying America from within.

Some call it white nationalism. I call it lethal ignorance.

According to police reports, this young man, 20-year-old James Alex Fields Jr., drove his Dodge Challenger into a crowd of protesters at a “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville, Virginia yesterday.

A 32-year-old  woman was killed, and several other people were injured. Five are reportedly in critical condition.

Apparently, Fields has been a sick individual from his earliest days. According to his high school history teacher in Union, Kentucky, he was “infatuated with the Nazis (and) with Adolf Hitler.”

You might think sickos like Fields are a rare breed in America. But he has a lot of company. The “Unite the Right” rally drew hundreds of radical racists – neo-Nazis, skinheads and Ku Klux Klan members – to demonstrate against the city’s removal of a Confederate statue.

Sadly, these people are a significant part of Trump’s base.

Their violent clash with political opponents in Charlottesville this weekend should be a sobering warning to responsible Trump supporters.

America is in grave danger when bigotry and hatred are encouraged and creatures like Fields are made to feel empowered.

The news story

About the author

gwgraeme

I am a Jamaican-born writer who has lived and worked in Canada and the United States. I live in Lakeland, Florida with my wife, Sandra, our three cats and two dogs. I like to play golf and enjoy our garden, even though it's a lot of work. Since retiring from newspaper reporting I've written a few books. I also write a monthly column for Jamaicans.com