On August 11, 2017 and August 12, 2017, what was probably one of the most ludicrous protests in the history of the United States occurred. Not only were the outcomes of this protest unreasonable and tragic, but the reason for the protest to even happen in the first place are absolutely ridiculous. There were two protests for the same reason prior to this one, but neither of them ended in tragedy until the “Unite the Right” rally. Back in March of 2016, Charlottesville vice-mayor Wes Bellamy called for the statue of Robert E. Lee to be removed. The first protest didn’t actually begin until May of 2017. This protest, as well as all others, was partially organized by white supremacists Richard Spencer as well as the Ku Klux Klan. On July 8th of the same year, there was another protest. As was aforementioned, neither of these protests resulted in violence. The “Unite the Right” Rally was a whole other story. There were about 250 white supremacists who were protesting. They arrived at Charlottesville on the University of Virginia campus at around 8:45 PM on August 11th along with other groups of white supremacists for protection. The protection group was equipped with firearms. The protesters were equipped with torches that were fueled by kerosene. Another group of white nationalists ran up and down the line of protesters shouting commands. Eventually, they told them to start and the torches were lit. The protesters began marching and shouting things such as, “Blood and soil!”, “You will not replace us!”, and “Jews will not replace us!” Right off the bat, you can see how truly idiotic these protesters are. For one, they aren’t replacing “you” they’re replacing an inanimate object that only symbolizes hate and two, who said anything about Jews? The protesters marched along across the campus until they met a group of some 30 UVa. students who had locked arms around the base of the statue. This was a mixed group of both colored people and whites. The marchers began circling the statue and the students, some making monkey noises towards the African American counter-protesters. Eventually, the white nationalists began chanting “White lives matter!” and almost immediately after, all hell broke loose. The groups began fighting. They were punching, kicking, shoving, spraying mace, and the white supremacists were throwing their torches at the students. There was only one university police officer and no other form of law enforcement around this time. Soon enough, the police had arrived to bring the chaos back to order. Both the white supremacist protesters and the UVa. student counter-protesters suffered many injuries, but both sides were done for the night. The next day there were much more people and the protests started much earlier. There were more protesters, counter-protesters, and law enforcement, as well as a private militia that the local police department allowed to be there to try and help keep the peace. The two groups hurled insults toward each other and there was no fighting other than a few skirmishes here and there. At around 11 AM, the white nationalists began to march and the fighting began. It broke out everywhere. At around 11:20 AM, the police officers ordered the groups to disperse. The fighting stopped. At 1:14 PM, a man by the name of James Alex Fields Jr. drove his Dodge Challenger into a large crowd of pedestrians. He injured 19 people and also killed one woman, Heather Heyer. To me, this is without a doubt one of the most senseless acts of violence I’ve ever heard of. Fortunately, no more fighting broke out after this latest tragedy, but there were more fatalities. Later that night, at around 7 PM, there was a helicopter that was monitoring the rally which had crashed, killing the two passengers, Lt. H. Jay Cullen and Berk M.M. Bates. If this doesn’t show you how messed up America currently is, I don’t know what will. It doesn’t help that Trump said that this was an “egregious display of hatred, bigotry and violence on many sides, on many sides.” Many sides? How so? The only people here who were truly at fault are the white supremacists and I’m not just saying that because they’re white supremacists. Anyone, no matter how ridiculous is, has the right to believing in their own opinion, their right to freedom of speech and their right to peaceably assemble. Now, both the protesters and the counter-protesters were somewhat peaceably assembled, but it was the protesters, the white nationalists, who set off the violence. Of course, two wrongs don’t make a right, but what good is a counter-protest if you don’t fight back? In each instance of violence breaking out, it was the white supremacists who instigated it. The man who drove his car into the crowd of counter-protesters, killing one and injuring nineteen, was also a white supremacist. The counter-protesters were displaying no real hatred or bigotry, yet the white supremacists were screaming out racial slurs and insults for the entire duration of the rally. Now tell me, Mr. Trump, how exactly do “many sides” display hatred, bigotry, and violence. Hatred and violence, I can see how one might think that, but bigotry? Just the fact that President Trump didn’t and still hasn’t condemned the literal Nazis who caused this terrible tragedy is disgusting in its own right. Not only were these pointless acts of violence, but they were also acts of domestic terrorism, which no one seems to want to call it. In my humble opinion, I think that this was one of the most idiotic, stupid, pointless and nonsensical protest that I have been alive for. Was it really worth a life to protect this precious hunk of metal? Sure, the neo-Nazis as a whole might not have wanted anyone to die, but I find it hard to believe that people that sick and twisted weren’t at least a little bit happy that someone did.