BLM vs. MAGA, unity or division

It is encouraging to see so many demonstrations across the country even in small towns and white suburbs, Americans coming together in a time of social distancing to show their opposition to police violence and support for a more just society.

Here in St. Charles, where more than 1,000 gathered in Lincoln Park on Saturday to lend their voices to this national movement, I can walk on any given day past two Trump MAGA flags and a Confederate flag within a few blocks of each other. In the same span, I have seen two BLM signs. These opposing symbols are never in the same yards. How could they be?

My daily walks amid the pandemic are showing me a quiet culture war between white nationalism and anti-racism. We have a president who has aggravated the situation, whose primary mode of operation is to pander to a white nationalist base and to attack by tweet anyone who criticizes him. Let's focus on that base.

Trump came to power on a wave of white nationalist backlash against a black president and increasingly multicultural nation just as much as he was elected for his stance against China and his supposed attacks on a swamp that he has come to embody.

Black Lives Matter reminds us that the country's promises have not been kept for many but that there is a path forward.

For all of the flaws of the president's opponent, there is an election in November that will bring these two visions once again into stark relief. It will be a choice of unity over division, justice over repeated injustice. Which do we want to be here in the Fox Valley and in the nation?

Eric Smith

St. Charles