A week ago Montclair University witnessed both the worst and best in humanity.
A preacher came onto our campus with an unfiltered message against African Americans, the LGBT community, and women's place in society. He started off in front of the student center where almost immediately a crowd gathered to oppose him. Our campus was number 18 in LGBTQ inclusivity in 2016 and values inclusivity no matter who you are. The paster went from topic to topic further enraging the protesters. Their methods of protest were peaceful in the presence of both the authorities and two children he had brought along as seen below. 
They changed methods, again and again, trying to quite his message of undeserved hate from shouting against him to playing music. After he had been forced to change venues due to a scheduling error the people left behind drew messages of love and acceptance with chalk. He was relocated to the amphitheater and the crowd followed. People from all walks of life came together against a common enemy. Someone spoke out about their experience as a non-binary person while he continued to spout off about how the Irish don't bring up their supposed previous slave identity so, why should Black Americans be allowed. In actuality, the Irish were never slaves, as any historian worth listening to will tell you
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Unfortunately for all their efforts, they did nothing to stop the pastor from speaking his mind. So is non-violence a real solution to people who have no empathy for others? No, in reality, we have seen real change through violence or directly affecting someone's life. For example, Richard Spencer may be letting go of speaking on campus due to the Antifa movement. Fights broke out during a lecture he was doing at Michigan State . Along with the organized walkouts and other aspects of their protesting convinced him that his college tour should be put on hold.There is also the aspect of social media affecting those who support these distasteful ideologies. There have been a few different cases of bringing everyday people out of the shadows of these groups that have had real-life consequences.
As members of our various communities, we have a choice. A choice that of what we'll tolerate from people and when not if, we'll poll our resources and fight to protect others. Violent thought leads to violent speech turning into violent action that can shake people to their core.The perpetrator of Mary Stoneman High School shooting has been found to been a member of a neo-Nazi party in Florida. Although we have focused on this particular group throughout they are not the only the only ones to blame. We can also blame ourselves for allowing these ideas and other violence to go unpunished and normalized in some cases.
In a time when basic human rights are eroding in America and elsewhere, we need to take a lesson from the Civil Rights Movement. An enemy without conscience cannot be defeated peacefully. Whether it's "white nationalists" advocating an ethnostate, hate preachers raging against LGBTQ people, or a government hellbent on banning abortion, defunding public schools, and fighting pointless wars, they can only be affected by direct action. Heed the words of writer Kurt Vonnegut: "During the Vietnam War, which lasted longer than any war we've ever been in - and which we lost - every respectable artist in this country was against the war. It was like a laser beam. We were all aimed in the same direction. The power of this weapon turns out to be that of a custard pie dropped from a stepladder six feet high." American won its freedom through violence. Why shouldn't we defend that freedom with violence?
