In respect to whether Nazis should have the right to hold a rally at the Capitol this Saturday, I completely agree that they do.

Nazis have the constitutional right to assemble and spew their hate speech.

However, simply ignoring them, as some have proposed, and hoping they will go away is absolutely the wrong approach.

That kind of apathetic response is what occurred in 1930s Germany.

These racist thugs were ignored then and look what happened.

The Lansing community needs to stop this ideology of racial annihilation from spreading by speaking out against it.

Not by choosing to put it out of sight and out of mind.

Using the Capitol building as a medium for their mindless hate has to be met with a counter message that white supremacy is simply cowardly and pathetic and not what our community stands for.

Protesting the Nazi rally gets the point across that people supporting a policy of mass murder are not welcome in the Lansing area.

Furthermore, the theory that protesting this rally will automatically produce violence is completely false.

Quite the opposite, it will spread a message of peace and understanding, which Nazis obviously lack.

I realize violence has occurred at these rallies before (I did witness one in South Bend, Ind.), but that does not mean we cannot have a peaceful demonstration against a belief system that is determined to see the destruction of a multiracial/cultural society.

Just as the famous folk singer Woody Guthrie once wrote on his guitar, "This Machine Kills Fascists," using one's voice, instrument, or any other method of communication to express disapproval of another's views has the best chance to win in the marketplace of ideas.

Lansing needs the people's voice to speak out, especially since we've got the numbers.

Kirk Stadnika
interdisciplinary humanities senior