From Words Matter, here's Elise Jordan and her final word.

In one final word, this past weekend marked the first anniversary of one of the darker

episodes of American history, the white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia,

that claimed the life of peaceful protester Heather Hire.

Just August, I watched the violence unfold in Donald Trump's response from Memphis, Tennessee,

where I had been staying with my mom as she recovered from surgery.

A few years ago, I was convinced that maybe with the new generation race relations were

getting a little bit better, certainly not fast enough, but I thought that there was

a perhaps a mild improvement and some steps in the right direction.

Donald Trump shattered that hope of progress.

His false equivalency, saying that among white supremacist and peaceful protester's

that there certainly were very fine people on both sides, was really that punch and just

an embarrassment.

Growing up in a small town in Mississippi during the 80s, the KKK was just reviled, at least

openly.

I always heard my mom talk about anyone who was remotely associated with the KKK was

just a terrible, awful person, and that was what I heard from my friends' parents, too.

It was basically how everyone talked about it.

With Trump's words, he managed to elevate what had been on the verge of extinction.

And of course, Donald Trump never really walked back his comments.

He only tried to justify his patently false and hateful words because he actually is racist.

It's because Donald Trump actually believes that there are, quote, very fine people on

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