{"article":{"id":16821,"heading":" ANTI-RACIST ACTION #2","author":"timmay","created":"2002-05-25 16:18:08","modified":"2005-08-15 00:58:43","last_modified":"Mon, 15 Aug 2005 07:58:43","article":"

IN THIS ISSUE:

Aryan Nations Rally Flops As Racists Fear A Repeat Of January 12 (Baltimore

ARA)

A Few Willing To Back Butler (York Dispatch)

Man Pleads Guilty To Indy Hate Crime (WRTV)

Vandalism Probed as Hate Crime (Los Angeles Times)

Hate Goes To College (The Denver Post)

Remembering Wounded Knee (Ponca Nation)

Winter\/Spring 2002 Issue Of The ARA Research Bulletin Is Out Now!

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Woe to the poor Aryan soldier!

Aryan Nations rally draws less than 20

Report from Balitmore ARA

April 2002

Perhaps the decrepit Butler faction of the Aryan Nations thought they could

do by themselves what five more vigorous fascist groups combined could not:

hold a successful white power rally in York. On January 12, the National

Alliance, World Church of the Creator, Hammerskin Nation, National Socialist

Movement, and the rebel Aryan Nations faction got themselves swiftly run out

of town by a spontaneous union of east coast antifascist militants and York

residents from the surrounding neighborhoods.

This time around Butler had promised a force of 350 fascists from Aryan

Nations and supporting groups. By pulling such a victory from the jaws of

defeat the 84 year old nazi must have hoped he might regain control over

what was once thought to be the premier white power organization in the

States. In the end around a dozen Aryan Nation?s members behind a police

presence of several hundred state and city police, spoke on the York County

Courthouse steps for about twenty minutes with no amplification and were

escorted out in police vans.

The whole proceedings elicited little more than a yawn from the gathered

city folk opposed to the nazi posturing. Small groups of friends and family

came mostly it seems to witness what kind of idiots there are to be found in

the world. Other youth came to see if a similar response as was given last

time would be needed again today. Anti-Racist Action brought 40 people

ready to support whatever direction locals wanted to take it. But before

long it became clear to everyone there was no where to take it. Who needs

to flog dead horses, especially with hundreds of riot cops with no badges

milling around? A mild chorus of taunts accompanied the frail Butler and

his crew as they made their back alley get away. And a few shouts of \"They

know they can?t mess with York!\" offered a proper summing up of the days

events.

Today puts to rest nazi claims of victory on January 12. At least one

bonehead crew backed out of the rally due to insufficient police protection!

All the other organizations that were offered another free pulpit in York

decided the costs were too high. Now no amount of bullshitting can cover

their retreat. And the lesson for anti-fascists is just as clear: always

shut them down. We all beat them so bad January 12, nobody needed to lift a

finger this time around.

The National Alliance looks to be planning big for their May 11 demo outside

the Israeli embassy. While walking pickets in the isolated embassy

neighborhoods is definitely a far cry from holding a presence in the mean

streets of America?s cities, allowing any type of street presence is too

much of a concession. In particular we refuse to let the NA cop any type of

\"anti-imperialist\" line or claim any solidarity with the Palestinian

struggle which they cynically invoke to build anti-semitism and white power

politics in general in the States.

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A few willing to back Butler : York man claims others feel the same, but

intimidated

By ELIZABETH EVANS

York Dispatch\/Sunday News

Sunday, April 21, 2002 3:07 AM MST

Sitting in a smoky bar with two buddies, John Swartz tapped the ash from his

Pall Mall, took a long pull from his 16-ounce can of Old Milwaukee, and

held out his arms to display two lightning-bolt \"SS\" insignias used by the

elite Nazi force.

\"Nobody means what they say anymore -- that's why I got these tattoos,\" he

said.

After leaving yesterday's lackluster white-power rally in downtown York, the

32-year-old mechanic and his friends were followed by reporters and

photographers .

Swartz entertained a few perfunctory questions, giving newspaper and

television reporters a fake name: Ralph Johnson.

Eventually, the trio made their way to the Station House bar on George

Street, where they expressed disappointment at how few people showed up to

support Richard G. Butler, founder and leader of the Aryan Nations.

\"I think a lot of people were afraid to go,\" Swartz said, because of

possible attacks by anarchists or, worse, the possibility of being 'outed'

in their own community.

\"But I'm not going to run away from what I believe in,\" he said.

Aryan sympathizers: The three men - Swartz, Mark McClain and Heath Kornbau,

all of York - wanted to hear Butler's words, but a noisy crowd and hovering

helicopter made it difficult.

\"I figured it would either be a total riot or a big fizzle,\" Swartz said of

yesterday's rally. \"I'm glad it was a big fizzle.\"

He described himself as a \"separatist\" who doesn't mind working next to a

black man, but who opposes mixed marriages and believes races should live in

separate neighborhoods.

\"I believe in the preservation of the white race -- the pure white race, the

Anglo-Saxons,\" he said. \"Around here, it used to be that people knew to

'hold the line.' They associated with their own.\"

Still, Swartz agreed that if everyone in the United States were white,

people would find some group to hate.

\"We're a warring mammal,\" he said.

Hidden support: Many people who privately agree with him keep their opinions

quiet, he said.

\"There's more than you know. They just hide under the covers,\" he said. \"We

are protected under the Constitution to have these views, yet we're

ostracized for them.\"

Swartz said he is not a member of any white-supremacist group, calling

himself an independent.

\"There's a lot of people out there who feel like I do who are a-holes,\" he

said. \"They have the right idea, but they resort to violence, which

compounds the problem.\"

Swartz said he believes many of the young people in the white-power movement

are searching for something.

\"These people don't know what they want,\" he said. \"It's an identity that's

real for them.\"

For others, Swartz theorized, \"It's fear. They hate and fear what they don't

understand.\"

Human nature: Swartz claimed that for him, it was a decision made as an

adult, not one he learned at home. \"I made this choice myself,\" he said,

despite the fact that his parents disagree, especially his mother.

\"I can see it in her eyes -- it hurts her,\" he said. \"She says, 'I didn't

raise you to be like this.'\"

Swartz raised his shirt and pointed at a tattoo on his stomach that simply

reads, \"filth.\"

\"That's how some people perceive me ... for what I believe,\" he said.

Swartz said he believes people should be judged as individuals.

\"I can have respect for a black man, Swartz said. \"I can shake his hand on

the street.\"

All he really wants out of life, he said, is to have several kids, own a few

acres of wooded land, and have enough privacy.

Mostly, he said, he just doesn't want to be lonely.

Swartz said he understands his beliefs could make it tougher, perhaps

impossible, to find a wife.

He admits he couldn't marry a woman who's adopted unless she's been able to

determine the ethnicity of her biological parents.

\"That's one of the pitfalls of what I'm about,\" he said.

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Man Pleads Guilty To Indy Hate Crime

WRTV

29 Apr 02

INDIANAPOLIS -- A self-proclaimed neo-Nazi pleaded guilty Monday to the

attempted murder of a black teenager from Gary, authorities said. Trevor

Thompson, 21, is accused of shooting 13-year-old Ashley McNeil in the hip as

she walked with friends outside an Indianapolis convenience store on June

21.

\"It was a horrendous crime, contemptible conduct, and he's looking at 30

years in prison,\" Marion County Prosecutor Scott Newman said.

Investigators said that Thompson, who has tattoos of swastikas, apparently

argued with several black men about the insignias and then went on a mission

to hurt someone who was black.

McNeil recovered from her injury, but surgeons did not remove the bullet

from her body.

Sentencing for Thompson is scheduled for May 24.

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Vandalism Probed as Hate Crime;

San Diego: Outdoor murals depicting the history of Chicanos are defaced in a

city park.

Tony Perry

Los Angeles Times

May 1, 2002

SAN DIEGO - Police are investigating as a possible hate crime the defacing

of five outdoor murals painted on steel and concrete pillars at Chicano Park

in the Barrio Logan neighborhood here, officials said Tuesday.

The brightly colored murals of heroic, larger-than-life figures depict the

history of Chicanos in the southwestern United States, as well as important

people in Mexican, Chicano and Latin American history.

Although vandalism and graffiti are common in public places here, the

spray-paint attack on the five murals, which was discovered Monday, marks

the first time that the artwork of Chicano Park has been marred in its

30-year history.

\"Chicano Park has always been a kind of sacred ground: no gang graffiti, no

tagging graffiti,\" said police Sgt. Joe Woods, who is leading the

investigation. \"This is definitely a first.\" One mural was spray-painted

with the words \"Down With Mexico\" in Spanish. On the others the phrase \"Viva

la Miga\" was painted, probably a misspelling of the word \"migra,\" a slang

term for the Border Patrol. One mural had a four-letter expletive in

English.

\"This is an outrageous act and has offended my community greatly,\" said

artist Salvador Torres, who painted some of the murals and is known as the

\"grandfather of Chicano Park.\"

The park--beneath an elevated portion of Interstate 5 leading to the

Coronado Bay Bridge--was born of the Chicano political activism that arose

in the late 1960s and early '70s.

The site had been scheduled to be a California Highway Patrol facility but

protesters, angry at the prospect of losing control of the land, blocked

bulldozers in April 1970. That protest is often celebrated in Chicano

history as a landmark event in a movement that emphasized radical politics

and cultural pride.

Faced with the protest, the CHP and San Diego City Council backed down and

allowed the area--wedged between homes and an industrial zone--to become an

urban park, with murals and a lawn.

There are now more than 55 murals on the concrete and steel pillars of the

overhead freeway done by more than two dozen artists, including several

schoolchildren.

Two weeks ago, thousands of people flocked to the park for an all-day party

to commemorate the 32nd anniversary of the 1970 protest and its slogan

\"Reclaiming What's Ours.\"

Richard Griswold del Castillo, chairman of the Department of Chicana and

Chicano Studies at San Diego State, said that Chicano Park has the largest

outdoor collection of Latino\/Chicano murals in the United States and that

the murals are central to the park's historic and cultural significance.

\"Chicano Park is a place of celebration, of cultural renewal, spiritual

rededication and political protest,\" he said. \"I am in shock and disbelief

that someone would do this. I'm ashamed for San Diego.\"

Students in literature, anthropology and Chicano studies classes regularly

visit Chicano Park to study the murals and ponder their importance.

On Tuesday, for example, a literature class from San Diego City College was

at the park studying the murals. \"This is ruthless, absolutely terrible,\"

said English professor Elva Salinas. \"It's the kind of hurtful thing that

white supremacists might do.\"

Salinas' students shared her outrage. \"Everybody should be able to show

their culture without other people messing it up,\" said Jeanna Balestrieri,

20, a sophomore. \"This is just wrong.\"

Ruben Moreno, the city Park and Recreation Department supervisor for Chicano

Park, said he was surprised that anyone would dare deface the murals, given

the protective feeling in the surrounding neighborhood.

\"If anyone had seen them do it, you can bet they would have stopped them,\"

he said. \"It's not a smart idea to hurt the murals when anybody is around.\"

Raymond Uzeta, president of the Chicano Federation of San Diego County, said

he is pleased the Police Department is treating the vandalism as a possible

hate crime, which could lead to tougher penalties for the culprits.

\"I hope they're caught and prosecuted,\" he said. \"We cannot tolerate people

coming into a neighborhood and destroying public art that has brought so

much pride.\"

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Hate Goes To College

Abby L. Ferber

The Denver Post

April 28, 2002

In the past few weeks, incidents of hate and bias on Colorado campuses have

garnered public attention. The Colorado College student newspaper ran a fake

news story on April 1 that ridiculed African-Americans with recycled

stereotypes. This was followed closely by anti-Semitic messages scrawled on

the sidewalks at the University of Colorado in Boulder.

These incidents are not aberrations. Earlier this year, bulletin boards were

plastered with Neo-Nazi fliers at the University of Colorado at Colorado

Springs, where I teach. An African-American student in Washington discovered

threatening hate notes in his locker, warning of lynching and death; at

Brown University, an African-American senior was beaten up by a group of

white students who called her a 'quota.' Arab and Muslim students have faced

a deluge of threats and harassment since Sept. 11. While we like to think of

universities as institutions of higher learning above such irresponsible

pranks and racism, hate crimes and bias incidents are frighteningly common

on college campuses. 250 incidents of campus hate crimes were reported in

1998. Far more pervasive stillare bias acts - harassment that is not

criminal in nature. Sociologists estimate that there are 1 million bias

acts per year.

And sociologists estimate that only 20 percent of hate crimes and bias

incidents on campus are reported to campus officials - even fewer to the

federal government.

Bias acts such as the recent events on Colorado campuses affect students

throughout the country. White students may pay little attention when news of

such incidents reaches them, but for minority students, the consequences can

be far-reaching. Sociologists have advanced the notion of co-victimization

to characterize this experience. Co-victims see attacks or threats against

their peers as threats against their own well-being. Because hate crimes and

bias acts target victims based on their group membership, all group members

are made to feel vulnerable and at risk.

As a faculty member, I am concerned. Is there anything we can do to prevent

such incidents in the future? Research shows that there is not one simple

answer.

The pervasive assumption that racial inequality has already been remedied

lies at the heart of the problem. Many white students today believe that

inequality is a thing of the past - a problem dealt with by their parents'

generation and the civil rights movement. In addition, the college

environment may be the first place that white students have any prolonged

contact with anyone different. Increased contact between groups can be

potentially positive, or explosive, depending to a large extent upon the

campus culture.

The American Sociological Association's recently completed report on hate

and bias acts on college and university campuses explores model responses

and proactive measures taken across the nation to prevent outbreaks of hate.

The task force found that support for diversity across the campus

significantly reduces hate and bias.

While we tend to reduce hate crime to the acts of a few prejudiced

individuals, research shows that the climate or broader culture plays a

pivotal role in reducing or enabling the expression of hate. The task force

found that three elements were most successful in reducing levels of hate

and bias:

A diverse curriculum, including support for ethnic minority studies

and womens' studies programs, as well as integration of diversity across the

curriculum.

Diverse activities and programming for the broader campus community.

Strong institutional leadership and an organizational structure that

supports diversity.

What this means is that the power to prevent such acts lies within our

hands, as a community. While we may not be able to change each individual

who harbors racist thoughts, we can and must work together to create campus

climates that reduce the likelihood of such expressions. We must send a

strong message to all students that we care about educating each and every

one of them in an intellectually challenging, yet safe, environment.

(Abby L. Ferber teaches sociology and women's studies at the University of

Colorado-Colorado Springs, and is the co-author of two books on white

supremacy and hate crime.)

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Flashback | Remembering Wounded Knee, 1973

by Carter Camp, Ponca Nation

I would like to dedicate these words to the brave young warriors of the

\"Native Youth Movement\", each generation in its turn must face the enemy to

ensure the survival of our Red Nations. It is my prayer that NYM warriors

will one day know the joy and pride we knew at Wounded Knee.

Ah-ho My Relations,

Today is heavy with prayer and reminisces for me. Today is the anniversary

of the night when, at the direction of the Oglala Chiefs, I went with a

special squad of American Indian Movement warriors to liberate Wounded Knee

in advance of the main AIM caravan. For security reasons the People had been

told everyone was going to a meeting\/wacipi in Porcupine, the road goes

through Wounded Knee. When the People arrived at the Trading Post we had

already set up a perimeter, taken eleven hostages, run the B.I.A. cops out

of town, cut most phone lines, and began 73 days of the best, most free time

of my life. The honor of being chosen to go first still lives strong

in my heart.

That night we had no idea what fate awaited us. It was a cold night with not

much moonlight and I clearly remember the nervous anticipation I felt as we

drove the back-way from Oglala into Wounded Knee. The Chiefs had tasked me

with a mission and we were sworn to succeed, of that I was sure, but I could

not help wondering if we were prepared. The FBI, BIA and Marshalls had

fortified Pine Ridge with machine gun bunkers and A.P.C.s (Armored Personel

Carriers) with M-60 machine guns. They had unleashed the

goon (Guardians Of the Oglala Nation) squad on the people and a reign of

terror had begun, we knew we had to fight but we could not fight on wasicu

terms. We were lightly armed and dependent on the weapons and ammo in the

Wounded Knee trading post, I worried that we would not get to them before

the shooting started.

As we stared silently into the darkness driving into the hamlet, I tried to

forsee what opposition we would encounter and how to neutralize it...We were

approaching a sacred place and each of us knew it. We could feel it deep

inside. As a warrior leading warriors I humbly prayed to Wakonda for the

lives of all and the wisdom to do things right. Never before or since have I

offered my tobacco with such a plea or put on my feathers with such purpose.

It was the birth of the Independent Oglala Nation.

Things went well for us that night, we accomplished our task with little

bloodshed and without loss of life. Then, in the cold darkness as we waited

for Dennis and Russ to bring in the caravan (or for the fighting to start),

I stood on the bank of the shallow ravine where our people had been murdered

by Custers' 7th Cavalry. There I prayed for the defenseless ones, torn apart

by Hotchkiss cannon and trampled under hooves of steel by drunken wasicu. I

could feel the touch of their spirits as I eased quietly into the infamous

gully and stood silently...waiting for my future, touching my past.

Finally, I bent over and picked a sprig of sage - whose ancestors in 1890

had been nourished by the blood of Red babies, ripped from their mothers

dying grasp and bayonetted by the evil ones - As I washed myself with that

sacred herb I became cold in my determination and cleansed of fear. Ilooked

for Big Foot and Yellow Bird in the darkness and I said aloud...

\"We are back my relations, we are home.\" Hoka-Hey!

(American Indian Rights Activist and Ponca Tribal Leader, Carter Camp has

worked for Tribal Sovereignty and Treaty Rights for over thirty years. He is

a former National Chairman of the American Indian Movement and founder of

Kansas and Oklahoma A.I.M. In 1973 at Wounded Knee, South Dakota, Carter

was one of three A.I.M. leaders who led several hundred warriors in the

historic, 73 day Wounded Knee liberation and subsequent 'siege' by the

American Government.)

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Out Now!

Issue #3 (Winter\/Spring 2002) of the ARA Research Bulletin

The 32-page new issue of ARA's top-notch journal of anti-racist research,

analysis and

debate is now available! Features in this issue include:

-an anti-fascist analysis of \"The Battle of York, PA.\"

-a comprehensive report on recent activities of the National Alliance

















































































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