We're still trying to figure how the National Socialist Movement came to pick Claremont as the place to hold a rally targeting illegal immigrants. A blurb popped up on the City's website announcing that the City was aware of the NSM plans for the March 19 rally and march in Claremont on Foothill Blvd. and a cross street to be named later.
(We're also waiting for Bob Gerecke and the Concerned Claremont Citizens, opportunists that they are, to tell us which one of the incoming City Council members and his supporters are responsible for the NSM's visit. We're sure Gerecke would love to find some way to pin it on the Kenyan guy - damn immigrant! A word of caution: craziness can come from the Left as well as the Right.)
The NSM event on the 19th is scheduled to run from noon to 1:00pm. A counter demonstration is also scheduled. The Daily Bulletin's Wes Woods II has a report with more details on the event and its organizers.
The NSM website has a press release announcing the event. It makes reference to the group's marches to "Reclaim the Southwest." There's also an obnoxious video:
(It occurred to us while listening to the audio of the clip above that the words, with little change, could have been uttered by a 19th-Century North American Indigenous Person Activist bemoaning the coming of the European invaders. This then reminded us that the swastika had been a symbol generally of good things in native-American cultures--as well as many cultures around the world--until it was appropriated by the German National Socialists and took on the associations of hate, totalitarianism, and death. Our lead image is a memento of those somewhat more innocent times.)
Looks like the NSM wants to piggyback its own agenda onto anti-illegal immigration sentiments being pushed by other more mainstream groups. Watching the NSM members parading around in their brown shirts would be amusing except that the German NSM, wasn't taken too seriously when they were getting started. So before you start laughing too hard, remember folks, there but for the grace of God go we.
The Southern Poverty Law Center, which tracks these sorts of groups, has a dossier on the NSM. Turns out they have a chapter in Riverside, so it's not like they have to travel too far. Anyway, here's what the SPLC has to say about the NSM:
NSM ideology mirrors that of the original American Nazi Party. The group openly idolizes Adolf Hitler, described in NSM propaganda as, “Our Fuhrer, the beloved Holy Father of our age … a visionary in every respect.” NSM says only heterosexual “pure-blood whites” should be allowed U.S. citizenship and that all nonwhites should be deported, regardless of legal status. As [NSM leader Jeff] Schoep put it: “The Constitution was written by white men alone. Therefore, it was intended for whites alone.”
The NSM is probably best known for carefully staged protests, carried out in full-blown Nazi uniforms and swastika armbands, that have managed to win substantial news coverage for the group. The best example of the NSM’s provocative rallies came on Dec. 10, 2005, when the group made international news after a planned march through a black neighborhood in Toledo, Ohio, sparked rioting by residents and counter-protesters. The riots cost the city more than $336,000, though the NSM members escaped the violence and were not liable for any of the destruction. “The Negro beasts proved our point for us,” Schoep crowed after the rally....
The NSM has had its share of movement scandal. In July 2006, it was rocked by revelations that co-founder and chairman emeritus Cliff Herrington’s wife was the “High Priestess” of the Joy of Satan Ministry, and that her satanic church shared an address with the Tulsa, Okla., NSM chapter....
A growing number of the NSM’s protests have targeted immigrants recently. On June 19, 2010, NSM members J.T. Ready, Jeff Hall and about eight other individuals (some of whom were not NSM members) congregated in Arizona’s Vekol Valley. Hall described the goal of their operation as to “fight the [Mexican drug] cartels and reclaim the land.” Armed with pistols and high-powered rifles, the group led patrols through the desert and “secured” an abandoned building. They claimed to have apprehended three illegal immigrants attempting a border crossing, although this has not been independently confirmed.
We're wondering how much the CPD presence is going to cost, and can we send the bill to Jeff Schoep at the group's headquarters in Detroit?
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