[WAsummit] News article about the situation in Minneapolis

[Timothy Wise]

I agree, there is something new happening right now. It had been about  
7 years since I'd had a Nazi show up at one of my speeches, but I had  
one (from the National Alliance) come to my speech last month in  
Kentucky...also a serious uptick in hate mail lately. I don't think  
this necessarily signifies real growth in these groups, per se, but it  
may indicate a growing boldness in the face of the Obama  
Administration, and the belief by some of the more fascist type groups  
that they can harness some of the more mainstream public anger in a  
blatantly white nationalist/supremacist direction.

tim wise

On Oct 5, 2009, at 2:11 PM, Dottye Burt-Markowitz wrote:

> Jeff,
>
> I am wondering if other folks on the WAsummit listserve are seeing  
> blatant white supremacist activities in their areas.  I got a call  
> last week from a white friend who received an anonymous postcard,  
> obviously from a white supremacist group that chose not to identify  
> itself, telling him (after his name appeared in the newspaper in an  
> article about a telephone pole that needed to be replaced) that "he  
> has more to worry about than a phone pole", and then making racist  
> and anti-immigrant statements about the neighborhood where my friend  
> lives.  It's been more than 20 years since we've seen this kind of  
> organized white supremacist activity in Baltimore (where the 65%  
> African American population tends to keep the extreme extremists  
> away or at least out of sight).
>
> Dottye
>
> On Sat, 03 Oct 2009 09:37 -0400, "Jeff Hitchcock" <jeffhitchcock at euroamerican.org 
> > wrote:
>>
>> http://minnesotaindependent.com/46255/community-mobilizes-to-oppose-neo-nazi-rally-in-minneapolis
>>
>> Community mobilizes to oppose neo-Nazi rally in Minneapolis
>>
>> By Andy Birkey 10/2/09 1:17 PM
>> <image001.gif>The National Socialist Movement, a homophobic and  
>> anti-semitic white supremacist group, is threatening to protest a  
>> workshop at the Minneapolis YWCA about white privilege and white  
>> supremacy. It will be the first public NSM event here since a 2007  
>> book-burning, and several groups of Twin Citians say they plan to  
>> make that visit an unwelcome one.
>>
>> The neo-Nazi group, which up until late 2007 was headquartered in  
>> Minneapolis, announced it will protest the “More Than Skin Deep:  
>> Uprooting White Privilege and White Supremacy one cell at a time”  
>> workshop being held Saturday at the Midtown YWCA. The event “is for  
>> white people who already have an understanding of white privilege  
>> and white supremacy (WP/WS) and want to learn more about how to  
>> dismantle WP/WS through embodiment work, education, visioning and  
>> practical action.” Attendees will learn to “use critical race  
>> content and embodiment exploration to uproot ideologies of white  
>> supremacy and systems of white privilege in our lives.”
>>
>> And workshop attendees will likely get a first-hand look at white  
>> supremacy if members of the NSM show up.
>>
>> A number of counter-protests are planned for Saturday. “The NSM has  
>> been holding racist anti-immigrant rallies in southern Minnesota,  
>> and now they are seeking to establish a presence inside the City of  
>> Minneapolis,” reads a flier posted at the May Day Cafe in south  
>> Minneapolis. “They plan to bring their racist, homophobic, anti- 
>> immigrant, antisemitic message of division and hate right into the  
>> heart of the city. They must not go unopposed!”
>>
>> On Wednesday, more than 100 Minneapolis residents attended an  
>> emergency meeting to develop strategies for the counter protest.
>>
>> “We need to defend the vibrant, multi-ethnic diversity we have here  
>> in Minneapolis,” Dan Gannon, an anti-racist community organizer,  
>> said in a press release Friday. “Our city must remain a ‘no-go’  
>> zone where white supremacists cannot organize or build a movement  
>> with their hate speech and violence.”
>>
>> A Minneapolis resident who attended the meeting, Angelina Vazquez,  
>> said, “We’re not going to let this happen in our city. This is an  
>> attack on our multiracial, multicultural community. We refuse to be  
>> put under siege by violent right-wingers.”
>>
>> Workshop organizers say they haven’t organized a counter-protest,  
>> but they’re happy the community is coming together to oppose the NSM.
>>
>> Heather Hackman and Susan Raffo are organizing the YWCA workshop.  
>> “Susan and I are grateful that people are stepping up against these  
>> protesters,” said Hackman. “We are also very grateful for the  
>> support of the Y.”
>>
>> “There are a number of people responding in a number of ways to  
>> this protest, and challenging racism and challenging white  
>> privilege,” she said. “It’s clear that this community is not going  
>> to stand for this.”
>>
>> Hackman says the organizers will address the crowd at 10 am.
>>
>> The Saturday protest will be followed by an NSM-organized rally  
>> “against illegal aliens and communism” at the Veteran’s Memorial in  
>> Austin, Minn., on Oct. 17, according to the group’s Web site.
>>
>>
>> --Jeff
>
> -- 
> Dottye Burt-Markowitz
> Paso Training and Consulting
> 425 South Chester St.
> Baltimore MD 21231
> phone: 410-327-0134
> pasoconsulting at fastmail.fm
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