The publisher of the neo-Nazi website The Daily Stormer threatened to organize an armed march in January on the small ski town of Whitefish, Montana, but now says he may call the march off if the town meets a list of demands.
Andrew Anglin organized the march in response to the town’s rejection of Richard Spencer, a prominent white nationalist leader who claims to have coined the term “alt-right” and who lives part-time in the area. The small community, whose economy is bolstered by tourism, has taken steps to reject Spencer’s brand of white nationalism.
Anglin’s original plan was “to put together about 200 people to participate in the march, which will be against Jews, Jewish businesses and everyone who supports either.” He believed he could get people to come from all over the country to march on the resort town.
An image advertising the event featured a disturbing image of the front of Auschwitz, complete with a yellow star reading “Jude” and photos of residents of Whitefish. Over the entrance, the word “Jude” was written. That is the German word for Jew.
An edited version of the image Anglin posted to advertise the march on Whitefish, via Haaretz.
“For the next phase of our plan … we are planning an armed protest in Whitefish. Montana has extremely liberal open carry laws, so my lawyer is telling me we can easily march through the center of the town carrying high-powered rifles,” Anglin wrote on his site.
But the Missoulian reported that Anglin said he would call off the march if residents in Whitefish agree to his demands to “promise that any protest actions you take in the future against Richard Spencer will not involve his family members.”
Spencer’s mother,Sherry Spencer, who owns a mixed-use building in downtown Whitefish, has been at the center of the controversy in town over her son’s views. She has written extensively about feeling that the community has protested her business in retaliation against her son’s beliefs.
Trump-world, where photos of Jewish Americans superimposed on Auschwitz is “freedom of speech”, but calling these people “Nazis” and protesting their businesses is “suppressing our freedom of speech”.
I’m sure Donald Trump has been tweeting his condemnations of this hateful situation like it was an SNL sketch, no?
Every morning for the last few weeks, I wake up and think, man, that was a f***ed up dream. And then I turn on the radio.
It’s OK for these would-be storm troopers to lump all Jews, all African-Americans, all Muslims, all (insert group here) together and attack them, but heaven forbid one of their family members should face criticism for associating with their filth.
(I don’t condone taking Spencer’s hate-mongering out on his mother, but I’d feel less like saying that she deserves it if she would condemn his bigotry rather than complaining about what she thinks people are doing to her.)
Wait, if lax open-carry laws are “liberal,” then shouldn’t these people be against them?