Quote:
Originally Posted by krashkart
Sidenote: A region of the Western U.S. won a battle against Neo-Nazism/White Supremacy close to a decade ago (and even a decade earlier). Quite a victory for that particular state, IMHO.  I'll try to get some credible sources cited here if'n you are interested.
EDIT - ADDITION:
"Police urged the neo-Nazis to cancel the march, saying they could not guarantee the safety of participants along the route. The procession was eventually called off late in the afternoon."
Where the heck was that kind of response out West? (close to the Pacific Northwest) 
Worked a bit differently here in the US, during the late nineties/early 2000's. What I saw out west, is that normally those kinds of marches are allowed to proceed as planned without police intervention. The police will respond to violence. Neither side took up arms against one another. A good thing.
We stay on this side of the barricades, they march and vent on the other side. Both are free to exchange birdie fingers and so on - no biggie. Freedom of Speech, Freedom of Protest. Those are some of the rules, we go along with that. We don't want our rights to be amended over a hate speech, right? You bet. 
The Constitution cannot assuage what I feel in that kind of situation, it can only help to rein the emotions in. I do hope for a future here in the US where the police actually warn the haters of potential unmitigated physical harm, though. That might just be a good thing. 
BTW, I don't know if I have a right to say "Right on, Dresden!!", but to heck with it... Right on, Dresden!!  |
I believe you refer to the event listed here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Front
Quote:
Aryan Woodstock
Heick started to organize a concert of white power bands in a small town in Northern California. Heick was pushed aside by Tom Metzger, and the concert became a White Aryan Resistance event instead of an AF event. Heick and Metzger disagreed on almost every facet of the festival, including the name, Aryan Woodstock. Heick disagreed with Metzger's promotion of the event on his phone hotline, because the it was monitored by anti-racist activists, and would give them time to organize against the event. A WAR activist was told by three bureaucrats that no permit would be required to play live music at a private event on private land, as long as sanitation was provided for.
During the two weeks leading up to Aryan Woodstock, the event was a leading local news story. The county sought an injunction to block the gathering, and Heick appeared before a judge to defend AF and WAR's right to assemble. The judge ruled that the gathering may take place, but that there could be no music. Approximately 300 people from across the United States arrived on the property before the landowner caved to police pressure and allowed the authorities to close off the entrance. This stranded many would-be attendees, some who had traveled great distances to be there. Several hundred protesters were outside the property. Tension between AF and WAR increased soon after. Heick spent the next year visiting various AF units in California and across the United States before getting married and settling down in Portland Oregon.
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It was about 15 miles from where I was living in Vallejo, CA at the time. I went to the counterdemonstration and here were some of my memories.
1. Hanging out with the Jewish Vietnam Vets.
2.The property the Aryan Woodstock was held on was abut 3 miles up Hwy 12 from the freeway on the road to Napa so people had to walk up the whole way. It was cold, damp and gray and the agricultural fields were all muddy. There was a police cordon of Solano and Napa County Sherrif's Deputies, California Highway Patrol, Cordelia, Vallejo and Napa Police officers along the entire route to the property.
3. There were two counterdemonstration contigents who came by bus caravan from San Francisco and Berkeley. Many locals came too including WW2 vets.
4.Most of the organized groups were various communist front groups including the John Brown Anti-Klan Committee who organized the counter demonstration. Even I had no idea there were so many DIFFERENT Communist Parties.
5. The SF group, the first to arrive about 3,000 strong, does their obligatory agiy-prop and Kabuki rushing of the barricades while a few skinheads watched from the top of the hill doing the Sieg Heil salute.
6. After they finish, they march down Hwy 12 to the parking lot just as another 3,000 from the Berkeley contingent come marching up. So who gets caught between 6-8,000 angry leftists?
7. Two Dumb-Ass Klansmen from Modesto in full white robes, including a Modesto Klan chapter patch, who didn't get the report of the entrance being closed. As they come around the turn and get spotted simultaneously by both mobs, two roars go up from the respective crowds as they swarm towards the hapless racists gathering muddy dirt clods as the rain of mud gets launched towards them. They immediately run directly towards,
8. The only BLACK Cop on the route, a Highway Patrolman who's linked arms with his fellow officers to keep the idiot crackers outside the police line. He waited until the crowd got within about 50 feet of the hapless racists and their white robes were turned a muddy brown, both inside and out, before finally relenting and letting them through to safety. So they had to go home to Modesto and admit that it was a Black Man who saved them from certain lynching. It was on the local news channels at the time.
So that was my experience.