Media Frenzy in Missouri

Comrades,

Today was another day of non-stop interviews. Col. Bishop was interviewed by ABC, Sgt. Boswell fielded some press, and I was on National Public Radio. Yesterday was tv and Newspaper interviews. Here are a few links and stories below, more to follow later on. 88 Commander Schoep

Here we go, this is just from today alone:

http://www.showmenews.com/2007/Mar/20070308News006.asp

Aryan agenda includes creating white nation


By JOE MEYER of the Tribune’s staff
Published Thursday, March 8, 2007
The National Socialist Movement, scheduled to march Saturday in Columbia, is a neo-Nazi group seeking to create an all-white America.

The group’s Web site says the organization is "dedicated to the preservation of our proud Aryan heritage and the creation of a National Socialist society in America and around the world."

The group also works with other white supremacy groups such as the Ku Klux Klan, Aryan Skinheads and Racial Nationalist Party of America.

Jeff Schoeb, commander of the Minneapolis-based group, said the organization is a "white people political party." The group plans on sponsoring 2008 presidential candidate John Taylor Bowles, who plans to attend this weekend’s event, according to a news release sent by the group.

Schoeb, who said he would not attend the march, said the march is intended to recruit new members and act as a political campaign. The parade permit says the group wants "to protest the promotion of Marxism by the University of Missouri."

The permit allows the group to march between noon and 5 p.m. Saturday near the University of Missouri-Columbia campus.

Columbia police have discouraged the public from attending the demonstration, and community leaders have organized alternative events.

In a news conference yesterday, MU Chancellor Brady Deaton said he would like people to use Saturday afternoon as a time to reflect on positive ideas and activities. That should be "the first step" for better dialogues about diversity, he said.

Schoeb said his group, which traces its origin to the American Nazi Party, believes in nationalism first and that all non-Aryans should be evicted from the country.

"America was a white country and these other people don’t belong here," Schoeb said. "When you force cultures together, it’s very difficult for them to get along."

The group’s other goals include affordable and accessible health care, higher education for poor students paid by the state, the nationalization of all corporations, and ensuring that all citizens of the all-white nation have equal rights and duties.

The Montgomery, Ala.-based Southern Poverty Law Center, which monitors hate groups, counted 82 National Socialism chapters in the country last year, including one in Columbia.

Mark Potok, director of the center’s intelligence project, said internal feuds and bickering have caused some members of the neo-Nazi group to leave during the past year. Potok predicted group members in Columbia would wear Nazi uniforms and shout racial slurs.

"What you’re likely to see is a dozen Nazis, surrounded by a hundred police officers, surrounded by 500 counterdemonstrators," he said. "The danger of these counterdemonstrations is the counterdemonstrators can’t get to the Nazis."

MU assistant geography Professor Larry Brown, who teaches a class about white nationalism, said the group wants to "create a scenario where they can justify their white supremacy."

"What they have been doing in recent years, they have a march and broadcast their propaganda verbally and try to get a violent reaction from the community," Brown said.

He also said the public should avoid downtown on Saturday. "Unfortunately, they are great verbal manipulators," he said. "Whether you think you can just listen, next thing you know you’re angry."

Reach Joe Meyer at (573) 815-1783 or jmeyer@tribmail.com.

Police Get Ready For Nazi March: From ABC

http://www.kmiz.com/news/default.asp?StoryID=4443
Greg Dingrando :: 3/6/2007


Nobody knows what will happen at the rally because it depends on how the crowd reacts to their protests. But whatever happens the Columbia Police Department wants to make sure its ready.

The parade route the nazi group will take is mainly on the MU campus centered around the school of journalism. It misses most of the businesses in the district, but others aren't so lucky. Mike Geiss, co-owner of the Campus Bar & Grill says they will take precautions more to prevent anything from happening, but other than that he’s not too concerned about it.

The neo-nazi group may have the right to freedom of speech, but police say they'll have them on a tight leash. Captain Zim Schwartze with the Columbia Police Department says they must stay on the sidewalk and side of the roadway. She says they cannot block traffic or individuals walking and must keep moving.

Police are hoping for no problems, but just in case, they're beefing up their manpower with help from five different agencies. They’re also busting out the heavy equipment.
Schwartze says anytime you have a chance for a riot we have helmets as well as vests and gear, shields, and special mace

The local police may not be used to dealing with a hate group like the nazi's but they have had some help. Schwartze says they researched other stops the group has made and it was very helpful to here from other agencies about what works well and what doesn’t work. Schwartze says it was a great way for them to prepare.

The march will on Saturday from noon to five.

Cities work to keep Nazi marches out of spotlight
By PAM COHEN and STEPHEN NELLIS

March 8, 2007

Community Responses
Nov. 11, Austin, Texas: About 20 members of the National Socialist Movement gathered at the state Capitol building. The Austin American-Statesman reported there were about 250 counterdemonstrators and no arrests.
Aug. 28, Madison, Wis.: Sixty-four members of the National Socialist Movement gathered at the state Capitol building. The Daily Cardinal reported that about 300 police officers and 800 counterdemonstrators turned out, resulting in one scuffle and five arrests.
July 3, Olympia, Wash.: Thirteen members of the National Socialist Movement gathered. The Olympian reported that about 200 police officers and about 500 counter demonstrators turned out, resulting in no arrests. Community members organized a diversity fair, fundraising and documentary screenings; counter demonstrators drowned out the neo-Nazis by banging pots and pans, according to the Olympian.
Feb. 25, Orlando, Fla.: Twenty-two members of the National Socialist Movement marched through a predominantly black neighborhood before holding a rally at City Hall. The Orlando Sentinel reported that about 300 police officers and more than 500 counterdemonstrators responded, resulting in 17 arrests. Some residents attend a memorial to Coretta Scott King and a prayer rally.
Oct. 15, 2005, Toledo, Ohio: About 12 members of the National Socialist Movement marched. The Associated Press reported that counterdemonstrators threw rocks, bricks and other debris at the neo-Nazis, starting a 600-person riot, in which a bar was burned down and several buildings were looted. The mayor declared a state of emergency and an 8 p.m. curfew for the two days following the riot. Twelve police officers were injured and 114 people were arrested.
July 17, 2004, Lincoln, Neb.: Fifty members of the National Socialist Movement gathered at the state Capitol, drawing 225 police officers and about 300 protestors, which resulted in two arrests, according to the Lincoln Journal Star. A diversity rally four miles away drew more than 1,000 people.
— Compiled by Pam Cohen

When Steven Morrison, executive director of the Jewish Community Council in Madison, Wis., learned that members of the National Socialist Movement planned a rally on the steps of the Wisconsin state Capitol on a Saturday afternoon, he didn’t hesitate to announce what he planned to do during the event — take a nap.

“It’s a hundreds-of-years-old Jewish custom to take a nap every Saturday afternoon ­— Saturday is the Jewish sabbath,” Morrison said. “So what I announced was that I thought everybody should follow Jewish custom and take a nap on Saturday afternoon.”

Morrison and his group joined several other Madison groups in telling city residents to stay home and ignore the neo-Nazis when they came to his city in August, emphasizing that just because the group had a right to speak didn’t mean the community had to listen.

“The goal was to let the Nazis know that we believe in doing positive things here,” Morrison said. “We encouraged people to make a contribution to (groups supporting the rights of minorities and immigrants) because that’s the kind of thing they would really hate.”

Peter Munoz, executive director of the Centro Hispano of Dane County in Madison, joined Morrison in encouraging residents to show disapproval by staying away.

“We knew that here in Madison (the neo-Nazis) would look very pathetic,” Munoz said. “For us, the most ideal situation was that they would show their pathetic selves in their small demonstration and that they would go away as soon as possible.”

Not everyone agreed with the stance taken by Morrison and Munoz.

Chris Dols organized a group called No Nazis in Madison and helped turn out more than 800 counterdemonstrators at the Capitol, according to The Associated Press.

Dols said he wanted to confront the 64 neo-Nazis because he was troubled by how mainstream he thought sentiments of anti-immigration and discrimination had become.

“It’s a big mistake to say that there aren’t people out there who are interested in joining the Nazis,” Dols said. “We argued that Nazis can’t just be ignored. People used that argument in Germany in the early 1930s: These folks are lunatics, they’re fringe, they’re marginal. But the thing about the society we live in is that there aren’t very good explanations for why there is misery, for why there’s war, for why there’s unemployment. A lot of people are looking for explanations, and, unfortunately, the Nazis have an explanation. It’s not a very good one, but they have an explanation nonetheless.”

Despite the counterdemonstration, the Madison rally came and went with five arrests and no violence, leading Madison police to consider the day a success, according to The Associated Press.

Munoz and Morrison said their experience dealing with hate groups taught them that no response was the best response.

“I’ve been doing this for almost 40 years,” Morrison said. “I’ve found over the years that this kind of approach of quarantine ... is a very effective strategy.”

Because Madison had peacefully responded to hate groups in the past, Morrison and Munoz said they didn’t feel it necessary to schedule alternative events during the neo-Nazi rally. Morrison said that doesn’t mean other communities shouldn’t do so.

“There’s a difference, I think, between Columbia and Madison,” Morrison said. “Unless you have this tradition in the community where lots of crazy kinds of people show up, there’s maybe less of a developed tradition of how to respond.”

Such alternative events can be effective in drawing crowds. In July 2004, residents of Lincoln, Neb., attended a No Place for Hate rally in a park, while members of the National Socialist Movement gathered on the steps of the state Capitol building several miles away.

“We wanted them to have a party and have nobody show,” said Susan Scott, executive director of the Young Women’s Christian Association in Lincoln.

Scott said the event included speakers and entertainment and drew in about 1,400 people, compared to the 350 counterdemonstrators at the Capitol.

Munoz said he thought scheduling alternative activities during Saturday’s anticipated neo-Nazi march is a good idea for Columbia.

Alternative activities are “excellent options,” Munoz said. “If you feel compelled to do something, that’s exactly what should happen — alternative events to draw people. It will be the young ones who will be inclined to, if there aren’t other options, go and counterdemonstrate. Counterdemonstrations are totally counterproductive.”

Columbia Reacts to NSM March www.komu.com video footage found here:

COLUMBIA- Mid-Missourians are outraged at Saturday's planned National Socialist Movement march and are planning many opportunities to counter the negativity.


Mayor Darwin Hindman says although the group is legally allowed to march, he wants to fight fire with fire.

"They're going to express themselves, as disgusting as their message maybe," Hindman said. "But it's those of us who I think are thedecent people, the people who really believe in America in the way it isand should be that need to get together and express themselves ina peaceful way as well."



The march is scheduled to go through downtown Columbia Saturday. Many organizations plan to have counter-protests in other parts of town. One website is even collecting donations which will go to groups that the NSM members hope to shake-up.

Community leaders from across Columbia and beyond are urging residents to ignore the march. Ignoring the march may be difficult to some in such a compassionate area but the wait is becoming easier as more groups plan positive community events.

KOMU continues to report on events and opportunities for mid-Missouri to speak out in a positive manner prior to and during the NSM march. The links at right will lead you to additional stories and resources to improve your view.

Stay tuned to KOMU News and KOMU.com for the latest information on this developing story.