Thread: SC: Neo-Nazi group to rally against illegal immigration

http://www.thestate.com/136/story/35261.html

South Carolina

Posted on Fri, Apr. 13, 2007

Neo-Nazi group to rally against illegal immigration at State House
By LEE HIGGINS - lhiggins@thestate.com

The National Socialist Movement — the largest neo-Nazi group in the country — has scheduled a rally against illegal immigration April 21 in front of the S.C. State House.

Two hundred people are expected to participate, said John Taylor Bowles of Laurens, who heads the organization’s state operations.

The event occurs the same weekend as the group’s three-day national meeting, which begins April 20 in Laurens.

The group plans to gather at 12:30 p.m. at Assembly and Lady streets, then march to the State House, when a three-hour demonstration will begin at 1 p.m.

Bowles applied to the Columbia Police Department for a parade permit.

The department is still working out details with the NSM and has not made a decision whether to approve or deny it, according to Sgt. Florence McCants.

“Our concern is just being able to maintain security for everyone involved,” McCants said.

The NSM has already been granted approval to rally on the north grounds of the State House from 1-4 p.m., according to documents from the State Budget and Control Board.

Some NSM stormtroopers are expected to attend in uniform, wearing brown shirts with swastikas on the left arm band, black pants and army boots, Bowles said.

NSM members plan to carry 10 flags, five of which have swastikas on them and a banner advertising the movement, Bowles said. They are expected to be joined by members of the Ku Klux Klan and other white supremacist groups as they give speeches opposing illegal immigration and the Iraq war, organizers said.

Jeff Schoep, 33, of Minneapolis, the group’s commander, claims many illegal immigrants contribute to crime and have made little effort to assimilate to the American culture.

“A lot of them don’t speak English,” Schoep said. “They’re not trying to speak English. They’re coming to conquer our country, not to become a part of it.”

The NSM is expecting some protesters, but hopes things go smoothly, Schoep said.

“If it gets physical, we will defend ourselves,” he said.

The group’s demonstrations have caused friction before.

On Oct. 15, 2005, about two dozen NSM members gathered at a park in Toledo, OH to march against black gangs they said were harassing white residents, according to Associated Press reports.

Prior to the march, people protesting the NSM started a riot, some throwing baseball-sized rocks at police, vandalizing vehicles and stores.

In all, 114 arrests were made on charges including assault, vandalism, failure to obey police, failure to disperse and overnight curfew violations, the AP reported.

Twelve police officers were injured, including one who suffered a concussion when a brick came through a side window of her cruiser and hit her on the head.

Bowles said millions of immigrants have illegally entered the country and politicians and the Mexican government have done little to stop it.

The NSM wants U.S. troops removed from Iraq and deployed along U.S. borders, particularly the Mexican border, Bowles said. “We just can’t keep open borders,” Bowles said. “The military’s job should always be to protect the United States and its citizens and the border should be the number one priority right now.”

The Ku Klux Klan and NSM have recently been exploiting hot button issues, including illegal immigration, to draw members, according to the Anti-Defamation League.

“That issue seems to resonate with people who otherwise would have nothing to do with these organizations,” said Bill Nigut, ADL’s Southeast Regional Director. “It’s conceivable that they see that it resonates and therefore they hammer away at it even more.” NSM leaders would not say how many members are in their organization.

According to the ADL, there were between 100 and 200 members in 2004.

The NSM has two chapters in South Carolina, Nigut said.

The aim of the NSM is to root out “Jews, illegal immigrants and African-Americans” who they believe are “polluting the white race,” Nigut said.

“They want a pure Aryan race controlling America and they have no willingness to accept the diversity that America is,” Nigut said. Allen Kohlhepp, an ADL researcher, suspects that the rally could draw several dozen NSM members. But he said the group is usually outnumbered by 10 times as many counterdemonstrators.

One People’s Project, a Philadelphia anti-racist watchdog group, expects to have members at the rally observing and taking notes, according to spokesman Daryle Lamont Jenkins.

Jenkins is encouraging people to protest the group.

But the battle against racism must be carried out in one’s everyday life in educational institutions, courtrooms, churches and places of employment, he said.

“You’re gonna have to make a difference in your everyday life against them,” Jenkins said. “If you know somebody involved in an organization like this and you know they have a position of influence you’ve gotta call them out on it.”

Reach Higgins at (803) 771-8570.

Bad idea! Jerks!!!

I hope and pray that the message against illegal immigration is delivered peacefully.

Lovely! I wish there was a way to keep them out of this debate. I feel like it simply fuels the fire when it comes to the OBLer's excuses to call us racists, and I know none of us have ANYTHING to do with the likes of these people.

This is another reason to oppose illegal immigration. I do not give some of the character assassinating left wing groups much credibility, but I believe they are right that groups like this are growing and using illegal immigration to grow.

We can thank the Federal government, the illegal aliens and their corporate sponsors for this as well.

When people see that the government is not enforcing the existing laws and is failing the entire American citizenry on its most basic Constitutional requirements, then groups like these will flourish.

In many ways, the ADL and SPLC are helping the KKK and the Neo-Nazis to grow by trying to say that anyone that opposes illegal immigration or amnesty is just like these groups. While that is clearly not true, the ADL and SPLC announcing one hell of a sales point on their behalf!

The main danger I see in motion now is that the ADL, SPLC, and other hyper racism charge personalities and groups are doing is lowering the publics concern about these groups. They are trying to brand 80% of America, including the blacks and Latinos that oppose illegal immigration, as racist.

Therefore, many people in the public will be less likely to respond to their cries of racism in the future due to their abuses of the terms.

Real racism and real racial violence exists, but me and the people fighting against illegal immigration are much more in danger of a hate crime against us than the opposition.

Those groups will quickly seize on this news out of South Carolina and try to run it up the flag pole to say "Hey look America! If you are upset about illegal immigration your are a Nazi!"

Everyone here knows that is EXACTLY what they are going to do.

When they do it, they will put all of us that stand up in more danger.

They will paint invisible swastikas over many innocent heads. When the fringe left and illegal alien supporter groups think that, it means that they will feel justified inflicting violence upon us.

By trying to paint Americans that are concerned about illegal immigration as being associated with these groups gathering in SC, they will intentionally be elevating the threat of physical harm against any American that stands up or speaks out against illegal immigration.

Already, an illegal alien supporter is over ten times more likely to require law enforcement detention than an American on our side.

Already, the number of assaults against Americans on our side is huge compared to the few small episodes of shoving they can find from someone on our side.

Already, our side is in danger of being silenced.

ALIPAC makes every effort we can to keep groups like these away from our operations, but this is America and they have the same dwindling rights that we do. I may disagree with what they have to say, but I will defend their right to say it.

That is something I think more Americans should repeat these days.

Should our peaceful, civil, and multi-ethnic attempts to restore balance between the American public and the actions of the Federal government fail, then there will be a rapid rise in groups that will abandon many of the methods we have employed and turn to more radical solutions.

The people to thank for that will be the illegal aliens, their corporate sponsors, the hijackers of our government, and groups like the ADL and SPLC that will attempt to brand all Americans and all groups opposing illegal immigration as racist.

We do not condone or support them in anyway and we have said that again and again.

Yet, we do not have as much time to worry about fighting a few hundred people in groups like this.

We are too busy fighting to stop the next batch of 6-10,000 illegal aliens coming in tonight and to save the 12-25 Americans that will be killed tomorrow while 12-25 families weep tonight over the needless and preventable slaughter of those they loved.

No, we have to chose where to focus our energies in this fight. I've spent my dues in civil rights campaigns and I spent years giving groups like those gathering in SC all sorts of hell.

We have to be ready to fight those that will use this to try to mislabel other innocent Americans. What they are doing is worse than anything these people Nazis in SC are going to do at this event.

The crazy left wing groups may have to reschedule their book burning party they had planned after the Imus lynching to deal with the groups in SC. They can always start the book burning later.

W

http://link.toolbot.com/sun-sentinel.com/74416

Check out this story

Wow!

I wonder if the SC rally is sponsored by agencies working under the direction of the Executive branch as well?

EVERYONE HAS GOT TO READ THIS! I MISSED IT ON THE FIRST RUN BACK IN FEB.

---

Neo-Nazi rally was organized by FBI informant

Henry Pierson Curtis
Sentinel Staff Writer
Posted February 15 2007

A paid FBI informant was the man behind a neo-Nazi march through the streets of Parramore that stirred up anxiety in Orlando's black community and fears of racial unrest that triggered a major police mobilization.

That revelation came Wednesday in an unrelated federal court hearing and has prompted outrage from black leaders, some of whom demanded an investigation into whether the February 2006 march was, itself, an event staged by law-enforcement agencies.


The FBI would not comment on what it knew about the involvement of its informant, 39-year-old David Gletty of Orlando, in the neo-Nazi event. In court Wednesday, an FBI agent said the bureau has paid its informant at least $20,000 during the past two years.

"Wow," Gletty said when reached by phone late Wednesday. "It is what it is. You were there in court. I can't really go into any detail now."

Orlando City Councilwoman Daisy Lynum, whose district includes the march route west of Interstate 4, said she wants to know who was behind the march, the neo-Nazis or the FBI and other law-enforcement agencies.

"If it was staged, I would feel very uncomfortable and would ask for a full-scale investigation," Lynum said. "To come into a predominantly black community which could have resulted in great harm to the black community? I would hate to be part of a game. It's a mockery to the community for someone else to be playing a game with the community."

Others applauded the FBI's infiltration of the neo-Nazis.

"It's one of the largest extremist groups in the country, and Gletty was one of the most visible individuals in the National Socialist Movement," said Andy Rosenkranz, state regional director for the Anti-Defamation League. "Generally, the FBI and the JTTF (Joint Terrorism Task Force) in Florida does an excellent job."

Rally puts city in spotlight

Orlando drew national attention when the city granted a permit to Gletty so a minimum of 100 white supremacists and National Socialist Movement members could march Feb. 25 through the historically black Parramore neighborhood.

Wearing swastikas and holding signs declaring "White Pride," the 22 neo-Nazis who turned out were protected from 500 counterprotesters by about 300 police officers.

Gletty's secret life became public Wednesday in a federal court hearing resulting from the arrest last week of two suspected white supremacists on charges of conspiracy to distribute crack cocaine.

Last Thursday, the FBI arrested Tom Martin, 23, and John Rock, 35, after Gletty wore a wire to a meeting and agreed to help them rob a drug dealer in Casselberry, according to testimony.

Rock told Gletty in a tape-recorded conversation that he and Martin had robbed seven drug dealers by posing as law-enforcement officers, according to testimony. Martin and Rock remain held without bail in the Seminole County Jail.

Slip-up lets name out of bag

Throughout most of the hearing, Gletty was referred to as "Mr. X" or "CW" (cooperating witness). His identity was revealed when Assistant Federal Public Defender Peter W. Kenny repeatedly slipped up and mentioned Gletty's full name.

FBI agent Kevin Farrington and a federal prosecutor were clearly uncomfortable with the disclosure of the informant's name in open court.

Questioned about Gletty's role in the march, Farrington testified that "he participated in it. He did not organize it. . . . [That's] pretty good firsthand information, sir."

The city parade permit, however, lists Gletty as the "on scene event manager."

And pictures of Gletty addressing marchers sporting swastika armbands for the Orlando rally appear on a neo-Nazi Web site. Captions from other photos on the site mock the counterdemonstrators and the police presence.

On another Web site, Gletty details his role in organizing the Orlando event and hosting a victory party afterward.

"On 1/17/06 I got the permits and started the ball rolling," he writes. "On 2/25/06 at 3 pm on saturday [sic] in downtown Orlando My crew and I got it done."

In another part of the posting, he writes: "Since I was the permit holder I was the person to deal with the police and had over-all authority of the event."

No word from FBI

FBI officials did not return calls asking for specifics about the agency's relationship with Gletty. A tree-trimmer in Orlando, he withdrew from the National Socialist Movement last fall to pursue other projects, Farrington testified.

Orlando police Deputy Chief Pete Gauntlett, who supervised the march preparations, would not say what the FBI told police about Gletty and other marchers.

"We let them express their free speech and let them do what they're allowed to do, but we wanted to have control," Gauntlett said.

Bill White, a former spokesman for the National Socialist Movement who participated in the rally and now runs another neo-Nazi group, said he was surprised to hear of Gletty's involvement with the FBI. He said Gletty did a lot for the cause.

A neo-Nazi offers his take

"If he was being sponsored by the FBI, then American National Socialism has a lot to thank the FBI for," White said in an e-mail.

Lynum said that if the FBI was behind the march, she would like the agency to reimburse the city for the tens of thousands it spent to send officers -- including SWAT-team and mounted-unit members -- to police the march.

Adora Obi Nweze, president of the State Conference NAACP in Miami, said she was disturbed an informant set up the march and was working for the FBI.

"That's very troubling that somebody like that would be an informant for the FBI," she said. "You never know what they are capable of. No question, it bothers me."

But Alzo Reddick, a former state legislator who grew up in segregated Orlando, lived through KKK marches and later taught black history, said he was proud of the way the police and the community responded. He was a member of the "Be Cool" movement organized to calm the community before the march.

"I think law enforcement has to walk in some murky places to be where the bad guys are," Reddick said. "Was the FBI informant an activist or a participant? Was he the agent provocateur from the get-go? Sure, that would be part of what I'd like to know."

Rene Stutzman, Jim Leusner and Willoughby Mariano of the Sentinel staff contributed to this report. Henry Pierson Curtis can be reached at hcurtis@orlandosentinel.com or 407-420-5257.

http://link.toolbot.com/sun-sentinel.com/74415

FBI informant. Hmmmm, "absolute power corrupts absolutely".

The executive branch has seized too much power by using the pretence of security. The executive branch is lacking in oversight and can now dictate what will be enforced. Congress should be eliminating some of the presidential powers.

Jeff Schoep, 33, of Minneapolis, the group’s commander, claims many illegal immigrants contribute to crime and have made little effort to assimilate to the American culture.

Minneapolis, MN is a long way from South Carolina.

Dixie

I wouldn't put anything past either the government or the pro-immigration bunch to discredit either we anti-illegal alien activists or the minute men movement.

Well, I sure smell a rat. If these people are white supremecists, why would they only protest illegal immigration? Wouldn't they protest all non-white immigration?

This sounds like the "KKK" joining the Minuteman ralley in California. In reality these people were pro-illegal goons posing as the KKK.