Now For The "Other" Rally

Counter-rally promotes peace
More than 400 gather at Memorial Park
Mediha Fejzagic DiMartino, Staff Writer
Posted: 03/19/2011 05:34:08 PM PDT

CLAREMONT - Saturday's peacemakers came in all shapes and sizes - college students, sports fans, farmers, moms. Amidst the scent of a burning sage, they formed a circle, standing shoulder to shoulder against racism.

"We have come together in a spirit of love for each other," said Native American spiritual leader Al Villanueva during the Claremont for Peace rally held the Memorial Park. "Human spirit has no color, no gender, no national origin, no religious denomination and no borders."

More than 400 people attended the gathering held just blocks away from a protest staged by The National Socialist Movement, the neo-Nazis.

"I came because our nice little town is being violated by this hatred," said Claremont-native
Marlyn Alonzo of Glendora, left, and Johnny Keys of Pomona stand in a prayer circle along with more than 400 people attending the Claremont For Peace rally, held Saturday at Memorial Park. (Mediha Fejzagic DiMartino/Staff Photographer)
Jeff Jones.

After the Native American ceremony, Rev. Rob Patton, a senior pastor at Claremont United Church of Christ which sponsored the event, rallied the crowd.

"I say Claremont, you say peace," Patton shouted, followed by cheers from the audience. "I say love, you say all. I say one, you say faith.

"Blessed are the peacemakers. We are all children of God. We are here for peace, oneness, community, for connection."

Paul Buch, a cantor from Temple Beth Israel also spoke, emphasizing the importance of getting to know one another.

"The greatest weapon we have against hatred and intolerance is finding opportunities to get to know and share our lives with broad range of citizens," Buch said. "What breeds ignorance and hatred is fear. The only way to conquer fear is love and understanding. In the modern digital age, it's hard to do it online, without looking into each other's eyes."

Elissa Simkins of Alice Springs, Australia, has arranged her trip back to the United States to make sure she attends the rally.

"We don't want this in Claremont or in the world," Simkins said.

Teresia Santee of Pomona was on her way to the anti-war protest held in Los Angeles, but decided to come to Claremont and "act locally" instead.

"This is the old one form the 1960s," Santee said while tying a paper inscribed with "Peace is patriotic" on the park fence. "I heard Nazi were coming and I just had to stand against that. Seeing all the young people, that was important."

Anthony Ortega, a Los Angeles-based Chicano civil rights historian said he did not want to miss the event because "it's important to promote peace and oppose right-wing elements such as neo-Nazi or Minutemen."

"We are going back to the civil rights era all over again," Ortega said.

Laura Williams of Temecula, whose daughter attends the Webb Schools, echoed Ortega's words.

"We don't understand each other as humans, we see our differences more than similarities," Williams said.

Ruth Lynch of Claremont said she also wanted to add her voice against the racism, but rally's Native-American ceremony "seemed to focus just on people of color."

"The prayer was inspirational, but it made me feel like I don't belong here," Lynch said. "There were no American flags, no American counter of Nazis. They were highlighting things that have gone bad in the past with the white people. It became a racial thing."

Read more: http://www.sbsun.com/ci_17654220?IADID=Search-www.sbsun.com-www.sbsun.com#ixzz1HBGs5Rzr

Comment:

Comrades, what Ms. Lynch just said is typical of these kinds of people. They go out of their way to exclude Whites, and always make us the bad guys. Whatever their problems, it's always our fault. A Black doesn't get a job, it's our fault. A Latino gets deported, it's our fault. Taxes go up, it's our fault. There's hate in the world, it's our fault. Gee, we must be a terrible group of people.

In reality, THEY are the ones who make it about race, not us. THEY are the hateful ones, not us.

We mustn't let them dump the blame for the world's problems on us. The state of things today is EVERYONE"S fault, not just ours.

Now For The "Other" Rally

Counter-rally promotes peace
More than 400 gather at Memorial Park
Mediha Fejzagic DiMartino, Staff Writer
Posted: 03/19/2011 05:34:08 PM PDT

CLAREMONT - Saturday's peacemakers came in all shapes and sizes - college students, sports fans, farmers, moms. Amidst the scent of a burning sage, they formed a circle, standing shoulder to shoulder against racism.

"We have come together in a spirit of love for each other," said Native American spiritual leader Al Villanueva during the Claremont for Peace rally held the Memorial Park. "Human spirit has no color, no gender, no national origin, no religious denomination and no borders."

More than 400 people attended the gathering held just blocks away from a protest staged by The National Socialist Movement, the neo-Nazis.

"I came because our nice little town is being violated by this hatred," said Claremont-native
Marlyn Alonzo of Glendora, left, and Johnny Keys of Pomona stand in a prayer circle along with more than 400 people attending the Claremont For Peace rally, held Saturday at Memorial Park. (Mediha Fejzagic DiMartino/Staff Photographer)
Jeff Jones.

After the Native American ceremony, Rev. Rob Patton, a senior pastor at Claremont United Church of Christ which sponsored the event, rallied the crowd.

"I say Claremont, you say peace," Patton shouted, followed by cheers from the audience. "I say love, you say all. I say one, you say faith.

"Blessed are the peacemakers. We are all children of God. We are here for peace, oneness, community, for connection."

Paul Buch, a cantor from Temple Beth Israel also spoke, emphasizing the importance of getting to know one another.

"The greatest weapon we have against hatred and intolerance is finding opportunities to get to know and share our lives with broad range of citizens," Buch said. "What breeds ignorance and hatred is fear. The only way to conquer fear is love and understanding. In the modern digital age, it's hard to do it online, without looking into each other's eyes."

Elissa Simkins of Alice Springs, Australia, has arranged her trip back to the United States to make sure she attends the rally.

"We don't want this in Claremont or in the world," Simkins said.

Teresia Santee of Pomona was on her way to the anti-war protest held in Los Angeles, but decided to come to Claremont and "act locally" instead.

"This is the old one form the 1960s," Santee said while tying a paper inscribed with "Peace is patriotic" on the park fence. "I heard Nazi were coming and I just had to stand against that. Seeing all the young people, that was important."

Anthony Ortega, a Los Angeles-based Chicano civil rights historian said he did not want to miss the event because "it's important to promote peace and oppose right-wing elements such as neo-Nazi or Minutemen."

"We are going back to the civil rights era all over again," Ortega said.

Laura Williams of Temecula, whose daughter attends the Webb Schools, echoed Ortega's words.

"We don't understand each other as humans, we see our differences more than similarities," Williams said.

Ruth Lynch of Claremont said she also wanted to add her voice against the racism, but rally's Native-American ceremony "seemed to focus just on people of color."

"The prayer was inspirational, but it made me feel like I don't belong here," Lynch said. "There were no American flags, no American counter of Nazis. They were highlighting things that have gone bad in the past with the white people. It became a racial thing."

Read more: http://www.sbsun.com/ci_17654220?IADID=Search-www.sbsun.com-www.sbsun.com#ixzz1HBGs5Rzr

Comment:

Comrades, what Ms. Lynch just said is typical of these kinds of people. They go out of their way to exclude Whites, and always make us the bad guys. Whatever their problems, it's always our fault. A Black doesn't get a job, it's our fault. A Latino gets deported, it's our fault. Taxes go up, it's our fault. There's hate in the world, it's our fault. Gee, we must be a terrible group of people.

In reality, THEY are the ones who make it about race, not us. THEY are the hateful ones, not us.

We mustn't let them dump the blame for the world's problems on us. The state of things today is EVERYONE"S fault, not just ours.

The Circus Is In Town!

Heated words, no more
Dueling events feature sharb jabs, but no violence

Wes Woods II, Staff Writer
Posted: 03/19/2011 10:37:46 PM PDT

CLAREMONT - Armed for a war of words with megaphones and sharp tongues, about 30 people from the National Socialist Movement and 400 to 500 anti-Nazi protesters taunted each other Saturday during two rallies drawing attention to America's policy on immigration.

"We have more white people than you," came a barb from someone with the anti neo-Nazi group, which stood at the southeast corner of Foothill and Indian Hill boulevards. "How does it feel?"

Jeff Hall, Southwest States regional director of the neo-Nazi group fired back, "It feels good not to be scared. It's all about quality, not quantity."

The group said they came to protest illegal immigration and to show there are other viewpoints than just Claremont College Mohammed Martinez, 63, of East Los Angeles, yells at Josh Davenport of the National Socialist Movement, a neo-Nazi group, as the group rallied on Saturday on the corner of Foothill and Indian Hill boulevards in Claremont. (Thomas R. Cordova/Staff Photographer) students who were for "open borders."

Being outnumbered didn't faze the Nazi group, many of whom had bald heads, black or fatigue-style clothing and U.S. flags with swastikas.

They claimed victory Saturday.

"You said you were going to stop us, but you didn't. Thank you for being tools and showing up here today," Hall said on his megaphone.

Hall would use his megaphone to get his group to chant or incite the hundreds across the street while police officers and yellow police tape blocked people from reaching them.

The neo-Nazi chants included "White power," "Whose streets? Our streets," "Heil Hitler" and "If it's brown, flush it down."

A woman in the Nazi group took off an overshirt to reveal a black shirt that read "because the beauty of the white Aryan woman must not perish from the earth ..."

Responses from the other side included chants like "Nazis go home" or insults such as "No matter how hard you try you will not be Edward Norton," which was a reference to the Norton movie "American History X."

Another neo-Nazi, who only gave his first name of Ken, said he was a 44-year-old mechanic who lives in Claremont.

He claimed there were Claremont College students and Claremont police who were part of the neo-Nazi group but declined to say more when asked for specifics.

Neo-Nazi member Josh Davenport, 27, of Las Vegas, and Hall, of Riverside, said they considered the event a success because of potential new membership.

"We saw such a huge spike on a national level and new interest we have had a hard time keeping up with it," Hall said. [He's probably right. - Dan.]

The Nazi protest lasted from noon until about 1:30 p.m.

There were 16 police agencies and more than 110 officers to provide security for the rally, which ended with no arrests or property damage, Claremont police Lt. Mike Ciszek said.

"It went extremely well, and we definitely appreciated mutual aid that came out," Ciszek said. "We would have been overwhelmed in a second if things would have gone bad. It's great to see law enforcement come together for a purpose."

The alternative peace rally, which started at 10 a.m., was held three blocks away at Memorial Park. A large group from the peace rally then walked over to protest the neo-Nazi's presence on Foothill Boulevard.

When the approximately 30 neo-Nazis walked to their location, a small number of protesters confronted them, yelling into a megaphone "garbage" over and over.

Raymond Herrera, founder and president of the Claremont-based anti-illegal immigration group We the People, California's Crusader, was at the event and again said he opposed the neo-Nazi rally.

Herrera said his organization does not join racist groups like neo-Nazi, La Raza or the Ku Klux Klan.

As he spoke, some of the neo-Nazi protesters turned to him and questioned why he hated illegal immigrants, but he did not answer them.

Chris Baca, 35, of Riverside, was part of the anti neo-Nazi rally and briefly confronted them.

"This is racism," he said. "They're claiming they're white when they're not white themselves. I think they're sad. White people were the first illegal immigrants in the country."

Mohammed Martinez, 63, of East Los Angeles, also was able to verbally confront the neo-Nazis and said he remembered confronting the Nazis 30 years ago "back in El Monte." [Frank Collins' Group - Dan.]

Art Gamboa, 50, of Maywood, said he opposed the neo-Nazis.

"I don't think nothing is going to stop these guys," he said.

Hall added he thought Claremont police did a great job in organizing the event and "took it seriously."

There are no immediate plans of coming back to Claremont for another rally, Hall said.

Claremont City Manager Jeff Parker said he was relieved the event was peaceful.

"The First Amendment freedom of speech worked. I'm happy it all concluded with no violence of any kind," Parker said.

Read more: http://www.sbsun.com/ci_17656172?IADID=Search-www.sbsun.com-www.sbsun.com#ixzz1HBFQapPA

Comment:

What a waste of time! What did they accomplish? I'll admit that the showing of about 30 was impressive, but the opposition was still about 12 to 0ne, in favour of the opposition! Not surprising.

Claremont is an extremely liberal area. I lived there for four years in the late 70's. I even graduated from Claremont High School. It's home to the Claremont Colleges, five Ivy League Schools including Harvey Mudd College, and Scripps College. Indeed, when I lived there, many of the professors were aging Hippies still with long hair, tie-dyed shirts, and love beads. The residents would definitely NOT be very receptive.

Take a note of the first photo. What is the point of all those racist tattoos? For one thing, what does that do for anyone? Also, who would give anyone an honest job with his face, as well as his body covered with tattoos, racialist or other kinds, except maybe in a circus sideshow?

Mr. Hall was wrong when he called the counter-protesters "tools". It was he and the NSM that were the tools. They came out there with the express purpose of rabble-rousing and gaining publicity, and they did succeed. They succeeded in giving the Jewsmedia another chance at trashing the White Nationalist Movement. Congratulations guys, you made ALL of us look bad. You better believe that in the next elections, if any of us run in that area, this will all be stirred up again by the press.

In closing, I'd actually like to thank Raymond Herrerra, who is obviously Latino, for speaking the truth regarding La Raza. He called it a racist organisation, which it is.

Tomorrow: The "other" rally in Memorial Park.

The Circus Is In Town!

Heated words, no more
Dueling events feature sharb jabs, but no violence

Wes Woods II, Staff Writer
Posted: 03/19/2011 10:37:46 PM PDT

CLAREMONT - Armed for a war of words with megaphones and sharp tongues, about 30 people from the National Socialist Movement and 400 to 500 anti-Nazi protesters taunted each other Saturday during two rallies drawing attention to America's policy on immigration.

"We have more white people than you," came a barb from someone with the anti neo-Nazi group, which stood at the southeast corner of Foothill and Indian Hill boulevards. "How does it feel?"

Jeff Hall, Southwest States regional director of the neo-Nazi group fired back, "It feels good not to be scared. It's all about quality, not quantity."

The group said they came to protest illegal immigration and to show there are other viewpoints than just Claremont College Mohammed Martinez, 63, of East Los Angeles, yells at Josh Davenport of the National Socialist Movement, a neo-Nazi group, as the group rallied on Saturday on the corner of Foothill and Indian Hill boulevards in Claremont. (Thomas R. Cordova/Staff Photographer) students who were for "open borders."

Being outnumbered didn't faze the Nazi group, many of whom had bald heads, black or fatigue-style clothing and U.S. flags with swastikas.

They claimed victory Saturday.

"You said you were going to stop us, but you didn't. Thank you for being tools and showing up here today," Hall said on his megaphone.

Hall would use his megaphone to get his group to chant or incite the hundreds across the street while police officers and yellow police tape blocked people from reaching them.

The neo-Nazi chants included "White power," "Whose streets? Our streets," "Heil Hitler" and "If it's brown, flush it down."

A woman in the Nazi group took off an overshirt to reveal a black shirt that read "because the beauty of the white Aryan woman must not perish from the earth ..."

Responses from the other side included chants like "Nazis go home" or insults such as "No matter how hard you try you will not be Edward Norton," which was a reference to the Norton movie "American History X."

Another neo-Nazi, who only gave his first name of Ken, said he was a 44-year-old mechanic who lives in Claremont.

He claimed there were Claremont College students and Claremont police who were part of the neo-Nazi group but declined to say more when asked for specifics.

Neo-Nazi member Josh Davenport, 27, of Las Vegas, and Hall, of Riverside, said they considered the event a success because of potential new membership.

"We saw such a huge spike on a national level and new interest we have had a hard time keeping up with it," Hall said. [He's probably right. - Dan.]

The Nazi protest lasted from noon until about 1:30 p.m.

There were 16 police agencies and more than 110 officers to provide security for the rally, which ended with no arrests or property damage, Claremont police Lt. Mike Ciszek said.

"It went extremely well, and we definitely appreciated mutual aid that came out," Ciszek said. "We would have been overwhelmed in a second if things would have gone bad. It's great to see law enforcement come together for a purpose."

The alternative peace rally, which started at 10 a.m., was held three blocks away at Memorial Park. A large group from the peace rally then walked over to protest the neo-Nazi's presence on Foothill Boulevard.

When the approximately 30 neo-Nazis walked to their location, a small number of protesters confronted them, yelling into a megaphone "garbage" over and over.

Raymond Herrera, founder and president of the Claremont-based anti-illegal immigration group We the People, California's Crusader, was at the event and again said he opposed the neo-Nazi rally.

Herrera said his organization does not join racist groups like neo-Nazi, La Raza or the Ku Klux Klan.

As he spoke, some of the neo-Nazi protesters turned to him and questioned why he hated illegal immigrants, but he did not answer them.

Chris Baca, 35, of Riverside, was part of the anti neo-Nazi rally and briefly confronted them.

"This is racism," he said. "They're claiming they're white when they're not white themselves. I think they're sad. White people were the first illegal immigrants in the country."

Mohammed Martinez, 63, of East Los Angeles, also was able to verbally confront the neo-Nazis and said he remembered confronting the Nazis 30 years ago "back in El Monte." [Frank Collins' Group - Dan.]

Art Gamboa, 50, of Maywood, said he opposed the neo-Nazis.

"I don't think nothing is going to stop these guys," he said.

Hall added he thought Claremont police did a great job in organizing the event and "took it seriously."

There are no immediate plans of coming back to Claremont for another rally, Hall said.

Claremont City Manager Jeff Parker said he was relieved the event was peaceful.

"The First Amendment freedom of speech worked. I'm happy it all concluded with no violence of any kind," Parker said.

Read more: http://www.sbsun.com/ci_17656172?IADID=Search-www.sbsun.com-www.sbsun.com#ixzz1HBFQapPA

Comment:

What a waste of time! What did they accomplish? I'll admit that the showing of about 30 was impressive, but the opposition was still about 12 to 0ne, in favour of the opposition! Not surprising.

Claremont is an extremely liberal area. I lived there for four years in the late 70's. I even graduated from Claremont High School. It's home to the Claremont Colleges, five Ivy League Schools including Harvey Mudd College, and Scripps College. Indeed, when I lived there, many of the professors were aging Hippies still with long hair, tie-dyed shirts, and love beads. The residents would definitely NOT be very receptive.

Take a note of the first photo. What is the point of all those racist tattoos? For one thing, what does that do for anyone? Also, who would give anyone an honest job with his face, as well as his body covered with tattoos, racialist or other kinds, except maybe in a circus sideshow?

Mr. Hall was wrong when he called the counter-protesters "tools". It was he and the NSM that were the tools. They came out there with the express purpose of rabble-rousing and gaining publicity, and they did succeed. They succeeded in giving the Jewsmedia another chance at trashing the White Nationalist Movement. Congratulations guys, you made ALL of us look bad. You better believe that in the next elections, if any of us run in that area, this will all be stirred up again by the press.

In closing, I'd actually like to thank Raymond Herrerra, who is obviously Latino, for speaking the truth regarding La Raza. He called it a racist organisation, which it is.

Tomorrow: The "other" rally in Memorial Park.