Neo-Nazi Armed March to Target Jews

Update 1/17/2017: According to Anglin the march in Whitefish has been postponed until February. His application for a permit to hold the march on January 16th was rejected by the city because it was incomplete.

An American neo-Nazi is planning an armed march against “a vicious, evil race of hate-filled psychopaths” - Jews - through Whitefish, Montana in two weeks. It is the latest step in an antisemitic campaign led by Andrew Anglin, founder of the website The Daily Stormer. Anglin chose Whitefish because the family of another far-right activist, Richard Spencer, has been under pressure from local residents including some Jews.

Spencer, the president of the white supremacist National Policy Institute, gained national attention when he called out “hail Trump” in a speech in Washington D.C. in November, and some members of the audience responded with Nazi salutes, at which he smiled. After that, Spencer’s mother accused a Whitefish realtor of attempting to force her to sell a building she owns in the town because of her ties to her son. The realtor is Jewish, and Anglin has urged his readers to target her and other Jews, publishing her photo with a star of David, imposed on a photo of crematoria, together with her phone number and email address. He also published information about her husband, her young son and other Jews and businesses (which Anglin labels “terror groups”) that have supported the realtor. Anglin encourages his readers to contact these groups with hateful messages and to fly Nazi flags.

It is urgent and essential that Richard Spencer denounce Anglin’s harassment campaign and call on him not to hold the march. Spencer’s mother has, herself, strongly disavowed the harassment that Angin is encouraging. She urged that “everyone stay within the bounds of respectful, civilized discussion of this matter by refraining from abusive comments or targeted harassment of any of the parties involved.” Her son - and other related leaders including President-elect Donald Trump - should follow her good example.