Once again, another public activity by Nazis has resulted in violent mob attacks and beatings of them in public.

We saw this on April 17, 2010 in Los Angeles, and now apparently we see this again on April 27, 2010 in Philadelphia.

To those who believe that it is acceptable or humorous for mobs to violently attack those with Nazi groups or wearing Nazi garb, we ask you a simple question: who do you think is the real Nazi then? Them or you?

For full disclosure, the Nazi and white supremacist crowd knows that I am a dedicated opponent of their ideologies of hate.  For nearly nine years, I have been reporting on Nazi threats around the world and the United States, and since 2005, I have had a dedicated web site “AgainstNazi.com” that addresses Nazi hate and their organizational activities.  Here at the Responsible for Equality And Liberty (R.E.A.L.) human rights group web site, we have a category on Aryan Nazi Supremacism where we report on Nazi hate and atrocities that continue today; we have similar categories of reports on racial supremacism and on the Stormfront group.  R.E.A.L.’s challenges to the “white nationalist” Stormfront group, led by a former member of the American Nazi Party Don Black, has garnered us threats for our public awareness efforts, including threats by numerous “white nationalist” groups who have tried to publish information about me to allow others to attack my home and family.  Other Stormfront forum members post images about using guns on those who defy them.  We have reported on Stormfront forum members conviction on terror plots, and frequently reported on Stormfront forum members support for terrorism, violence, and hate.  A Nazi who was a writer for the National Vanguard has written false, slanderous, and defamatory articles about me and others to try to defame us, as has a Nazi from the National Alliance.  Moreover, “white nationalists” from both the Occidental Dissent and American Renaissance have sought to personally attack me and even seek a “war” against me.  To the Nazis and white supremacists, our message has been “we are not afraid.”

So let me set the record straight – I am no apologist, no supporter, and no appeaser of Nazi or white supremacist ideologies.

In America and around the world, we all have human rights.  We disagree, we oppose views we disagree with, we even protest one another.

But when people take that disagreement to threats or actual violence, there should be no question – you have committed A CRIME.

One can rationalize threats and violence all they want, but a crime is a crime.   A criminal is a criminal.

To those who believe that support, rationalize, or make jokes about opposing Nazis in America with mob violence and physical threats, I ask you – are you opposing Nazis, or becoming one?

The UPI reports about the recent Philadelphia mob attack on Nazis that “Three men who showed up in full Nazi regalia at a punk show in a Philadelphia club were attacked afterward outside by approximately 50 people, witnesses said… An witness told the newspaper the crowd punched and kicked the men in Nazi garb and used beer bottles and cue balls as weapons although Internet message boards said the attack was not quite so violent.”   AOL News reports:  “Witnesses said the men were mocked inside the Khyber club Friday night for sporting tattoos of Nazi symbols and wearing camouflaged combat pants, WWII-style coats emblazoned with SS emblems and Third Reich hats with Nazi insignias.”  A blog report states that “The three victims barely made it 50 yards before the angry crowd set upon them. One Nazi was caught right in the middle of 2nd street as punches, kicks, bottles, boots and blows rained down upon his prone and turtled body. He could be heard crying for help all up and down the block. The other two were caught nearby and beaten severely as more weapons appeared.”

The reports lead to an obvious question: Which ones are the Nazis again?  The ones with the ridiculous outfits or the mob that beat them?

You know the answer, and it is a disturbing trend that R.E.A.L. sees too many justifying or laughing about political violence in America today.  There are no “heroes” in political violence, especially in a democratic nation, not among those who would spit on Congressmen or throw bricks through their office windows, not those who would fly a plane into an IRS building, not those who would attack the Pentagon, and not even those who would believe they are justified in violent attacks on Nazis in Los Angeles and now in Philadelphia.  Yes, they are all different circumstances, and you may like some victims and not others.  But in every case of such political violence, there are no heroes, there are just criminals.

Two months ago in February 2010, we were disgusted to see those praising terrorist Joe Stack as a “hero,” and then appalled to find those who felt that it was humorous to describe such a terrorist murderer of an American veteran  as “someone simply going out with a bang.” America’s freedoms allow such freedom of speech and freedom of press – even when it is despicable.  But mocking those who are victims of political violence is the one sure way to start to degrade and undermine such American freedoms.

So it was particularly disturbing to see a Philadelphia tabloid newspaper that reported the April 27 attack on Nazis as “Concertgoers show the Reich stuff, are beaten by crowd,” with a mocking first sentence of the report on the victims of violence that reads “How did they Nazi this coming?” The new report also includes an email from someone apparently gloating about the attack on the Nazis “And they did get their asses kicked… Again.”

When did reporting on political violence in the news media become the source of mockery and gloating?  What message does any reporter think that this sends to those who believe that violence is an acceptable approach to those we don’t like and don’t agree with?

I tried to reach the young writer of this article for a Philadelphia tabloid newspaper, but instead spoke to the editor that approved it.  I explained to the editor our position in opposing Nazi hate, but also pointed out our opposition to such mob violence, and the editor explained his family’s suffering during the Holocaust.  The editor explained to me that a tabloid newspaper has a different style than a broadsheet newspaper, and has different titles intended to grab readers’ attention.  The editor further explained that the headline “Concertgoers show the Reich stuff, are beaten by crowd” had garnered the most online attention to the tabloid newpaper’s report, and people reading about the story ensured that it got reported.  The editor further stated that the report did not “take sides on the issue.”

Imagine for a moment, however, if the mob violence wasn’t against an ideology as universally rejected as Nazism, but was against another ideology, perhaps another political party, another identity group, another race, religion, gender.  Would it still be “funny?”  Would it still be “clever”?  And would reporting the boasting from an attendee at the club about victims of violence getting “their asses kicked” still be responsible journalism?  But the general idea that many have is, because it is about Nazis, well, that’s acceptable, essentially because we don’t agree or respect their views that somehow they are less of a human being than anyone else.  You don’t have to be a human rights activist to recognize that such thinking is simply wrong.  Hate is hate and violence is violence.

There is one nation that accepted the view of using threats and physical violence against those that they disliked and disagreed.  Political violence was their primary tool in silencing dissent, in taking over the government, in oppressing others who were different from them.  Their media consistently mocked and degraded the victims of such hate and violence.  You know that nation whose leaders and whose people embraced such hate and political violence.  It was called Nazi Germany, and it was led by Adolf Hitler.  It was the same Nazi Germany, whose “final solution” was the Holocaust of 6 million Jews, something that America could have and did not stop.

This year, we remembered the Holocaust on April 11, 2010.  We remembered the Holocaust at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington DC, where I recently wheeled a older, black Christian woman in wheelchair around that weekend so that she too could see the consequences of hate.   We remember the Holocaust annually at our nation’s capital, people of all nationalities, all races, and all religions, and hold a reading of the names of the victims at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum – by average people who are dedicated to never forget.  This year my wife and I read names together at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum.

We remember the Holocaust.  But what have we learned from it?   What have the mobs in Los Angeles and now in Philadelphia learned from it?

You would think that nearly 70 years after the start of the mass killings at the Holocaust that we would have learned some lessons about humanity, the cancer of political violence, and the virus of hate.  But what have we learned when too many think that political violence is acceptable?  What we have learned when some rationalize mob violence against those whose views we despise?  As political violence is becoming increasingly “acceptable,” what path is OUR nation on today?

When we say “Never Again,” that includes America too.

We must never forget the tragic and horrific lessons of the results of hate and political violence – then and now.  “Never again” does not only mean never allowing such atrocities again, it also means never becoming like those who rationalized and laughed about hate and political violence.

On June 10, 2009, a Nazi white supremacist James Von Brunn attacked the U.S. Holocaust Memorial museum and murdered black security guard Stephen Tyrone Johns.

On June 13, 2010, Responsible for Equality And Liberty (R.E.A.L.) will publicly remember that attack on America by those who hate on at Washington DC’s Freedom Plaza.  To those who threaten us, know that we are not afraid.

But when we defy Nazi and white supremacist violence, we will do so with peace.

When we defy Nazi and white supremacist hate, we will do so with love.

When we say “Never Again” to such hate, that must include our own hate.

We will never defeat hate with hate.  The terrorist who attacked the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum praised hate.  Terrorist James Von Brunn viewed hate as “natural, normal, and necessary.”  Von Brunn and all those who promote hate expect you to agree.  They expect you to become just like them.  That is how they win.

But you have a choice.  You can choose to not let hate and fear rule your life, your decisions, and your way of dealing with the world.  You can choose to reject hate’s political violence as acceptable, justifiable, or even humorous.

You have the power and the ability to shape your actions, your nation’s future, and humanity’s destiny.

Responsible for Equality And Liberty Asks You to Choose Love, Not Hate.  Love Wins.

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We are not afraid, we are not afraid,
We are not afraid today;
Oh, deep in my heart, I do believe,
We are not afraid today.

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