Organizer of Sept 3 Neo-Nazi Rally is Considering Running for New Berlin Common Council?!
A New Berlin resident, identified by the Journal Sentinel as Harriet P, is organizing a National Socialist Movement rally this Saturday at West Allis City Hall. See my previous blog post.
According to the Southern Poverty Law Center, which tracks hate groups and domestic terrorists nationally, the Detroit-based National Socialist Movement is one of the largest and most prominent neo-Nazi groups in the United States. NSM ideology mirrors that of the original American Nazi Party. Harriet P's white supremacist group openly idolizes Adolf Hitler.
In its article Nazis Set to Converge on West Allis, The Shepherd Express (Sept. 1-Sept 7 issue ) reports that membership in the National Socialist Movement is only open to “non-Semitic heterosexuals of European descent.”
Harriet P’s last name is disclosed in that article (The Shepherd Express states it conducted a lengthy interview with her and she did not request to have her identity concealed).
Furthermore, it reports that Harriet P is a wife, mom, runs a small business, is a “sergeant” in the Wisconsin chapter of the National Socialist Movement (more commonly referred to as neo-Nazis), wears a swastika around town--- and is considering running for the New Berlin Common Council.
The Shepherd Express asks: “ Is New Berlin ready for a neo-Nazi alderman?”
Harriet P. said she " wasn’t sure, but that she didn’t think it would be an issue.”
She argues, “It’s not like I’ve exactly hidden my views. People have seen me wearing a swastika around town now and again and I’ve never had any kind of altercations. People are always very nice and ask about my kids and are sociable. I think that once the media tries to slander me based on my political beliefs, I’m sure that there will be some who will not support {her candidacy} just because of the media outlook on it.”
The Shepherd Express also reports:
Harriet P. said she moved to New Berlin because she can live a “separatist lifestyle”.
And she contends: “Anyone who’s familiar with New Berlin will know what the demographics are. Our demographics are majority white, about 95-96% white. We just fit in better with our own type of people. The values are, in the majority, the same as far as what we want in our city. The political stances we take fall along the same lines to a certain extent, the way that people take care of their houses. And for my kids to grow up proud of who they are and where they come from.”
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Update 9/1/11
The Shepherd Express article referenced in the blog post is now accessible online. Click on this link to view it.
Also, FYI: My June 7, 2010 blog post Racism in New Berlin includes references to Neo-Nazism.
According to the Southern Poverty Law Center and other sources:
The National Socialist Movement has its roots in the original American Nazi Party, which was founded in 1959 by former Navy Cmdr. George Lincoln Rockwell.
Rockwell's principal message was racial separation.
Seven years after Rockwell was murdered by one of his followers in 1967, two of his chief lieutenants, Robert Brannen and Cliff Herrington, formed the National Socialist American Workers Freedom Movement in St. Paul, Minn. Leadership passed to Jeff Schoep in 1994, who renamed the group the National Socialist Movement.
Rockwell's ashes reside in the memorial room of New Order headquarters in New Berlin, WI.
