White Supremacists and Counter-Demonstrators Rally at Valley Forge

AP ^ | Sept. 25, 2004

[nuconvert]

White Supremacists and Counter-Demonstrators Rally at Valley Forge

Bill Bergstrom /Associated Press Writer

VALLEY FORGE, Pa. (AP) - About 100 white supremacists rallied at Valley Forge National Historical Park on Saturday as nearly twice as many opponents heckled them from a nearby hillside. Both groups were outnumbered by federal law enforcement officers. National Park Service spokesman Phil Sheridan said no arrests were made at the rally site, but one person was arrested after a scuffle in a parking lot.

Neo-Nazis and Ku Klux Klan members shouted slogans from a stage at the park, where about 11,000 Revolutionary War soldiers commanded by George Washington camped from December 1777 to June 1778.

The Minnesota-based National Socialist Movement, which sponsored the rally, claims Washington held separatist and anti-Semitic views - a position disputed by most historians.

The event was held on the Jewish holiday of Yom Kippur. Rally organizers have said they were unaware of the holiday when they planned the event.

Still, Jeff Schoep, commander of the NSM, launched the rally with an attack on Jews, who he said planned "the destruction of all races through the evils of race mixing."

Other speakers criticized America's role in the Iraq war, calling it "Israel's War."

Counter-demonstrators in a cordoned-off area several hundred feet away shouted "Bull!" and waved placards with slogans such as, "Get out of our melting pot."

Noah Osner, 25, said he joined the counterprotest to show there are people willing to stand up against racism.

"I think hate begets hate," he said. "I think it's scary to see such a volume of hate in one small area."

[nuconvert]

"The Minnesota-based National Socialist Movement, which sponsored the rally, claims Washington held separatist and anti-Semitic views - a position disputed by most historians."

[TADSLOS]

Other speakers criticized America's role in the Iraq war, calling it "Israel's War."

Wow, the DNC, Moveon.org, neo nazis and the KKK with the same thought patterns...whodathunkit? (actually, it makes perfect sense)

[ArmyBratCutie]

will we EVER be rid of this kind of trash?? They have painted the South with a broad brush that includes our approval of these lunatics...they are crazy, disgusting and low life hideous murdering morons that should be LOCKED UP just 'because'....

[ArmyBratCutie]

one last thought....to me Valley Forge is hallowed ground...for those fools to be anywhere near it is an insult to humanity...

[WakeUpAndVote]

Are you sure that this was not just another Kerry/Edwards rally?

[Chad Fairbanks]

they are crazy, disgusting and low life hideous murdering morons that should be LOCKED UP just 'because'....

Are you sure you are on the right site? In MY America, we don't lock up people for expressing their opinions in a peaceful manner, no matter how repugnant the message...

And I say this as someone they would hate.

[Sonny M]

I never understood who nazi and klansman ever hooked up.

The only things they have in common is there hatred, but nothing else.

I guess they deserve each other.

[sinkspur]

In MY America, we don't lock up people for expressing their opinions in a peaceful manner, no matter how repugnant the message...

You're right. But we can take pictures of them, photoshop them in lingerie, and post the finished pictures to the web.

Ridicule is better than jail.

[George Smiley]

Speaking as one born and raised in the South, I can unequivocally tell you three things:

1. It's people like that that give white people a bad name;

2. As a general rule, it has been my observation that white folks and black folks in the South get along better than they do in the North; and

3. The way that Mexicans are treated in that Republic of Compassion named California reminds me of the way that blacks were once treated in the South.

[ArmyBratCutie]

well, Chad you are probably right to dog me on that point, but it being Valley Forge , hallowed ground to me, makes me MADDER than usual at these trash heaps called humans...

[ArmyBratCutie]

amen to all three George!!
speaking as a Born American, Southern Girl by the Grace of God!

[jwalsh07]

As a general rule, it has been my observation that white folks and black folks in the South get along better than they do in the North; and

As someone who spent most of his adult life in the Northeast and almost a decade south of the MAson Dixon line, I agree with your observation.

[donnab]

Valley Forge is hallowed ground and actually allowing those idiots to hold a rally shows what a hallowed ground it is. You dont have to agree with them, and you could go there to protest them while they are at it. But to protect everyones voice..you sometimes have to take the good with the bad and the ugly.

[Chad Fairbanks]

What's great about it is that we are free also to call then exactly what THEy are, too ;0)

[Chad Fairbanks]

Of course I'm right - I'm always right ;0)

[Pyro7480]

I think out of all the pictures from this rally that are on Yahoo! News, this one is the most disgusting.

Charles J. Juba, the national director of Aryan Nations from Leola, Pa., second from left, is flanked by Josh Webster of Center Point, Ala., left, and Barbara Marie Kreis, 10, with her father Pastor August B. Kreis III, right, both from Sebring, Fla., during a neo-Nazi Rally on the amphitheater stage at Valley Forge National Historic Park, in Valley Forge, Pa., Saturday, Sept. 25, 2004. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)
(Notice the "88" on her search. That is shorthand for "Heil Hitler." H is the 8th letter of the alphabet...)

[Former Dodger]

I don't understand why anyone would become a Nazi and wear the swastika and dare call themselves AMERICAN.

That symbol killed over 100,000 Americans in World War II and is the symbol of the enemy, the same as the Red Star and Hammer and Sickle. And the white-sheeted group just look like fools, especially with the pointed "Pinhead" hats...

[jwalsh07]

I see that girls arm raised like that and I want to whip her fathers ass.

Thats my reaction to your picture.

[Bryan]

Man, that is a disgusting photo.