Posted on 01/11/2003 12:55:10 PM PST by hoosierskypilot
LEWISTON, Maine (Reuters) -- A white supremacist group whose leader is accused of trying to have a federal judge murdered said on Thursday it will proceed with plans to protest an "invasion" of this New England college community by Somali immigrants.
A spokesman for the World Church of the Creator said the group, which preaches hatred of Jews and blacks on its Web site, would stage a two-hour rally on Saturday in Lewiston, where it says the local white population is fed up with the influx of immigrants from the war-torn East African nation.
The spokesman, the Rev. John King of Newport News, Virginia, said the Lewiston protest would go ahead despite the arrest on Wednesday in Chicago of the Rev. Matt Hale on charges he tried to solicit the murder of U.S. District Court Judge Joan Humphrey Lefkow.
Hale, 31, was arrested as he arrived at Chicago's federal courthouse to face a possible contempt charge for refusing to obey Lefkow's November ruling in a trademark case.
Hale told Reuters before his arrest that the Somalis were "invading" Lewiston, and that the residents of Maine's second-biggest city had welcomed his church's planned rally with open arms.
"The people of Lewiston want us there," said Hale, who claims he receives as many as five positive e-mails a day from local residents. "We've never received the groundswell of support we've gotten from the people of Lewiston."
But Phil Nadeau, Lewiston's assistant city administrator, said he doubted Hale's claims.
"He could say that aliens from Mars want him here, but can he prove it?" Nadeau said. "My impression is there's a significant number of people in this community who don't support him and a handful who do."
He noted that while only 40 or 50 people were expected to turn up for the white supremacists' rally, hundreds -- maybe thousands -- may attend a planned counter-demonstration the same day that will focus on diversity and attempt to show that Lewiston is embracing its newest residents.
For years, the former mill town was simply known as the place where Muhammad Ali flattened Sonny Liston in 1965.
But its booming Somali immigrant community has thrust Lewiston into the spotlight. More than 1,100 Somalis, seeking affordable housing, have moved to the city of 36,000 people in the past year.
(Excerpt) Read more at cnn.com ...
It's a response to this comment:
They actually look like the sea of brain-dead, pc, new-age, starbucks coffee drinking, anti-gun, anti-law enforcement, anti-meat eating, anti-Christian, soccer moms and dads I see on the left-coast.
After all, Hale's wearing a suit and tie, has a nice short haircut--he does only eat a raw foods diet, but I'm sure you can excuse him for that.
Just goes to show you can't tell a book by its cover.
Is there no middle ground between racism and naivete?
Well said, and that was my point.
This supremacist reaction is the evolution of people who are tired of an impotent government flushing our future down the toilet. There is no justification for the Klan, et al, but enough is enough.
I would be there to protest the presence of Matt Hale and the racist and antisemitic World Church of the Creator in my town, for no other reason. Hale--and other groups--are exploiting the immigration issue for their own ends. If you would've read the article from the Boston Globe (I posted the url), you'd realize the people of Lewiston don't want Hale and they don't want the issue blurred by other groups with other agendas.
What would you do if Matt Hale (well, unless he makes bail in his solicitation of murder case, he won't be going anywhere for a while) and the World Church of the Creator came to town?
The pc maroons will, actually, be creating the problem they hope to eliminate. Enough is enough.
We open our borders, not because these people (immigrants) have anything to offer, but because we baby-boomers want to show everyone how pc we are.
But, they also don't want the Somalis. Period. The Somalis are dirty, dangerous and lazy. (cf, post 28)
"The spokesman, the Rev. John King of Newport News, Virginia, said the Lewiston protest would go ahead despite the arrest on Wednesday in Chicago of the Rev. Matt Hale on charges he tried to solicit the murder of U.S. District Court Judge Joan Humphrey Lefkow."
Religion of Peace BUMP!
"The spokesman, the Rev. John King of Newport News, Virginia, said the Lewiston protest would go ahead despite the arrest on Wednesday in Chicago of the Rev. Matt Hale on charges he tried to solicit the murder of U.S. District Court Judge Joan Humphrey Lefkow."
Religion of Peace BUMP!
The presence of Hale's group in Lewiston has caused a backlash, an overreaction, and he and his group really don't care if it does. He's created an environment where the immigration issue cannot be discussed on a rational basis, but he doesn't care.
Of course, Hale does have other problems, his indictment for soliciting the murder of a judge being high on that list.
If he's a Reverend, I'm Queen Elizabeth II.
Many other groups also oppose these immigrants. Just because some of these groups stand for things we don't like, does not mean that they are wrong on this issue.
If that were the case then one would think other cities and/or nations would be clammoring for these folk to immigrate to their lands.
As to seeming "like a literate, mostly educated" ...well, maybe among their native countrymen they might be, but let's face it Somali isn't exactly world famous when it come to quality education.
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