What are your experiences/dealings with actual nazis or the KKK?

[vi5]

No, I don't mean in the sense that freepers are "nazis" or in the sense that we say Trent Lott loves the KKK or that "Bush* is a nazi!!". I mean full on out and out white power groups or people or actual neo-nazi's?

I lived in eastern Pennsylvania for a few years both during college and grad school. My neighbor in the apartment complex I lived at was a nazi skinhead. Swaztika tattoos, hitler pictures, white power paraphenalia....the works. Being as how I had to live next door to him and he had a ton of people coming and going, needless to say I was never brave enough to actually talk politics with him. Especially since for the entire year and a half we both lived there he was more than cordial and for one on one dealings actually seemed to be a friendly person. This is probably what scared me the most about him. A few times he actually helped me out when I had car problems and when I had a problem with my front door. We never got into anything in depth conversation wise but it was a bizarre thing to me that I lived next to this guy and that he was so friendly when he was so outwardly exhibiting his hate.

Also, my girlfriend at the time lived about 20 minutes away from me in a slightly more rural area and she lived less than a mile away from a white power nazi compound. There was a bar we used to frequent by there, where these guys would come in to pick up beer and leave quite often. Never really caused any trouble but still it was creepy and unsettling. And from her apartment we could hear loud music and all around revelry coming from the compound. Many times I was half tempted to curiously make my way out near it through the woods to see exactly what was going on, but again...my fear got the better of me.

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

1. Creeps

that's the feeling if I go anywhere near Zinc AR, where a head of the KKK lives. People around here act a bit ashamed about the KKK being active here. Can't say for sure I've ever met one in the flesh, but I know my boss isn't one-he hires African Americans, and instructed me to delete any customers from our list if they objected to him.

[bluestateguy]

2. I saw a woman with a swastika tattoo

I saw her at the Best Buy.

The existence of Neo-nazis and the KKK is one reason why the Left should oppose gun control.

[TheBigGuy]

3. I had an aquaintance in high school who was klan

...or he was in their youth auxiliary.

He was OK to me. Not really a macho thug type. He was a freind of a friend of mine.

Another friend had a freind who had an older cousin or uncle (not that much older) who looked just like Jody Powell..and he was in something called the "National Socialist White Peoples Party"...he told us he only listened to country because rock n roll was black music...so we sort of wrote him off w. that remark.....as we where all prog rock fans back then.

[TheBigGuy]

4. back when I was arrested during the antibussing riots.

they stuck me in this army van with a bunch of adult klan guys they had busted at cross burning or coming back from a cross burning....they where some of the most creative cussers that I ever heard! In fact they where just maybe too creative for the National Guard guys who where holding us because they tossed a tear gas canister under the truck...so me and the kluxers got teargassed. That shut them up, but my eyes sure did burn.

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

5. My neighbor (who still owns the house but has since rented out)

is a white supremacist who displayed Nazi memorabilia in his home and had a giant swastika in his garage. His father is from Germany, he was born here. I have known him since he was a kid.

Anyway to make a long story short we have often argued politics and he usually avoids it with me now since he can't win an argument with me. He had the giant swastika in his garage and my family is Jewish.

I simply walked across the street, told him my family has never been anything but nice to him, we sent flowers and cooked food when his grandmother died ( she lived in the same home) and I told him it was upsetting for my father to sit on the porch and see the swastika in his garage since one of my aunts was a child of Shoah.

I asked him to take it down out of respect for my father. He did. when my father died, he came to the funeral with his roomates. He has toned it down over the last several years, is no longer into the Nazi shit but is still a bigot...just not with me.

[cherryperry]

6. Well,

a lot of my ancestors were worked to uselessness and then put in ovens in Auchswitz - does that count?

:cry: :cry: :cry:

[JohnKleeb]

19. My people suffered from the Germans as well

I am not Jewish like you and NSMA however, I had a relative killed by them in Slovenia.

[cherryperry]

26. Yes, please don't ever think I don't

realize that the total number murdered by the Nazis was over 11,000,000!

BTW, great new Kucinich pic...

:yourock:

[JohnKleeb]

30. Thanks

I know you know that just letting you know something about myself. I pity the people of Europe, so sad, you know who I really pity are the Russians. Also cherry are you a German Jewish American or like a Slavic Jewish American. Just curious,

[Wcross]

7. Real fringe type stuff

How many are there? They are really keeping it quiet around here. I live within 30 miles of Pulaski, TN.(Place where the clan was started) and have yet to meet a Klansman or skin-head. The Klan held a "rally" in Pulaski a couple of years ago and it was 3 or 4 guys, the wives and children dressed in the robes. Must have been about 10 teeth in the whole group, pitiful people.

I haven't heard of any skin-head groups around, hope it remains that way.

[JanMichael]

8. Almost got into a dust up with a Flemish Neo-Nazi in Krakow, PL.

Met him in an ExPat bar, seemed ok at first...Turned out though that he was a flaming asswipe. Hated Blacks, Jews, Liberals, Moderates, the French, other Belgians and later on in the evening me.

He wasn't all that big (I'm a semi-stocky 5'8" and he was just a tad taller and thinner and not a 6'6" 300lb swastika bearing goon) so I wasn't terribly polite. I'm not sure how we didn't end up in jail but somehow we managed to leave without cracking a bottle over either one of our heads.

Go figure:shrug:

[zeemike]

9. My experience goes way back

To 1965 when LBJ sent the military into Mississippi to hunt for three lost civil rights workers. I was one of the ones that were sent temporary duty to Meridian Mississippi where we spent our days walking up and down every back road and swamp looking for signs of them.
That was my first contact with the KKK. And they had rallies very near the military base and passed out literature to us every chance they got. I cannot even remember what they said in their flyers and even if I did I would never repeat such crap but I can tell you that it was not only horrible but also purely stupid.
And in those days there were not only the KKK but also the ones that just supported them, which was most of the white people in the south, not all but most.
But I guess the final straw with me, (and this is when I abandoned my conservative ideas altogether) was when RFK was assassinated and one of my friends (at least I thought he was) said “Well they finally killed that nigger loving son of a bitch”
Many of those people are still alive but you would never get them to admit that any of that went on. But I will always remember.

[cherryperry]

29. OMIGOD, zeemike!

The 3 "lost" civil rights workers were Andy Goodman, Michael (Mickey)Schwerner (2 Jews) and James Cheney (African-American) set up and murdered by a police and KKK cooperation-deal. Okay, you have now officially been elevated to hero-status in my book!


I think of Andy in the cold wet clay
Those three are on my mind
With his comrades down beside him
On that brutal day
Those three are on my mind

There lays young James in his final pain
Those three are on my mind
So I ask the killers can you see those three again
Those three are on my mind

I see dark eyed Michael
With his dark eyed bride
Those three are on my mind
And three proud mothers
Weeping side by side
Those three are on my mind

But I'm grieving yet
And for some the sky is bright
I cannot give up hoping
For a morning light
So I ask the killers do you sleep at night
Those three are on my mind

I see tin roof shanties
Where my brothers live
Those three are on my mind
And the little burnt out churches
Where they sing we forgive
Those three are on my mind

I know the price of liberty
Now I ask the question that is deep inside of me
Did they also burn the courthouse
When they killed those three
Those three are on my mind
Those three are on my mind
Those three are on my mind


:cry: :pals:

[zeemike]

36. Is that your poem/song?

It is great if it is.
But please no hero thing. I was just a kid from Montana stuck in a very different environment and trying to figure what the hell was going on. It was an education experience nothing more.
We had FBI agent attached to each unit that was hunting and they told us frankly that we would probably never find them just searching and that a paid informant would solve it. And that is just what happened. They gave the informant some money and a farm in Michigan as I remember it.

[cherryperry]

38. Well, first of all,

--no one who is a true hero(ine) ever thinks s/he is!

and

--no, this is a wonderful song done by Harry Belafonte and a lot of political-folk singers as well. I wish you could hear the melody as I can (from listening to the song so many times!) - it is just as beautiful and evocative as the words.

[zeemike]

40. The real heroes in this incident

Were the FBI agents that had to deal with these scumbags on a daily basis. And I say that even though I did not have any trust in J Edger Hover, but the agent themselves were real professionals.
The Movie “Mississippi Burning” dealt with this story, and although I cannot say whether the story was true or not I can say for sure that the portrayal of the people that were dealing with was accurate.
The porpoise of the military being there was not really to find the bodies (and that is what we were looking for because the intelligence was pretty clear that they were dead) but as a show of force to convince the local people that the federal government was serious about enforcing the civil rights laws.
They formed us into 100 man companies that traveled to every small town and in every rural community in that part of the state. Our present there was not missed by anyone. And we heard some of the comments like “You wont find any Jews or niggers in this town boys? Or something even worse. And woe be it to anyone of us that would have engaged in a racist conversation with them because our company commander had already warned us that he would court martial anyone that did.
But we did make some good will. Sometimes we would stop for lunch at a small country store and 100 men would clean out the stores supply of soft drinks and snacks. And I never once heard even something remotely racist out of the storeowner mouth. They were all sweetness and smiles because in an hour they sold more than they did in probably a month.

[AquariDem]

10. OMG, there was this guy in Berkeley

of all places. I would see him in the main library a few times. He was this middle-aged short white guy, and he would always be wearing an SS-style outfit, complete with the Hitler mustache and Totenkopf (death's head) pin on his lapel. He'd never bother anyone, but his very presence was more than a little creepy (which was probably his intention). Ewwwwwwww! :puke: :puke: :puke:

[mitchum]

11. I grew up with these twin brothers who were KKK...

and they just had a real disjunct going. I met them my very first day of school, had classes with them throughout the years, and worked w/ them as a teenager. They were KKK because their father and grandfather had belonged to that stupid organization. I never heard them express a racist sentiment or a fear that "the godless communists were gonna take over" Once, when were about 16, I asked one of them, "Why are you guys in the Klan? You don't hate black people. Hell, yesterday we were partying with Sammy and Calvin" He replied, "Oh man, they're cool. See, there's black people and then there's...(you can guess the rest)" I came to the conclusion that THEY really had no idea why they were in the Klan (other than "family tradition" and brainlessness)...and I felt guilty about prompting the only racial slur I ever heard either of them say.

[TheReligiousLeft]

12. World Church of the Creator is in Riverton

They aren't nice folks, but as I say this I must add that almost everyone in Riverton is againt them. When one of my friends went to Riverton for a Drama thing he was threatened (he's African American) by some people in a pickup, or so I heard.

[Demobrat]

13. I worked for one in the mid-seventies.

I was in my early twenties, he was in his forties I guess. He told me about having to flee Berlin with his mother when the city got divided up, because his father was a highly placed Nazi. He was very bitter about that. He also told me that the entire holocost was Jewish propaganda. The place we worked was an industrial bakery. He, I and a couple of other people who worked in the office were anglo. The men who did the actual work were all Mexican, most of them illegals. He sat in his air conditioned office, talked about having "power" and looked for ways to lord it over those poor people. His attitude was that there were plenty more wetbacks where they came from (his exact words) and that if they didn't like it they could leave. Needless to say, I despised that man from the bottom of my soul and got out of there ASAP.

[Syrinx]

14. I met David Black in Burger King

He was the leader of one of the Klan groups, and served prison time for trying to overthrow the government of some little island nation. He was just passing through town I guess.

I was grabbing a bite at BK with my best friend at the time, who happened to be a black guy. When I saw David Black, I smiled at him and said hello Mr. Black.

On the way out my friend asked who that it was. You should have seen his face when I said "Oh that was the Grand Wizard of the KKK."

[InkAddict]

15. Two degrees of separation

In another lifetime, we attended a Lutheran church who had a pastor that had been an Army chaplain. His wife was born in Germany. Our families visited socially occasionally and, during an evening conversation on the patio, she spoke about being a young child who lived around the corner from the grade-school Hitler, OMG! Both pastor and his wife are now deceased.

[SOteric]

16. I once dated a Klansman.

Oh, not intentionally.

I did my graduate work in a state considerably south of Washington. I rather handsome, clean cut, young man my age took a fancy to me and chased me around for a bit. I decided to accept a date with him and it went rather nicely. He was polite and mannerly. I had no reason not to date him again when he asked.

Somewhere into our third date he began casually discoursing on his complaints of non-white, non-American, non-Protestant people. I froze. I literally felt a buzzing in my ears I was so shocked.

I wish I'd had the gumption or the presence of mind to have told him off. I was far too young, far too unsure of myself, and frightened at the incredibly cruel things he'd just said about people I knew and loved, - and even me myself.

When next he called to invite me out, I made up some story about going back to an old boyfriend.

Later, that year a friend of mine who'd known his family for years assured me that 'everyone hereabouts knows they're KKK. It's an open secret.'

[Breezy du Nord]

17. This probably doesn't count but...

I had to bite on this thread.

These two kids, a black one and a white one, had a big fight in the middle of the corridors in 7th grade. I didn't know a lot about it, I remeber walking past. But my friend Seth told me by my locker that Cory, the white kid, had called Blake a "nigger."

I never liked Cory that much. I always thought Blake was real funny. Like once he was growing out an afro and our math teacher told him she'd give him ex cred if he could keep a ruler in it through 6 hour. It was really funny. they both got suspended. I never really thought of cory as a racist though. He was real short and he'd pick a fight with anyone.

[Lars39]

18. I've seen Klan members holding buckets out for donations at an

intersection in the county where I live. About a mile from where I live is a house with a flagpole. I've never seen them fly the US flag. They fly the stars and bars and a blue star flag that (I think) stands for headquarters.
There was a county celebration this past summer, with food booths, music, games, etc. lining the streets. The Klan had a booth; no signs, just flags.

Here's a link to Southern Poverty Law Center, so you can see what is near you.

http://www.splcenter.org/centerinfo/ci-index.html

[AquariDem]

20. Here's my donation

:puke: :puke: :puke:

That should fill a few.

[cherryperry]

32. Thanks for posting the link!

Morris Dees and the Southern Poverty Law Center do the most admirable and wonderful work ... I recommend this site to everyone and, if you like what you see, please help them out with a donation!

:yourock:

[rasputin1952]

21. Back in the mid '60's, a Jewish friend and I...

had gone to see a parade for the ADF. On the West side of 5th Ave, barricaded by the wall of Central Park, there were some neo-nazi's screeching all kinds of stuff. This caught our attention, and we decided to move a little closer. The NYPD was there to protect them, as they were being somewhat vociferous and vile; but free speech is free speech. Anyway, there was this little old lady standing there looking at them, not with hatred, but rather with a sort of pity. I asked her what she thought about all of this, and I saw a tatoo on her arm, she had been in a camp. She said, "Let them speak, it is better for your enemy to have a face, then you can remember when the time comes".

I puzzled over this, after all she had been a survivor...but years later, I knew what she meant. I was in the Army, and was asked to join the KKK in one of the units I was in. I declined, but I remembered the faces, these were not men you could trust. I eventually went to the IG with names of those I knew to be involved. I did not want to trust my life to someone who would just as soon see me dead because I didn't think the way they did. As far as I was concerned, we were ALL green, we were all soldiers, and our lives depended on the fact that we had to look out for each and everyone of us. I had little time for bigotted swine.

I equate them all with cowardice.

[bobthedrummer]

22. Bloody.

Extremely bloody.
eom.

[TacticalPeek]

23. Hmmmm. Well,

many moons ago I spent a Dixie summer on the kluckers' hit list. The only time I ever carried. Since I was originally tipped to it by a friend who was at least close to them, if not a member, I have to see that some redeeming features are there. Back then, a few of them were almost just plain folks, aside from their phobia. Racists sure, but not much different than what you find in boardrooms and lockerrooms today. The king rats, and the few killers, I believe migrated to other, more lucrative crazy white organizations. God bless the Southern Poverty Law Center.

One thing about that summer though, don't ever be deceived by what you see in the movie, "Mississippi Burning", about the heroic fibbies. When I had corroborated info on a certain night to expect a visit, I called the FBI, told them what I'd heard. The nazi on their phone said that they were not a law enforcement agency, only crime investigation, can't help you. Once I was attacked, they would investigate. Meanwhile, I should call my sheriff or police chief. This humor was not lost on me.

So, I wound up spending all night in ambush, waiting. In the wee hours, two or three guys in an old pickup rolled slowly by the house several times, almost stopping once, probably drinking up the nerve. I could have used one myself, since I was starting to wonder what might happen if I my fire hit the TNT walking up my sidewalk. My position was no protection against that, but luckily they drove off and not much ever came of it. Except my attitude toward the fibbies.

Incidentally, plenty of those you see sporting and spouting against the whore of Babylon are receiving monthly "scholarship" payments from the fibs. And lastly, some of these freaks are convertible, almost like the cult deprogrammers do; several such cases already, and its worth it.


edtd tipo

[XanaDUer]

24. In Florida years ago, KKK burned cross on friend's lawn 'cause they were

Catholics.

[amazona]

25. my neighbor David Duke was unavoidable...

...he is a gambling addict and in the late 1990s I was working for a blackjack team so I would see him at the tables as well as in the neighborhood. It truly convinced me that Nazis are idiots to watch him gamble. So many times I felt like looking him straight in the eye and pointing out that Ed Thorp published in the 1960s and anyone who has lost money at blackjack since then has done it because they made a choice to be a loser. Despite Duke's claim that he was a genuis and that he was a professional player...another pro player can always recognize another one...and he just wasn't. There is never any count where you hit 16 against a 6, sorry, David. And making your girlfriend go off and cry in the quarter slot machines because of your losing ways is so totally uncool.

I'm sure that somewhere in this fair land there is a Nazi who understands elementary probability and statistics, but my personal experience slanted me to believe that Nazis are severely math-challenged.


As far as conversation, it was impossible. Screaming and cursing at his unlucky fate and berating the dealers was the limits of his conversation. It was like he was in a fantasy state of mind where he truly believed that the other players didn't notice he was there at the table. Most high rollers try to play it cool and pretend they don't care when they're losing -- the old conspicuous consumption thing -- but he was too freaked out for that. Of course everyone knew he was embezzling money from his idiot contributors so what was there to discuss? An awkward situation all round whenever he was at the table. Fortunately, he rarely lasted long in my experience.

P.S. Do I getn double bonus points because he is both a former Nazi and KKK?

[mitchum]

27. You gut bonus points for both his dual membership...

and a great story.

[LuLu550]

28. back in 1971

my friends and I drove to Florida from New York. On the main road there was a huge billboard with klansman on a horse that was rearing up and extended beyond the top of the billboard. It read "Welcome to Fayetteville, home of the Ku Klux Klan."
It totally freaked me out.

[Lady President]

31. My Nazi Story

I met a Nazi going through customs when I was 16 and went on a school field trip to the Bahamas. The customs agent was an older man in his 60s or 70s. He went through almost everyone's bags and it was taking forever. When I got to the front of the line and handed him my passport, he looked at it and said with a thick accent, "Good German name, good German girl, you won't have anything bad in your bags." He loudly said, "Zeig Heil" and gave the Nazi salute. I stood there just staring at him completely unable to move. Fortunately, my friend without a German name was just finished putting his stuff back in his luggage, grabbed my stuff, and pointed me towards the door. I still get nervous anywhere near customs.

[TheReligiousLeft]

33. MLK march

How the heck could I forget this. It was 4th grade or so, I just moved to Cheyenne, and the KKK held an anti-King march around my school during recess. Scary stuff.

[Forkboy]

34. Ran into many skinheads

and being the punk fan that I am it pissed me off that they gave the music a bad name.

We dealt with them in the way they could appreciate,that's all I'll say.

[last_texas_dem]

35. Not much of a story, but...

...I do happen to live only twenty minutes from Vidor, TX, which I believe has become the unofficial HQ of the KKK over the years. Additionally, I live only a couple hours south of Jasper, the notorious town of the James Byrd, Jr., dragging death. (It should be pointed out, for what it's worth, that these two towns are substantially different in their racial attitudes. Vidor has a population of about 10,000 that I believe is absolutely and completely white; possibly some Hispanics, but I know for a fact absolutely no African-Americans. This despite bordering the heavily integrated Beaumont. Jasper, on the other hand, is, I believe, a basically even split between blacks and whites and a much less racially corrosive atmosphere- though it, obviously, has its share of problems.)

These extremists seem to stay underground for the most part, however. Though a good share, and probably the majority, of the folks I know down here are racists (this includes a good number of Democrats, as surprising as that could possibly be to some who live in more "enlightened" areas), "hate" groups are not tolerated by the majority of people and stay underground for the most part. From my own observation there seemed to be a strange sort of revival in the early-to-mid-nineties that seems to have died down, but in saying that I do recall that the Ku Klux Klan rallied in Vidor just a couple weeks ago with hundreds participating, and I have read in local media that as many as two thousand in my home county may possibly be members of the Klan. A bit scary, as I myself know NO members, which makes me wonder just how much of a secret these people may strive to keep their membership.

[cherryperry]

37. Just an excellent point, last_texas_dem!

I was wondering how to get this across, especially since it actually is nation-wide, and I appreciate your doing so instead!

All of a sudden, "everywhere" is the 'unofficial HQ of the KKK' or whatever other disgusting hate group one is discussing at the moment.

That is because of exactly what you posted: 'These extremists seem to stay underground...'. Yes, yes, yes! Unfortunately, this is partially due to their networking through the internet.

Some good places to check this out without going to their websites are both Klanwatch and The Southern Poverty Law Center (as previously mentioned)!

Thanks again for your message...:pals:!

[Hubert Flottz]

39. Living Through The Bush Administration::::::::::::::::::::::::::

is the best example I can think of RE: NAZIs!

[proud patriot]

41. I believe it was neo nazi's that were booing Limp Byzkit

at the Metallica Concert I went to .

[mitchum]

46. either that or music lovers

[Chovexani]

42. A couple of times

A couple of times it was pretty indirect. I went to a wealthy pre-K to 12 private school on scholarship from pre-K to 8th grade. When I was in the 7th grade, the upper schoolers had an art project where they had to make life-sized standees of themselves, which were displayed throughout the school. One of the many Jewish friends I played D&D with had an older sister who did the project and someone carved a swastika into the forehead of her standee. We never found out who did it, but I remember having to go to assemblies and whatnot. It was pretty creepy. Later that year someone (I suspect the same person) vandalized flyers for the spring middle school musical. They scratched out the name of our much beloved drama teacher (who was gay) and wrote "fag" all over it, with swastikas, "KKK", etc. It was sickening, and more than a little scary. They never found out who did that either.

One time it was up close and personal. When I was five years old I went with my older sister and a couple of her friends down to see my cousin who lived in rural Maryland at the time. We were coming back from a local carnival/fair type thing one night when my cousin's friend, who was white and at the wheel, suddenly told us to duck down under the seats. The car came to a stop for a few seconds, then started off again. A few minutes later she said the coast was clear, and when I looked back out the car window there were these scary looking skinhead guys with baseball bats and stuff like that. My cousin's friend explained they were looking for cars with black people. I was only five, but I understood the implications of that. To this day I'm scared shitless when driving in rural areas at night. It's one of the reasons I like to stay in NYC.

--Chovexani

[AntiBushRepub]

43. Back in the day...

When I used to go alot of heavy metal concerts and local shows.

(early 90's)

And be being a "hair farmer"... there was always that skinhead bunch that we'd have to watch out for when we went to the shows.


Mostly we'd just have to stay out of their way, or get our ass kicked...

I saw a few incidents go down with them.. they live to fight.. they don't go out on Friday excitied about seeing a show or having fun.. they go out specifically just to fight..

God willing, I hope alot of those people from back then are in jail by now...

-An

[Nikia]

44. Does ex Nazi count?

My grandmother had a friend who was a member of a Hitler youth organization in Germany. I don't think that she was too Nazish in her beliefs. My grandmother did make her leave a couple of times after arguing but she was always welcomed back. did I mention that my grandmother is Jewish?

[Snow]

45. My mother likes to tell the cautionary tale of

her childhood, in the 1920's. She lived in Indianapolis, on Meridian (the main drag) about 3300 north. She remembers vividly the KKK marching down Meridian in full Klan regalia to the state capitol building (I know, it's actually on Capitol but they marched down Meridian) to open the annual legislative session. The KKK ran, was, the state legislature, and they were that proud of it.

[roguevalley]

47. Illinois valley in Oregon used to be Nazi land.

you didn't want to go there.