Um, wow.

So I guess last weeks mass mobilization of activists to free the Jena six has some vocal opponents. Some really scary vocal opponents.

No sooner did tens of thousands of African-American demonstrators depart the racially tense town of Jena, La., last week after protesting perceived injustices than white supremacists flooded in behind them.
First a neo-Nazi Web site posted the names, addresses and phone numbers of some of the six black teenagers and their families at the center of the Jena 6 case and urged followers to find them and “drag them out of the house,” prompting an investigation by the FBI.
Then the leader of a white supremacist group in Mississippi published interviews that he conducted with the mayor of Jena and the white teenager who was attacked and beaten, allegedly by the six black youths. In those interviews, the mayor, Murphy McMillin, praised efforts by pro-white groups to organize counterdemonstrations; the teenager, Justin Barker, urged white readers to “realize what is going on, speak up and speak their mind.”

That is not all. White supremacist websites, along with former KKK Grand Master David Duke all spoke up in support of the white students in Jena. What? Are you fucking kidding me? Now, perhaps as white supremacist groups don’t get as much airtime (outside of Springer), perhaps it is scary when you see mobilized efforts from a group and mind-set that I honestly believed had gotten less prevalent. Is this a growing movement, or have these people been active for years? I have failed to track it, probably wrongfully.
The Mayor of Jena has been quoted by Klan leaders as saying that he is not endorsing any of these folks and supports what they are trying to do. Hmm, later on he says that he feels his town has been said to be unfairly racist. Well then, perhaps don’t let a Klan leader quote you as supporting their activities, or perhaps don’t let the Klan demonstrate in your town.
Free speech and hate speech are two different things. If the response to people fighting unfair court proceedings, is led by a group that have historically believed that the appropriate form of justice for blacks is to illegally lynch them, well I am sorry, I am not feeling like that is acceptable. White supremacy is more than just the support or advocacy of people that are perceived to be unfairly dealt with and white. It is based on the belief that one race is better than the other and often times practiced in the elimination of oppositional racial categories.
So no, I don’t think they should be allowed to organize, given the history and threat of hate and violence they have tortured black communities with since their inception.
via Chicago Tribune.