The circus might be coming to town in John Day, and people in John Day don’t like it.
According to reports in the local weekly paper, the Blue Mountain Eagle, the neo-Nazi Aryan Nations group is looking to relocate from Athol in northern Idaho and has been scoping out John Day as a likely new home base. The self-described national director of the Aryans, Paul R. Mullet (honest, that’s his name) was in town last week “looking at property to buy for a new ‘national compound,’” according to the Eagle.
As extreme racist groups go, the Aryan Nations are the lunatic fringe of the lunatic fringe. Their website, proudly emblazoned with the eagle-and-swastika motif of Hitler’s Third Reich, describes the group as “a worldwide Pan-Aryan crusade dedicated to the preservation and advancement of our Race” and calls for establishment of a “Fourth Reich” in which the “Aryans” will have their own country – no blacks, Jews or Hispanics allowed.
Under the headline “The Coming Civil War!” is the following drool:
“If you notice at all times, anytime there is truth starting to surface relating to any and all crimes and/or the increase of crimes, the Whites and/or their organizations are always targeted as the problem by the Jews and the liberal communist press, politicians, and educators. You can also throw the religious element into that pot of communist soup also.
“This could be no further from the truth as to what reality is in the United States. Black on White crime is hitting the ceiling. But of course, unless Whitey just bows down and allows the Blacks and/or the Mexicans to murder, maim, rape, or just rob them …… then Whitey is the problem.
Well, WHITEY is waking up to the Jew conspiracy bullshit that has been thrown into the face of all Whites for quite some time … ”
There’s a lot more in the same moronic vein, but you get the drift.
The wackos are attracted to John Day because of its remoteness, cheap real estate and “proximity to the mountains for survival training,” Mullet told the Eagle.
“Mullet, wearing a uniform shirt with a swastika patch on it, said the group’s goal is to create a homeland for white people.
“‘That area is the Pacific Northwest,’ he said. ‘The blacks have Africa, the Jews have Israel …’”
Mullet said he also thought the John Day area would be a great spot for a national convention. But the residents of John Day and the surrounding area are not eager to welcome the freak show.
A bunch of the locals picketed on the town’s main street last Saturday, and the Eagle is planning to bring in a couple of national experts for two community meetings on Friday “to answer concerns” aroused by Mullet’s visit.
The people of Grant County deserve a salute for standing up to the hatemongers, but they could use some help from the rest of us. It wouldn’t hurt for a few people from the Bend area to turn out at Friday’s meetings to show solidarity.
And the state legislature needs to pass a resolution telling the “Aryans” that they and their toxic doctrines are not welcome here, so if they’re looking for a new home they can keep goose-stepping west all the way through Oregon until they drown in the Pacific Ocean.
This article appears in Feb 25 – Mar 3, 2010.
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I know that we rarely see eye to eye on anything, but on this you are spot on. Why aren’t they staying in Idaho? Perhaps their community, Athol, (is that really the name? or is it just a lispy description of their Aryan residents) can give us some insights as to how they’re getting rid of them.
Thanks for bringing this to our attention.
right there with you on this one, HBM.
I lived in the Idaho panhandle in the early 90’s–just north of Hayden Lake and south of Bonners Ferry. It was an interesting culture that was home to Randy Weaver and Richard Butler and both of them had a world view and philosophy that was abhorrent and on the fringe of society. Yet they struck a chord with a number of people and it can’t be denied both had their supporters. Unfortunately, hateful screed is the price the rest of us pay for living in a country where free speech, regardless of how idiotic and hateful, is given a chance to be heard and considered. The B-tin this morning has an example on the ‘op-ed’ page where a local claims that the president is in the process of establishing a domestic police force so he can overthrow the Constitution and impose martial law. A load of hateful crap, but there it is, being given its moment in the sun because of ‘fairness’ and Free Speech.
Hopefully John Day will not become the center of the Aryan nation and they will succeed in keeping them out. Mullet is using the ‘controversy’ for publicity purposes (remeber Skokie, Illinois?)and the result will be media coverage–the attention spotlight for a time–and unfortunately an increase in membership from the social dysfunctionals more than willing to blame all problems on a whipping boy they can point to in their simplistic philosophy of hate.
Go get em, John Day!! Good luck.