Neo-Nazi group provokes protests in Claremont
Claremont played host to the southwest chapter of the National Socialist Movement (NSM), a neo-Nazi group, on Saturday, March 19.
Roughly 30 NSM members, dressed in black uniforms and fatigues and carrying flags emblazoned with swastikas and the letters NSM, staged a demonstration on the corner of Foothill and Indian Hill Boulevards. The rally was part of the organization’s racially motivated “Reclaim the Southwest” movement against illegal immigration.
Members of NSM and members of the white supremacist Church of the Creator rallied behind yellow police tape while heavy security forces stood by. Public law enforcement from a number of Inland Empire cities carried rifles and metal batons. Police stood sentinel on top of the U.S. Bank building and Campus Safety officers guarded the entrances to the 5Cs.
NSM’s stated purpose for the demonstration was to protest illegal immigration. However, underlying themes of racial intolerance were evident.
“We are members of the Church of the Creator, which is a white racial religion dedicated to the survival, expansion and advancement of the white race,” Reverend and NSM protester Lonnie Sartor of Riverside said. “We’re not here for anything violent… we’re just here to celebrate the white race.”
Sartor stood behind the tape with his wife and two young daughters.
“Our goal is to encourage whites to be proud to be white," he said. "We are nature’s crowning glory."
Between 400 and 500 anti-Nazi protesters crowded onto three corners of the intersection, surrounding the neo-Nazis. The protesters included students and area residents, and peaceful and insulting cries volleyed from all corners.
Protesters engaged in chants such as “Nazis go home!” and “Small group from Riverside, go away, run and hide!” Students and residents held signs with slogans like “Stop the Hate,” “Nazis be trippin’,” and “Living is easy with your eyes closed,” while other protesters shouted toward the northeast corner of the intersection. As the day wore on, some of the peaceful protests devolved to taunting of NSM members and angry cries riddled with personal insults and obscenities.
“The NSM is out here protecting the borders, not you!” shouted Jeff Hall, southwest states regional director of the National Socialist Movement, in response to anti-rally protesters.
Some attendees noted that the event lacked any thoughtful or constructive discourse.
“It seems like both groups are kind of uneducated in their disputes,” onlooker Robert Pattison of Upland said.
Upland residents Ernie and Donna Stone shared similar concerns about the demonstrations. The Stones had a late friend who, as a child in World War II, was sent to the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp.
“Young people… are worrying us,” Mr. Stone said, referring to his concern about the possible implications of an apathetic or, worse, ignorant younger generation. A tear rolled down his cheek as he said, “Don’t forget what happened.”
The police presence was noticeable blocks away from the rally, with uniformed officers on bicycles, on foot, in cars and on motorcycles. The group of NSM demonstrators were guarded by a security detail including officers from the Claremont Police Department (CPD), the Covina Police Department, and the Covina SWAT team. Many officers were in riot gear, and the Claremont Sherriff’s Department came prepared with an acoustic crowd control device.
"The most infuriating part of this is the police. They’re the most violent people here," said Caroline Martin PZ '12. "They have their weapons and they are protecting the wrong people—effectively, too."
Pomona resident Phil Ramos was equally angered by the public protection afforded to NSM demonstrators.
"I’m quite surprised that there is so much money being spent to protect them," he said. "Let them protest and let them reap their just rewards in the protest. If somebody beats them up, then somebody beats them up."
Police declined to comment on the situation and the preparations made before the event, but most of the officers had been on the scene since mid-morning.
In peaceful opposition to the NSM rally, the informal group Claremont for Peace held an event in Claremont’s Memorial Park. The Peace Rally began at 10 a.m. and lasted through the afternoon, with live music, a drum circle, and a diverse group of local religious leaders speaking out for peace.
One student leader, who asked to remain anonymous because of safety concerns, explained that the goal of Claremont for Peace is "essentially to promote peace. To promote, rather than tear down—so to promote the ideals of multi-culturalism, peace, and love. That kind of stuff, rather than anti-hate or anti-neo-Nazi.”
Another student leader, who also requested to remain anonymous, agreed.
“We were really able to promote the ideals of peace and social justice," the student said. "That’s really the purpose of this whole thing… to bond ourselves with peace and justice and those like-minded ideals.”
The student leaders said that their “whole purpose was to come out and celebrate peace for the day and hopefully take away some of the Nazis' thunder for it.”
NSM stated on its website that the group chose to hold their rally in Claremont at the “request of local residents [who] have grown tired of the outspoken local college kids and campus staff that support the lawlessness of open borders.”
Reverend Lonnie Sartor of the white supremacist Church of the Creator went further and claimed that Claremont was chosen "because some college students from around here asked [NSM] to come in and do an immigration march.”
Although Sartor’s claim cannot be confirmed, it is not coincidental that NSM chose Claremont, a relatively liberal community, as the location for its rally, according to Pomona Dean of Students Miriam Feldblum. In an e-mail to Claremont students and faculty, Feldblum wrote that “the NSM stages these rallies, in part, to provoke counter protests in the hope of being portrayed as victims.”
At the end of the demonstration, members of CPD and the Covina SWAT team escorted members of NSM to their vehicles, while the crowds dissipated and quietly left the scene.
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