When the Medford paper prominently reported on the appearance of a new "official" white supremacist headquarters in the small town of Phoenix, I wondered who would pay attention. That was the spark for this week's column.It turns out a whole lot of folks were paying attention, and were quick to take a stand. In these swirling times, I took that as an encouraging sign that there are some things that we don't make too complicated.
Thanks to those who stand up.
1 comment:
Jeff, thanks for putting a link to your column on Facebook. I was heartened that a young Phoenix woman, Nicole Strykowski, organized a peaceful, pro-love demonstration to counter the formation of the neo-Nazi cell in her hometown. While I'm glad that the Mail Tribune alerted the community to the presence of Andrew Lee Patterson and his followers, I was upset to see the paper publish a huge photo of Patterson and two of his colleagues, looking organized and powerful. It was just the kind of image that will appeal to young men in poor families with racist tendencies looking for leadership and notoriety. It appeared the MT used a publicity photo from Patterson and blew it up way too big. While I support freedom of speech and assembly, I hope there will be counter demonstrations whenever these neo-Nazis take to the streets and that we continue to make sure that their messages of hate are answered with love each and every time.
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