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Residents of John Day are trying to keep an Aryan Nations group from establishing their headquarters in the eastern Oregon town. The community quickly rallied to show their opposition to the white supremacist group after their self-proclaimed leader showed up at the office of the local newspaper, the Blue Mountain Eagle, announcing his intentions to purchase property in John Day.
People from John Day and surrounding Grant County gathered at two packed meetings last Friday in Canyon City to educate themselves about these white supremacists. The main speakers at the meeting were two Idaho activists who were part of a successful effort to sue the Aryan Nations group in 2000. Many residents wanted to know what legal rights they have to refuse to sell property to the group leader or decline to serve him in their businesses.
One of the most concrete results of the Friday meetings was the formation of the Grant County Human Rights Coalition, a group of community leaders, law enforcement and business owners who are committed to continued resistance to the Aryan Nations group. They began by encouraging residents and business owners to display green ribbons in order to demonstrate their support for diversity and human rights. According to John Day Mayor Bob Quinton, the coalition is also looking into the legal limitations of refusing service to someone because of his political views.
Do you live in Grant County? Have ideologically extreme groups ever tried to take up residence near you? What's the most effective way to respond as an individual and as a community?
Tagged as: race · real estate
Photo credit: Thomas Hawk / Creative Commons
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I am so proud of the people of Grant County and John Day, Oregon, where I work as a town planner. They stood up to the Aryan Nation and sent them packing. Oregon counties should adopt Hate-Free resolutions. If all 36 counties did this, the Aryan Nation would stop looking here.
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Maybe Grant Co could create a new town for these guys to move into, then the neo allies could storm it and blow it up. That would solve the problem for good.
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beautiful part of the state that i had the pleasure of seeing for the first time last summer. even more beautiful given the public outcry over the aryan nation's plans to move there. well done, grant county! i look forward to visiting again sometime soon.
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I applaud the people of John Day (and those who traveled from all over the state to support them) for their success. I am nervous about people being denied services, though, just for being who they are. That sounds too familiar, and with Oregon's history of racism and denial of service to people of color it is troubling.
I hope that people all over the state can take a moment to examine the seemingly less egregious issues of racism - read the State of Black Oregon's report released earlier this year and address the institutional and sadly harder to detect (by those not directly affected) racist practices. The report suggests we invest in children and education rather than prisons, and ultimately we may not have the populations in prision we do today. Also, unequal policing and conviction is still at issue.
White power groups are nothing to ignore, but they do have constitutional rights. And I really believe our structural inequities allow for the proliferation of these groups.
Callie P.
Albany OR
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Ideologically extreme groups...
How about a measure passed overwhelmingly to ban the United Nations?
Or
Passing a measure to allow arrest of Forest Service employees by citizens.
Passing a measure saying citizens can log federal lands.
County government giving money to the sagebrush rebellion in Nevada.
Blowing up a composting toilet at a Forest Service Campground. Death Threats against the local US Forest Service Supervisor and his family causing them to be moved.
These are the things that encourage a hate group to think they would be welcome.
I am so happy to see the county unite against hate like we have never united before. We have in the last year started making some progress on working through our issues, but still have a ways to go. Lets build on the united front against a racist hate and make this a even better place.
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The problem here isn't beliefs, though their beliefs are repulsive. Anyone can believe anything, and in Grant County we're progressive and tolerant to people from all walks of life. The real problem is Aryan Nations are all about violent crime and intimidation. In Kootenai County, Idaho, they have a decades-long history of murders, robberies (including a million-dollar armored car robbery), beatings, and many acts of intimidation. The FBI calls them domestic terrorists.
We don't need gangs of armed thugs doing "training" exercises on our public lands. We don't need gangs of armed thugs "patrolling" our streets. Don't let them fool you with their lies about how they are peaceful and not about hate. Because they are not, and they do not tell the truth.
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BTW Think Out Loud, you're paying to much attention to Mr. Mullet. He doesn't deserve it. Everything he has to say has been said thousands of times before, and he doesn't tell the truth anyway. How about you give more time to people who are worth listening to, like the editor of the Blue Mountain Eagle, like local law enforcement, like any of the many activists who banded together in record time to face down a violent threat to our community?
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Congrats to Grant County... although, outward, cut-and-dry racism is an easy target! Sure it seems like it was a long battle in our country, but compared to other battles, it was rather short. The Aryan Nations are a functional and superficial group, so their defenses are weak. Their kind of hatred isn't wrapped up with, or can't hind behind, the mysticism of faith. Religion is more dangerous to our society because it enables hatred and intolerance under the umbrella of a higher power----you can't touch it, you can't see it, and, it is hard to defeat it. In counties all over our state, churches have weekly gatherings that breed hate. I am much more concerned about our religions then I am over an impotent branch of the Aryan Nations. The biggest threat they could muster was an impact on tourism.
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I'm proud of the people of John Day for educating themselves and rejecting Conservatism.
I hope that people in other rural areas use them as a role model and that the rejection of Conservatism spreads like wildfire.
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The reason some people are saying this isn't about beliefs, is because they don't want to be judged accordingly. They want to be able to practice their religions, and the bigotry entwined, without being held accountable. They want to be able to be against gay marriage, and other things, and not be held accountable. Or, at a minimum they can't handle the complexity, and concept, that some beliefs are not okay---are not worth, and don't deserve, protecting. What if Aryan Nations was considered a religion? What if they were never engaged in violence? What would we do then? Roll out the red carpets and let them move in? This has to be about beliefs!
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Oops, doubled post.
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In Coos County, when a similar group attempted to settle here about 20 years ago, we organized the group Coos County is Colorful to support and promote the diversity that we have and to fend off the idea that we would support fascists of any sort. We won, we remain organized as the Human Rights Advocates of Coos County, and we remain vigilant.
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What a message The John Day community could send if they welcomed and sponsored a few families of diverse thought or color in to their community.
That would show them Neo-whatevers!
What a wonderful message that would send to the world about Oregon's good will and true feelings about diversity. -
How have we become so fragile? America was built on courage, and can only continue to exist with courage. We have abandon that which our fabric has been woven so much of late that our identity is threatened.
By refusing rights to people or groups based on their beliefs we are admitting that we fear them. We give them license to continue their extremism, because our fear is their goal. We abandon our guiding principles. And, possibly worst of all, we deprive ourselves of the opportunity to engage other beliefs in any real way.
Redefining torture, denying the right to a jury trial to our prisoners, refusing to allow criminal trials for terrorist suspects in New York City, disallowing aryan groups access to our towns...all smack of fear and fragility. I am a former US Marine, and far from a pacifist. But I hate war as only one who has seen it can. (Dwight Eisenhower) Therefore, i believe we must have the courage to allow every person and group their rights--such as allowing them to live among us--so that we may be seen as courageous and the "Shining light of democracy" we like to think we are.
I AM NOT AFRAID OF THEM!!!! Let them buy the house next door to me. I will try to engage them, and use all legal means to deal with them. Their beliefs will not change if we isolate them in a vacuum in which they are only exposed to like-minded people.
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Scott, that's not how it is. I believe, like most people here, that racism and bigotry are wrong. But can we keep people out for having certain beliefs? Legally and morally that would be difficult, though I'm sure we would get together and figure out how to deal with it.
The AN cross the line into actions-- violent, criminal actions. Here is a partial tally of the damage to Kootenai county as reported by Norman Gissel, the lawyer who helped put Richard Butler out of business:
9 murders
many robberies, including a million-dollar armored car robbery
a damaged reputation as a community that welcomes the AN
intimidation and threats
incitement to acts of violence
The FBI calls them terrorists. Seems to me we ought to have some legal standing to keep them out entirely. Mr. Gissel and Mr. Stewart gave us a lot of success stories of how other communities dealt with the AN and succeeded in peacefully, legally, and non-violently getting rid of them.
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So, the objection to Aryan Nations setting up camp in Grant county was solely based on their potential for violent acts? I don't believe it. As I said before, would we have not objected if they were not violent? No! Is that the message we want to send. No, it wasn't because of their ridiculous hatred, but just the violence?
Aryan Nations are an extreme representation of what happens every day amongst many of our religions, and some other groups. When pushed far enough, with a clear cut case, that isn't hatred outsourced to god, who will murder our victims at a later date---we are willing to say not every belief is okay. This is about us saying sorry, you can't go that far, we don't want you in our backyard. People have a fear of opening this Pandora's box, because they feel they won't know where to draw the line in the future, or who gets to draw it. But, that is honestly what we are saying.
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I grew up in the Coeur d'Alene/Hayden area of North Idaho, where the Aryan Nations were previously headquartered under the leadership of the now dead Richard Butler. The presence of this group in the community created huge tensions in the eighties and began to dwindle in the late nineties. They poisoned wells, burned effigies and otherwise terrorized members of the community that they 'hated'. Their compound was a scary place to be near as one never knew who was watching or had a rifle sighted on you. Tensions finally came to a head when the group was persecuted for attacking a mother and son who's car backfired along the road boardering the compound. In the end, the compound was lost, the group split up and the compound now is a Peace Park.
Our community fought back as best we could. When the Aryans insisted in their right to hold a parade down our main street, we held our own counter parade to raise money for Human Rights.
I wish I hadn't had to grow up with such hate around and associated with my home. I think I'm stronger because, growing up in a mostly homogenous place, I may not have had the opportunities to learn about equality in the face of hate.
Way to go Grant County!
-Brandi in Portland.
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I didn't know much about the Aryan Nations before this issue came up - I appreciate the information that is being shared. What I learned from the Knowledge is Power meeting (besides the history of this group): we need to deal with these people through peaceful means (the experts shared a lot of ideas); this hate group has a history of producing violent people; they grow in darkness, so it's important for us to take a stand against them and not ignore them; and we need to advocate against discrimination in general - racist jokes, etc.
This group is not welcome in Grant County.
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This story is both uplifting and disappointing.
It’s wonderful to hear about a community that bans together to fight for what they believe in. This community stood up for itself. They denied a violent hate group access to their community. Great job Grant County!
Unfortunately, Mr. Mullet and his Aryan Nations group thrive on this kind of media attention. They believe that bad press is better than no press. Bad press gets their name out and is an effective way to help new recruits hear about their cause. Making their message heard and increasing their numbers is their primary goal. Starting a headquarters in Grant County is a secondary goal. My guess is, Mr. Mullet didn’t think he’d find a sympathetic ear in John Day. He doesn’t care about that. He wants opposition. He wants you to talk about him. He wants the public to know what his cause is. OPB is playing right in to the Arian Nation’s goals by airing this episode of Think Out Loud.
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It's heartening to hear such a firm rejection of white supremacy in John Day.
Now if only folks there (and elsewhere in Oregon) would support basic equality for gay and lesbian Oregonians as well.
Grant County voted overwhelmingly to pass Measure 36, which literally amended our state constitution to selectively deny marriage rights to my family, and many others in our state. And the homophobic views of the Aryan Nations likely mirrors those of many folks in John Day.
This evidence-free religious prejudice against contributing, fully human gay and lesbian members of our communities is really no different than what's preached regularly at Catholic, Mormon, and many Christian churches in the area (and throughout the state)...
"The arc of history is long, but it bends towards justice."
Good work John Day - but we're done yet.
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The people of John Day, Canyon City, and Grant county have forgotten their past history. In the 1870's and 1880's there was a large group of Chinese in Canyon City, approx. 800, who were burned out mysteriously and then were not allowed to build back in Canyon City. The Chinese population moved north of Canyon City to the present site of John Day. Because of the hatetred of the Chinese population by the people of the area of Grant County it was depleted to almost zero. So all I can say is that the people of the John Day area are hipocritical. When you shut out one group because you don't like their believes you are hurting the meaning of freedom in this country. Please think about that!
Gary G. - Bend
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I suggest that each of us watch the Paper Clips DVD.
It's a fantastic reminder of what intolerance can produce.
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Free Speech means that just as the Aryan Nations have a right to their voice, so do we as individuals and communities have a right to voice their opposition to their opinion.
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Can a business not serve someone because of religious beliefs? Do Aryan Nations consider themselves a religion? Have we just decided they are not, to not tarnish the religious brand collectively?
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Be it that the Arian Nation commits discrimination of the most offensive nature, however it seems that combating these offenses with more discrimination is equally unjust.
Is there not a way to for both parties to educate one another and not dismiss their counters as “wrong”?
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As an Oregonian "of color" I am enormously proud of the people of John Day and Grant County for standing firm against hate and intolerance. For reminding us that a White, rural, conservative America does not equal racism. I'll be honest, I've wanted to see more of beautiful Eastern Oregon but have been hesitant because of a vague, uneasy feeling that I might not be welcome there.
Yes, this community is walking a thin line in trying to communicate that the AN is not welcome there without being outright discriminatory, but the message they're sending by taking a stand speaks to the core of our American values of equality and tolerance. Their message rings loud and clear and I have heard it and I am proud.
~ Paula G. - Gresham, OR
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AN is Conservatism without the "lipstick".
Just like Christian Identity, the KKK, The American Nazi Party, "The Family", all of them are Conservatism without hiding behind the "lipstick".
Look behind the curtain, like Dorothy did in The Wizard of OZ, and you'll see that is really going on.
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The Nazis can say what they want, somewhere else.
By wearing swastikas on their sleeves, they deserve the approbriation they recieve because they are identifying themselves with Hitler and the Holocaust. This creates a categorical difference between their free speech right and other groups who are not responsible for a world war and the deaths of millions. While it is true that we should not single out groups to silence, I think the Nazi's legacy creates a special case.
Should we not silence terrorists planning acts of mass destruction? Certainly they have a right to express their point of view.
Go John Day! Keep them out.
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I have not been able to listen to all of this program. I was struck by how adept the guests are at saying all of the right things. I had the interesting (?) experience of representing a public agency in both Grant and Wheeler Counties for over a decade and I'm here to tell you the Aryan Nation has done it's homework. They are indeed a "match" for this area. As heinous as their beliefs are, and as disgusted I am with their leadership, they are for sure, not stupid. They have found a community that would support their agendas and there is no amount of "town meetings" and "saying the right things" that will keep them out.
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It is not a surprise to me that any racist group feels welcome to "stroll in" to the real estate office to set up shop in the John
Day area. My brother, a gulf war veteran and avid outdoorsman went to John Day recently to hunt. He has an Obama sticker on his truck. When my brother went into a local business to purchase supplies the local patrons in the store were very interested to know who the "Nigger Lover" was. They were mennacing enough that my brother got his supplies and slept with his gun next to him in case the local good ol' boys felt it necessary to pay a visit in the evening. Way to go John Day!! -
I was a resident of Grant County from 2003-2007. There are many good well meaning residents there; some of which have become life long friends of mine. I can say from experience however, that in many ways it is an intollerant community. There used to be a joke that if you wanted to see the real "Survivor" drive a Volvo with a pro- gay rights and "I support Obama" sticker through the county and see how long you last. I would love too see people who are ethnically diverse for this region or who do not share the pollitical beliefs of the majority, (there were roughly 500 democrats out of 8000 residents in 2006) visit John day and report on how locals treated them. I'm sure most would be cordial, but it only takes a few. Moreover, I would love to see the residents of Grant county live up to the ideas of equal rights they are now proclaiming is such a valued asset to their community at long last.
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People with little status in the larger society boost each others esteem by who they hate that is not them.
It is not uncommon in rural backwaters to find pockets of individuals that have a status interest with their peers to hate as many "outsiders" as possible. Minorities, people from out of state or country, liberals or pluralists, are all easy targets. This is especially true if none are there to be known, liked, and defended by local people of good will. Hating is all benefit and no cost in this situation.
These people crave status as much as any normal human being, they just seem to have missed the opportunities/abilities to gain it in ways that are positive to society at large.
Individuals of courage and strength can increase the cost of their hating by gently but persistently 'confronting' it when ever it show itself. You can sometime win them over by inviting them to 'dinner', a beer etc., as a quick follow up. You take something away with one hand and give them something better with the other. -
I was born and raised in John Day like the person before me. I know these people and most of them are really salt of the earth types. Like any place there are folks who aren't representative of most of the people, but they are loud, insulting, and rude and in a small place like John Day are noticed quickly. Please don't judge the community by these people! They are not the majority. All of my family still lives there and I have young neices and nephews who go to school there. I am proud of how they are standing up for their community and their way of life.
Please stand with them to help keep the AN out of Grant County and all of Oregon.
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I think I see more discrimination and racial hatred being expressed towards these minority "white" people (and this is being done also by other white people) than what is done against any other ethnic minority. And yes, white people in America are now officially a "minority race" due to population increases. People from the Black community are proud to form their own communities just as do the Latinos, Jewish, and the Asian minorities. Nobody would dare say that any of these minority communities are racist...but in some ways they can be extremely discriminatory against other ethnic minorities, especially those who are white. For example, White people who live in NYC can be treated quite harshly if they try to "integrate" by living in the Black Harlem area. They will be the prime scapegoats and race-crime victims. It is only natural that people of any ethnic community prefer to live amongst their own kind. Even Jewish people strongly prohibit marriages between Jews and non-Jews. Fascist bigots come in all colors and religions, not just White.
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iiii
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I think I see more discrimination and racial hatred being expressed towards these minority "white" people (and this is being done also by other white people) than what is done against any other ethnic minority. And yes, white people in America are now officially a "minority race" due to population increases. People from the Black community are proud to form their own communities just as do the Latinos, Jewish, and the Asian minorities. Nobody would dare say that any of these minority communities are racist...but in some ways they can be extremely discriminatory against other ethnic minorities, especially those who are white. For example, White people who live in NYC can be treated quite harshly if they try to "integrate" by living in the Black Harlem area. They will be the prime scapegoats and race-crime victims. It is only natural that people of any ethnic community prefer to live amongst their own kind. Even Jewish people strongly prohibit marriages between Jews and non-Jews. Fascist bigots come in all colors and religions, not just White.What seems to be occurring nowadays is that the only people who are not allowed to feel good about their racial identity is the White race. Its Ok to hear about "Black Power" or Black Culture in all of the media forms, but if a White person were even say that he/she liked themselves as being "White" or are proud of their racial heritage, they are immediately labelled as "racist."
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We humans walk a fine line; wanting all the benefits of identity that is intimate with our immediate peers, while hoping to avoid all the conflicts that that can cause in the larger world.
We can do it. We just need to be flexible and not want too much.
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Yes, that is right, we hate these 'white' people because of their bigotry, their hatred. We don't want to tolerate the intolerant. This is not in any way equivalent to their hatred. This is a hatred of self-defense!
Somehow our society can't parse the complexity of this concept, so we over-and-over have to hear, how this discrimination against the discriminators, is allegedly equivalent to their racial bigotry. It is not the same thing. The only portion that is the same is that it is a type of hatred. Why someone hates is equally as important as the actual hate itself. That is what we are objecting to, not hatred, but the racial, superficial, bigotry underling the hatred. Disliking a bigot does not make you a bigot!
Yes, Jews, blacks, Latinos and everyone else, are all as guilty and as bigoted as white people ever were. White people had the power to cause more harm with their bigotry. So, bigotry has largely been a one-sided equation until recently. But this is a separate issue, entirely, from the conversation about Aryan Nations.
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Groups of all sizes, including Nation States, use identity as a glue. But consider - in the Middle East - what happens when the identity is based mostly on hate/victimhood. The Palestinians desperately need a broader more positive base to their identity if they are going to inspire there young people to build an economy instead of bombs.
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The irony is that all people are descendants of the "Eve" from Africa.
So all people, all people, are "Black" on the inside of their skins, all of their guts, bones, muscles, and blood is "Black".
It is just skin color that has evolved differently in different climates.
That means that the AN folks hate their own internal "Black" selves.
Henh.
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I've been noticing that the conditions in the US now are similar to Germany in the late 1920s and early 1930s, the US is broke, there is massive joblessness, the economy is stalled, and we are having this surge of bare bones Conservatism, the politics of hatred, divisiveness, fear-mongering, all of the things that Hitler used to build his "Reich" of Conservatism, of Nazism.
The Goebbels type people like Frank Luntz, Karl Rove, Limbaugh, Beck, Cheney, etc, all of the right wing extremists of propaganda.
The De-Regulation of Corporations and their killing off small businesses and their consolidation into extremely large and powerful Corporations that are intertwined into governmental power, just like what Benito Mussolini defined as the "Corporate State".
It is not encouraging.
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It seems that people are simply no comfortable with anyone different from them. A key problem for humans: diversity.
-Florida web design firm
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Comments are now closed.
Maybe Grant County can provide some rocks so these folks can crawl back under them?