Finding Peace With Hate in the Streets
Published March 14, 2007
On Saturday afternoon, daily life for Columbia residents took a unique turn when members of the National Socialist Movement marched through downtown Columbia and alongside the MU campus.
Although some Columbians met the marchers on their route, retaliating vocally, and at times physically, others chose to participate in alternative events and demonstrations away from the congestion of the area.
NSM, a self-proclaimed neo-Nazi group, directed its march specifically at the MU campus.
"Almost every time we talk to a reporter, we find many of the slanderous journalists are from the University of Missouri," said John Bowles, who marched with the NSM on Saturday and is running for president of the United States on the NSM ticket. "They didn't know what I was talking about when I mentioned 'Marxist protest.'"
The NSM's Web site states its mission is to protect the Aryan heritage through scientific breeding based on race.
"We further declare that we do not seek to murder or destroy any race but only that we intend to establish separate areas within which each race will be at liberty to achieve its own destiny so long as it does not encroach upon or attack the areas or members of another race," the NSM Web site states.
Members of NSM also chose to protest the university because of its perceived stance on illegal immigration. Steven Boswell, leader of the NSM's Missouri branch, said the university promotes "changing America from a white country to a brown one," through its support of the Cambio Center, a research center established by MU to further understand various immigration processes.
During the hour-long march, approximately 20 uniformed NSM members expressed themes of white power and supremacy, as well as views in opposition of the American-led war against Iraq.
But they weren't alone. Between 400 and 500 people filled the streets and sidewalks of downtown, some looking to voice their own opinions, though others simply wanted to catch a glimpse of the men and women involved in the march.
Although the march began somewhat peacefully, the area soon became a conflict zone as individuals retaliated against NSM members. Some chose to retaliate verbally, by yelling back or laughing at the protestors, while others threw objects, or attempted to stop them from continuing on their path.
"At first, I was conflicted about what to do because I was very supportive of coming to (Douglass Park)," MU sociology professor Wayne Brekhus said. "I also went down there because if all the peace-oriented people were here, then you'd end up with a downtown full of hotheads."
Although Brekhus chose to attend both the march and alternative events, some chose not to participate at all.
Legion of Black Collegians Senator Blake Harris said he initially planned to attend the march, but at the last minute, he chose not to.
"People will see them or hear them, rather, for what they really are and see the ignorance that they have," Harris said. "It's about the right to peaceably assemble, and I don't think that they are necessarily going to be peaceful."
Some Columbia residents decided to watch the spectacle, but others looked for something different: a safe space.
Various community members tried to create that in Douglass Park during the duration of NSM's march. Bill Thompson, an organizer of the event, said approximately 2,000 people attended the event.
The Douglass Park event was created from a series of community meetings organized by First Ward City Councilwoman Almeta Crayton.
"The thing is, we don't just need eyeballers, we need do-ers," Crayton said. "If you're just coming down to eyeball, and to see and to make judgments about what we didn't do right, then don't come down."
But for Crayton, the community's reaction to NSM can't stop with the organized response.
"Now we're doing something that we should be doing every day," Crayton said. "Because they're coming, we're going to do these things. But what happens the other 364 days each year? That's when we need the activities."
This sentiment was echoed by individuals who met on the steps of the Boone County Courthouse to protest the coming of the NSM, in conjunction with the local chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.
NAACP Missouri Conference President Mary Ratliff was a primary organizer of this protest.
"We do not feel that it is all right to eat, drink and be merry while the (NSM) is here marching in our town," Ratliff said. "We want to know what brought them here. We want to get together as a city and find out what brought them here and see to it as a city that they don't want to come here again."
Columbia Mayor Darwin Hindman spoke to counter-demonstrators gathered on the steps of the courthouse to express the city's constant work for change and diversity.
"I've been in Columbia a long time," he said. "A long, long time I guess, and I've always worked to improve race relations and to build on one of our great strengths here, and that is diversity."
Rabbi Yossi Feintuch of Congregation Beth Shalom was one of many clergy members present Saturday morning at the counter-demonstration.
"Wherever and whenever evildoers meet silence and indifference, like the Nazis did, they succeed," he said.
Feintuch said citizens of Columbia would not turn their heads and ignore the appearance of such groups within the city.
"Columbia will not choose to be bystanders or excuse the neo-Nazis as irrelevant to its majority constituency," he said. "The state of Missouri, if not the whole nation, today is watching our city, to see how we express our disdain of Nazis in our streets."
— Staff Writer Marcus Sauer contributed to this report