Neo-Nazi protest to be held outside J-School
Members will march Saturday to protest MU's "promotion of Marxism."
Published March 6, 2007
The Missouri branch of the neo-Nazi group called the National Socialist Movement will sponsor a march in downtown Columbia on Saturday.
Steven Boswell, who leads the Missouri unit of the NSM, stated in an e-mail that the group is sponsoring the march to protest practices within the university, especially within the School of Journalism, which the group claims has a "Marxist agenda."
"The School of Journalism is the No. 1 journalism school in the world," Boswell stated in the e-mail. "It is the oldest, largest and best school of journalism not only in the United States but in the entire world. Anybody can see that there is no such thing as an unbiased news story in the American press. Everyone knows the news story they see is not fair and truthful but is skewered to fit Communist propaganda. People no longer believe the stories coming out of the so-called mainstream press."
The organization is also protesting against the university's Cambio Center, a bilingual education center, and the School of Journalism's bilingual publication, Adelante.
Boswell said NSM believes the Cambio Center "promotes unchecked Mexican immigration to Missouri and throughout the Midwest, which has become nothing short of an invasion of the United States by a foreign nationality."
Anna Romero, a professor in the School of Journalism and the faculty sponsor of the National Association of Hispanic Journalists, said her organization promotes diversity.
"NAHJ is an organization that supports diversity and the education of diverse young journalists," Romero said. "Producing well-educated journalists of all backgrounds is one way to fight the messages of those who hate. Journalists strive to show all sides of a story, even if as individuals we don't agree with negative messages."
Various student organizations representing minority groups on campus, including NAHJ and the Jewish Student Organization and Hillel, plan to meet during the week to discuss how they will respond to the demonstration.
According to a release from JSO and Hillel President Debra Tozer, her organization promotes diversity and peaceful relations.
"We will not react to any organization that promotes discrimination or hate," she stated in the release. "We have no further comment on this matter."
A group of MU students, with the support of a coalition of student organizations, are in the process of developing a Web site to collect monetary pledges for every minute NSM marches. Proceeds from the Web site would go toward either organizations recommended on the Web site or to the organization of the donor's choice.
Loren Moseley, MU senior and president of the MU chapter of the National Association of Black Journalists, said acknowledgment of the protest and retaliation would only perpetuate hostility between clashing groups.
"While everyone is granted freedom of speech, NABJ believes the best way to combat the negativity of this particular group is to ignore them," Moseley said. "If they don't have an audience, they are basically talking amongst themselves. We do not encourage our members to be present in the area where the neo-Nazis are because it is their goal to incite and provoke a lot of violence and counter-protest."
Charles Davis, a journalism professor and specialist on media law, said the First Amendment protects the actions of the group and that should be acknowledged.
"A demonstration, be it the Nazis or the Easter Bunny, is an exercise in First Amendment rights — ironically enough, the same First Amendment rights that fascists would deny non-Aryans, I suppose," he said.
Brian Brooks, associate dean of the School of Journalism, stated in a news release that the School of Journalism, despite its opposing perspective to the group, respects the First Amendment rights of NSM.
"The First Amendment allows every voice to be heard, no matter how repugnant and vile that voice may be," Brooks said.
Davis said students gain a lot of knowledge from the presence of the NSM demonstration, particularly with respect to a larger understanding of civil liberties and the First Amendment in action. He said he hopes members of NSM would take the opportunity to learn from the experience as well.
"I'd hope that the National Socialist Movement could learn a bit about Marxism," Davis said.
