Racism still rampant in US

Editors, Asheville Global Report,

In 1990, KKK leaders including national director Thom Robb gathered at a park in Springfield, MO for a rally. Police told people to stay away from a protest I organized to “fill the park with so much love there would be no room for hate” but made no comments telling KKK sympathizers not to attend. When I asked why, the police said I should “just turn my back on the KKK.” I explained that growing up mixed race in the deep South I had seen too much of what happens when we ignore racists. I said that if we turn our backs on the KKK, they are more than happy to do things “behind our backs.”

In the 1990s, Springfield, MO (John Ashcroft’s hometown) has been plagued with racist events and with hate crimes. The Hammerskin Nation’s international press has been headquartered here and the Midland Hammerskins celebrated Hitler’s Birthday here this year with a white power concert. The police issued a statement saying they thought the event had been canceled but pictures crowing about the concert’s success are available at www.hammerskins.com/showreviews/moshow.htm.

In February, fifty-five gravestones in Springfield’s Temple Israel Cemetery were desecrated with swastikas and SS symbols. The crime remains unsolved.

On June 17th, 2001 according to witnesses, a group of skinheads wearing white power T-shirts and sporting swastika tattoos were eating at a Denny’s restaurant when two interracial couples came in. When the restaurant manager, a young white woman had the nerve to suggest that all could be accommodated, the skinheads allegedly attacked her, knocking her down and kicking her in the leg. One of the black men, Maurice Wilson, courageously intervened and was stabbed three times. No one has been arrested for this crime.

Don’t turn your backs on racist thugs. Protest whenever they appear. Hold every local and state official accountable when the rights of protesters are ignored. I appealed to the governor of my state in 1990. My calls were not returned by then governor John Ashcroft. If his role in protecting racists had been better understood, we might have a different US Attorney General today.

Rosemary Stewart-Stafford
NAACP Executive Committee
Springfield, MO Branch #4081