Some stories just need no introduction, like this one, because the lead paragraph sort of says it all:
A white separatist group planning a Martin Luther King Jr. Day parade in Jena is suing the town, claiming officials are violating the Constitution by asking participants not to bring firearms, changing the parade route by one block and requiring the posting of a bond.
The Nationalist Movement filed the federal lawsuit Dec. 14 and is seeking a temporary restraining order to keep the town from interfering with the Learned, Miss.-based group’s “Jena Justice Day” rally. Group officials claim the town’s rules violate their 14th Amendment rights to due process.
The planned Jan. 21 march is in response to the thousands who rallied on Sept. 20 in Jena in support of six black teens who have become known as the “Jena Six,” and against what they claimed was disproportionately harsh treatment of blacks by prosecutors. […]
“When a group of, say, minorities or homosexuals want to have a parade, they aren’t usually required to put up a bond or pay for police or pay for cleanup,” said Barry Hackney, a spokesman for the organization.
The ordinance, Mayor Murphy McMillin said, has been in place for “many, many years.” All seven of the organizations that participated in the September rally [for the Jena 6] complied with all the guidelines, town officials said.
There were no reports of arrests or vandalism after more than 20,000 rallied in support of the Jena Six.
Gee, if I wasn’t such a fair and balanced person, I might say that these white supremacists are asking for special rights to which others aren’t entitled. But then, what’s a good, intimidating white empowerment rally without a few guns on hand to keep the black riff-raff in their place? Let the minorities stick to the constitutional prescription of a right of “peaceful assembly” set forth in the First amendment since they seem to believe so much in non-violent action.
These poor persecuted white people, on the other hand, clearly need their guns for protection when they march down the streets of a predominantly white Louisiana town. God knows what could happen to them if they didn’t have their hand guns and semiautomatic rifles for protection from the hordes of the predominantly white citizens of Jena as they march chanting their white power slogans. Because if it’s one thing George Bush’s America has taught us it’s this: conservative wingnut white people shouldn’t have to play by the rules (of law) if they don’t feel like it. So why should The Nationalist Movement (caution: images and text at that link may be mind bogglingly stupid, and thus not appropriate for anyone with an IQ over that possessed by box turtle) have to obey a lousy city ordinance that everyone knows was put in place to protect whites from thuggish minorities, and not vice versa?
I mean, really. What’s this country coming to when good white folks have to apply for a permit to march, and can’t even carry their carry guns openly while they do it to intimidate black people? In a Southern town no less! Next thing you know someone will say lynching is illegal, and then where will all those poor white folks be, alone in an ever growing sea of black and brown people just waiting to rape, rob and pillage the good honest people who belong to organizations such as — well, such as The Nationalist Movement?
Power to the (White) People!
Because, God knows these poor persecuted real Americans sure don’t have enough power already.
We ain’t seen nuttin yet Steven! Just wait. This coming election campaign will be the most disgraceful campaign in the history of this country. And the focus of this will be the Immigrant situation! When a majority of this country expresses the level of hatred that is already being displayed now, and the major media sources continue to feed into this horror, what can be said?
The rest of the world is going to see the true America and it ain’t gonna be pretty! So, if you or anyone thinks that “White Power” is horrible, just you wait- Henry Higgins, just you wait.
Republican Campaign Platform in a Nutshell: Hate.
Cripe. Those white power dudes are sure cowards. Can’t march without their guns? What wusses.
I suggest Jena set up a protest pen like was done for the protesters at the conventions in 2004. Maybe they’d feel more secure surrounded by fencing and cops.
Hey now, watch what you say about box turtles! Compared to skinheads, they’re actually quite smart.
Digby covers it well here.
It seems to be the perfect storm for this kind of campaign. The Republicans are in throes of desperation unseen in decades. The Democrats, ever cautious to the point of paralysis, will make all kinds of in-kind but subtle gestures to the nuttery. All the while insisting that people not misinterpret their veiled appeals to the nativist, brown-skin hating side of the ledger.
For those of us who loathe, abhor and despise this ugly side of our citizenry, it is going to be the most disgusting, sickening and unprecedented of campaign seasons. I am not looking forward to what we will have to endure.
Right you are. Scapegoating the “brown people” via the immigration issue is all they seem to have left.
but in this one case, he actually said something good. The message is generally pro-environment.
Have you actually read the drivel at the link? It’s all about Skinheads fighting Communism. These guys are soooo Fifties.
Except we’re now the communists.
Billing for Police is indeed a violation of free assembly. I was these same guys who won the Supreme court case, FORSYTH COUNTY v. NATIONALIST MOVEMENT, 505 U.S. 123 (1992)
BLACKMUN delivered the opinion of the Court, in which STEVENS, O’CONNOR, KENNEDY, and SOUTER joined. REHNQUIST, C.J., filed a dissenting opinion, in which WHITE, SCALIA, and THOMAS, JJ., joined.
I’ve cited it contesting attempts to bill huge amounts for marijuana rallies.
Why do you want to trash everyone’s 1st Amendment rights?
Don’t tell me you approve of them being allowed to carry guns?
I could care less about billing for the police.
as whatever comes from their case applies to all.
Open Carry is a matter of State Law, I’m not familiar with Louisiana’s. Whatever it is should be applied with no tilt based on political views, however repugnant.