About 125 members of the neo-nazi National Socialist Movement gathered to shout white supremacists messages at mostly empty woods and fields.
The only people in ear shout, in fact, were about 500 anti-racists not too far away.
According to the Jewish Telegraph Agency, the commander of the neo-Nazi group, Jeff Schoep of Minnesota, declared in his speech that America was being controlled by Jews and ruined by racial integration. He vowed his group would resist such "occupation" and likened them to the patriots led by George Washington who won America's freedom at Yorktown.
"If being proud of your race is hate, then we are a hate group," Schoep shouted over the pounding rotors of a police helicopter.
And they are!
A spokesman for the nazis, Bill White of Roanoke, said attendees had come from as far away as California and that the gathering included members of the Ku Klux Klan, the Aryan Nations and two skinhead groups.
A counter rally was organized by Messianic Christian “Rabbi" Eric Carlson of "Synagogue" Zion's Sake in Newport News and attended by members of nearly a dozen other synagogues and churches from Moyock, N.C., to Richmond. Zion’s Sake is a “synagogue” made up of Christians who like to pretend they are Jews.
One group of about 30 counter-demonstrators, Anti-Racist Action, marched in carrying a pink and red banner with black lettering that said, "Smash racism now."
"All we want to do today is to get as close as we can and let them know they're not welcome to organize anywhere," Rob Conner, of Philadelphia told WAVY. He said members had come from New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Virginia and North Carolina.
A smaller group carrying signs bearing such slogans as "Death to fascism," would identify themselves only as militant anti-racists from Washington, D.C. Their anti-Nazi shouts were too far away to be heard at the NSM rally.
A little further down the road was yet another group the Pennsylvania-based Center for Education Rights Ltd., who held a low-key gathering to promote tolerance.
Richard Luzinski, 59, who wasn’t with any group commented, "It's kind of frightening when you see Nazis jump out of a car in front of you.” Sources: WAVY (Portsmouth, VA), Jewish Telegraph Agency, Richmond Times Dispatch
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