I'M NOT WITH THE BAND!!!!!

Students at Rutgers University are not all that thrilled that a big time anti-Semitic band is scheduled to play on their campus next week. The band's philosophy, which one band member describes as “Nationalistic Christian Populism,” will no doubt be on display as they provide the "entertainment" at a gathering of the New Jersey Libertarian Party which is to take place on the Rutgers campus. I thank the ever vigilant One People's Project for the info found below.

POKER FACE GETTING A HAND DEALT TO THEM BY RUTGERS STUDENTS
Written by Administrator One People's Project

A few weeks ago, we wrote about how a band from Allentown, PA named Poker Face was scheduled to play at the annual convention of the New Jersey Libertarian Party on Feb. 25, scheduled to be held at Rutgers University. As we noted, in addition to playing a number of Libertarian Party events, not to mention a few for Freak Republic, the band is noted for it's anti-semitic leanings as well, and a recent association with Hal Turner. Well some students at Rutgers did not take kindly in knowing that this kind of band was performing at their school, and soon after they wrote about it in the Rutgers Review, one of the newspapers published on campus. Over the past few weeks, we have been told that Poker Face was getting more than an earful from their fellow conservatives, but interestingly enough, that earful didn't seem to transform into action. The only thing we know is the Rutgers students are making it clear that they are not going to tolerate this. Their call to action is based on our reporting and their research on the issue. They also provide phone numbers of university administration officials for folks like you to reach them at.

Anti-Semitic Band Scheduled to Play at Rutgers
Body: Please Circulate Widely
by Zach Morris

On Saturday, February 25, the band Poker Face from Allentown, Pennsylvania is scheduled to play at the Rutgers University Inn on Cook Campus as part of the NJ state Libertarian Party's annual convention.

The band has opened for Motley Crüe in the past and are most commonly known for their support of mainstream right-wing political causes, but Daryle Lamont Jenkins of One People's Project, an organization that monitors and exposes hate groups, found out something else about the band: its anti-Semitic and white supremacist affiliations.

In an interview on one white supremacist website, lead singer Paul Topete described his band as “Nationalistic Christian Populism,” One People's Project revealed, and Topete is a self-proclaimed Third Positionist. Additionally, the band's website discussion board is filled with reposts of racist, anti-Semitic propaganda put there by Topete, who uses the screen name Pokerkid. Included are articles by members of the white supremacist National Vanguard and others promoting, in explicit terms, the age-old neo-Nazi routine of an “international Jewish conspiracy.” Others come out in support of jailed neo-Nazi and Holocaust denier Ernst Zundel.

“Paul Topete's most recent online rants have gone farther,” Daryle Lamont Jenkins said, to the point of praising Iranian President Mahmud Ahmadinejad's December 14 speech that described the Holocaust as a myth and called for Israel to be wiped off the map. Topete then attacked any critics of the Iranian President as Zionazis. “But it goes even further back with these jokers,” said Jenkins.

Poker Face also had close ties to Mark Koernke, an anti-Semitic staple of the militia movement in the 1990's, appearing on Koernke's short-wave radio show numerous times. Mark Koernke first saw mainstream media exposure when he was named as a suspect in the Oklahoma City bombing in 1995 and is currently serving three to seven and a half years for fleeing and eluding police, resisting arrest and assault with a dangerous weapon. The band has also been featured on the white power radio show of NJ's own Hal Turner. In an ironic twist, white power activist Turner was himself once a campaign manager for the Libertarian Party's candidate for governor, Murray Sabrin, who is of Jewish descent.

Anti-racist activists are already voicing outrage at the planned Poker Face show.“We can't let hate bands feel welcome in New Brunswick,” said one student.

Local anti-racists are encouraging students and residents to phone the administration to voice their disapproval and to encourage the Libertarian Party to disaffiliate itself from racists and anti-Semites.

Contact Info:
BARBARA LOFTUS
Manager of Operations
University Inn
phone: (732) 932-9144 x2140
fax: (732) 932-1641
email: bloftus@rci.rutgers.edu

RICHARD MCCORMICK
President of Rutgers University
phone: (732) 932-7454
fax: (732) 932-8060
email: president@rutgers.edu

JACKIE EREL, CCEP
Manager, Conference Services
phone: (732) 932-1004
email: jerel@rci.rutgers.edu

BERNADETTE REESE
Conference Coordinator, Cook
phone: (732) 932-9005
email: bareese@rci.rutgers.edu