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About Just out. (Portland, OR) 1983-2013 | View Entire Issue (May 21, 2010)
JCJ2 MAY 21. 2010 W W W JU ST O U T C O M Walk-in testing for guys into guys ¡n Clark County Tuesdays 11am- 1pm Thursdays 4-8pm ) Where: ) For more info: Harm Reduction Center 3701 East Fourth Plain Vancouver, WA 98661 (360) 750-7964 cityguysclarkOcascadeaids.org Se habla español Pruebas de VIH para hombres. It’s a beautiful thing. cri q - 6 Sat. 10-3 T u e s .- f n .y ° m q Hendrix & cal McGu're Optica • o n S it e c » r e e t PDX. OB 9 7 2 0 5 9 2 5 SW Taylor Stre p" 503 228 215^ M e n tio n th is a d a ’" " ' 6 0 ® f a m il y discount Hit 'em with HOT pepper.T’ Mark 'em with PINK dye. ™ Hot Pepper Spray w ith Pink Dye Marker "Don't Mess With Me!"™ HEIL HOMOPHOBIA? Neo-Nazi resurgence fuels rumors of g a / bashings FREE ^ When: NORTHWEST NEWS www.PinkStinker.com By ERIN ROOK Last month, as Rose City Antifa pre sented a panel on the White Power Move ment on the West Coast, a Facebook status and text message-driven buzz about alleged queer bashings by neo-Nazis was reaching full swell. The messages varied in exact content, but claimed there had been “confirmed attacks” on people leaving gay bars, numbering “five in five days.” Neither the Portland Police Department, Rose City Antifa (RCA) nor Just Out were able to verify that the alleged attacks actu ally took place, but while the post-rumor anxiety has died down, neo-Nazi activity appears to be gearing up, according to RCA and hate crimes experts. “It’s difficult to make a judgment [about the validity o f the rumored attacks] because, unfortunately, it’s within the realm o f pos sibility,” said Alicia, a member o f RCA, the Portland chapter o f Anti-Racist Action, who withheld her last name for fear o f re taliation from neo-Nazis. “Without a doubt [attacks on queers and other minorities] tend to happen with increasing frequency when white power groups are on the rise.” Portland Bias Crimes Detective Kevin Warren said that while he had seen no increase in criminal activity by neo-Nazi groups, “They certainly have a presence. They are here.” Typically, he said, “they fly under the radar until they do something stupid.” According to one panelist at the White Power Movement talk, it’s only a matter o f time before someone is killed. The un identified man’s comment was in follow-up to discussion o f the March 27 near-fatal shooting o f Portland anti-racist activist Luke Querner. Police are calling the shooting gang- related, but RCA members, and even one source within Portland-based white power group Volksfront, believe Querner may have been targeted by neo-Nazis because o f his activism. In the May 10 Vancouver Voice article “Vancouver’s Volksfront,” a source within the group, identified only by the pseud onym “Bailey,” suggested that members of Volksfront could have been responsible for Querner’s shooting. “Just days before [Querner] got shot, there was a lot o f talk about making an example o f him by powerful members who are handy with a nine millimeter [hand gun],” Bailey told Voice reporter Marcus Griffin. According to the article, Volksfront members would only speak on the condi tion o f anonymity due to an organizational ban on media contact and fear o f police monitoring. In response to an interview request ref erencing the Voice article, a representative of the group’s Pac-West chapter, who declined to provide a name, said in an email, “The article done by the Vancouver Voice was pure slander and lies. No one at Volksfront had anything to do with the shooting. That’s all I have to say.” Volksfront officially condemns the use o f violence to achieve its political aims, which include “white autonomy” and “white self-determination.” The group bills itself as an international fraternal organization for people o f European descent. “The/ certainly have a presence. They are here. ...[Typically] they fly under the radar until they do something stupid." - PORTLAND BIAS CRIMES DETECTIVE KEVIN WARREN “True Aryan warriors know it is best to stick to what is legal and what is most im portant,” said a neo-Nazi identified only by the handle “CelticWarrior4Life” in an email to Just Out. “I don’t know anyone in the movement who is preaching gay bashing.” CelticWarrior said that while “gays pose no threat to the purity o f the Aryan blood line,” he had heard of a bar fight in Portland between a gay person and one or two “flag- totting [sic]” skinheads, postulating that the conflict could have sparked the recent rumors o f queer bashings. However, if the sources in the Voice article are to be believed, Volksfront has bold and violent ambitions, despite their public denouncement o f physical aggres sion. Members talk o f “the coming war,” the “threat to our daughters” posed by non white neighbors and a desire to return to the old tactics o f the White Power Movement. (A request for comment from Volksfront was not returned.) Alicia pointed to the April 16 bombing o f a Vancouver, B.C. anti-Nazi organizer’s house and the attack on Querner outside Kelly’s Olympian as signs that neo-Nazi groups are becoming bolder and more organized. “There’s been a huge escalation o f tactics,” Alicia said, “something we haven’t seen since the ’80s in Portland.” She added that RCA’s tip line had also experienced a significant increase in calls about neo-Nazi sightings,
