2012-04-06 "Armed Neo-Nazis Now Claim To Be Patrolling Sanford, Say They Are "Prepared" for Post-Trayvon Martin Violence (UPDATED) by Michael Miller
[http://blogs.miaminewtimes.com/riptide/2012/04/heavily_armed_neo-nazis_patrol.php]
Neo-Nazis say they are conducting heavily armed patrols in and around Sanford, Florida, and are "prepared" for violence in case of a race riot. The patrols are to protect "white citizens in the area who are concerned for their safety" in the wake of the Trayvon Martin shooting last month, says Commander Jeff Schoep of the National Socialist Movement. "We are not advocating any type of violence or attacks on anybody, but we are prepared for it," he says. "We are not the type of white people who are going to be walked all over."
Because nothing diffuses racial tension like gun-toting racial separatists patrolling an already on-edge community.
---
Photograph from [www.nsm88.org]: Members of the National Socialist Movement during a patrol of the U.S.-Mexico border in January.
Photograph from [www.nsm88.org]: NSM members on patrol in Arizona
Photograph from [www.nsm88.org]: A photo from NSM's website
---2012-04-07 UPDATE: The Sanford Police Department says it has no evidence of neo-Nazis in the area. "We have not seen any neo-Nazis on patrol nor have we had any reports of them," Sgt. David Morgenstern says. He adds there have been no signs of the New Black Panther Party either.
Schoep, whose neo-Nazi group is based in Detroit, tells Riptide the patrols are a response to white residents' fears of a race riot.
A group called the New Black Panther Party recently offered $10,000 for a citizen's arrest of George Zimmerman, Martin's shooter. Schoep says the bounty is a sign that "the possibility of further racial violence... is brimming over like a powder keg ready to explode into the streets."
The patrols comprise ten to 20 locals and "volunteers" from across the state, including some from Miami, he adds. He couldn't specify what kind of firepower the patrols had with them.
"In Arizona the guys can walk around with assault weapons, and that's totally legal," Schoep says, referring to the group's patrols of the U.S.-Mexico border. "What I can tell you is that any patrols that we are doing now in Florida are totally within the law."
Asked if the patrols wouldn't just make things worse -- spark a race riot, for instance -- Schoep insists they are simply a "show of solidarity with the white community down there" and "wouldn't intimidate anybody."
"Whenever there is one of these racially charged events, Al Sharpton goes wherever blacks need him," Schoep says. "We do similar things. We are a white civil rights organization."
He goes to great lengths to contrast his organization with the New Black Panther Party, which he blames for scaring local whites and spurring the need for NSM patrols. Schoep admits the NSM and the Black Panthers are actually alike in that they are both racial separatists. But he sees a double standard in the government's treatment of the two groups.
"The Black Panthers have been offering bounties and all that," he says. "But if we called for a bounty on someone's head, I guarantee we'd be locked up as quick as I could walk out of my house."
Schoep is also quick to clarify he isn't taking sides in Trayvon Martin's controversial shooting. "That's for the courts to decide," he says. Besides, Schoep says, Zimmerman is not even white.
"I think there is some confusion going on," Schoep says. "A lot of people think that this guy who shot Trayvon was white... but he's half Hispanic or Cuban or something. He certainly doesn't look white to me."
To some, sending in the storm troops seems like a sure way to incite -- not prevent -- a race riot. But Schoep says that's way off base.
"We don't wish for things like that," he says. "But there have been race riots in Detroit and L.A.... So we know those types of things happen.
"You can either be prepared or you can be blindsided," he adds. "This way, if something were to touch off a race riot, we'd already be in the area."
How reassuring.
---
UPDATE 2: Poynter writer Craig Silverman has published a post [http://www.poynter.org/latest-news/regret-the-error/169445/media-repeat-but-dont-check-claims-of-armed-neo-nazis-where-trayvon-martin-was-killed/] critical of New Times's reporting on Schoep's group, including his assertion that we didn't do enough to verify Schoep's claims that his patrols were active in Sanford. Here's Miami New Times editor Chuck Strouse's response:
[begin extract]
Silverman's piece is high-minded criticism, indeed -- but it's wrong-headed and Luddite. We reported the claims of one group, updated the post as quickly as we got new information, and couched Schoep's claims as such. (Our only mistake: the headline and lead should have made it more clear from the get-go these were the group's claims. The rest of the story clearly made this point, however.) Mr. Silverman should join the Internet age in which posts such as ours develop and are updated in real-time. Mike Miller was the first journalist to interview Schoep about his group's claims, and he reported on them accurately. The Internet has allowed people to have a greater say in what news is important. This requires greater flexibility in reporting and storytelling. And that is exactly what we did in this case.
[end extract]
---
Editors note: Comments on this blog have been closed due to a flurry of violent, racist postings. We're doing our best to clean out the comments that violate our standards that have already appeared, but it's going to take some time. To the vast majority of our readers trying to have an honest discussion, sorry to close up shop.
2012-04-07 "Sanford Police Deny Report Armed Neo-Nazis Are Patrolling Town In Case Of ‘Race Riots’" by Frances Martel from "Mediate"
[http://www.mediaite.com/tv/sanford-police-deny-report-armed-neo-nazis-are-patrolling-town-in-case-of-race-riots/]
A report surfaced last night from the Miami New Times [http://blogs.miaminewtimes.com/riptide/2012/04/heavily_armed_neo-nazis_patrol.php] that the Trayvon Martin saga had attracted an armed band of Neo-Nazis to the Sanford, Florida era “just in case” racial tensions led to violence. After the report widely circulated through the internet, the first comment reportedly from the Sanford police department appeared today in the blog Legal Insurrection, where Professor William Jacobson writes that the police say they have “no indication” of any such activity.
After following the online trail left by the Miami New Times article and explaining the core details of it– a Neo-Nazi group claiming to take up shop in Sanford to be prepared in case of a “race riot”– Jacobson argued that he found it strange and decided to go to the source– the Sanford PD. Jacobson’s exchange with the Sanford police, as he reported it:
[begin excerpt]
My initial e-mail (which included an embedded link to the Memeorandum thread): “There are a number of reports in the media that Neo-Nazis are conducting armed patrols in Sanford. Can you confirm or deny whether this is true, and provide any information you have on the subject? If someone is able to get back to me as soon as possible (and before Monday) that would be appreciated, since such rumors are spreading.”
Response from Sanford Joint Information Center: “At this time the City of Sanford has not confirmed the presence of Neo-Nazis groups.”
My follow up: “You say “not confirmed.” Is there any indication of such patrols that the Department is aware of?”
Further Response from Sanford Joint Information Center: “We have no indication of any such patrols at this point in Sanford. The only large gathering was the children and their parents at the Easter egg hunt.”
[end excerpt]
Jacobson is the only one to have statement from the police, and given the holiday weekend, chances are no new information will surface until Monday. In any case, the Miami New Times seem to have some explaining to do about their reporting if, indeed, the Sanford Police has no indication that their report.
2012-04-07 "Sanford (FL) Police deny any indication of neo-Nazis patrolling" by William A. Jacobson
[http://legalinsurrection.com/2012/04/sanford-fl-police-deny-any-indication-of-neo-nazis-patrolling/]
The latest wildfire spreading through the media and blogosphere is that armed neo-Nazis are patrolling Sanford, FL, in anticipation of trouble if George Zimmerman is not charged in the killing of Trayvon Martin. In what has become a prime example of media malpractice, none of the major publications spreading the rumors bothered to check with local law enforcement. I did, and the Sanford Police deny any indication of neo-Nazi patrols.
It all started with this blog post in The Miami New Times, Armed Neo-Nazis Now Patrolling Sanford, Say They Are “Prepared” For Post-Trayvon Martin Violence [http://blogs.miaminewtimes.com/riptide/2012/04/heavily_armed_neo-nazis_patrol.php]:
[begin excerpt]
Neo-Nazis are currently conducting heavily armed patrols in and around Sanford, Florida and are “prepared” for violence in the case of a race riot. The patrols are to protect “white citizens in the area who are concerned for their safety” in the wake of the Trayvon Martin shooting last month, says Commander Jeff Schoep of the National Socialist Movement. “We are not advocating any type of violence or attacks on anybody, but we are prepared for it,” he says. “We are not the type of white people who are going to be walked all over.”
Because nothing diffuses racial tension like gun-toting racial separatists patrolling an already on-edge community….
The patrols are comprised of between 10 and 20 locals and “volunteers” from across the state, including some from Miami, he added. He couldn’t go into specifics on what kind of firepower, exactly, the patrols had with them.
[end excerpt]
The blog post quotes someone from a supposed neo-Nazi group in Detroit, and contains photos of armed patrols not in Sanford, but in Arizona.
The author of the blog post provides no confirmation that such patrols actually are taking place.
The blog post already has generated over 1100 comments, and was picked up with reckless abandon by the usual suspects, including Charles Johnson at Little Green Footballs [http://littlegreenfootballs.com/article/40178_This_Should_Help-_Armed_Neo-Nazis_Patrolling_Sanford_Ready_for_Race_War]:
[begin excerpt]
You know all that rhetoric about “race war” that’s showing up at Breitbart.com [http://littlegreenfootballs.com/article/40174_Yet_Another_Deluge_of_Racist_Hatred_and_Calls_for_Genocide_at_Breitbart.com] and many other right wing sites these days? It’s not just rhetoric. There are some people in Sanford, Florida right now who are taking it very seriously indeed
[end excerpt]
And Pam Spaulding at Firedoglake [http://pamshouseblend.firedoglake.com/2012/04/06/armed-neo-nazis-descend-into-sanford-fl-prepared-for-post-trayvon-martin-violence/]:
[begin excerpt]
And the right wing said it wasn’t about race (on their side), didn’t they? Neo-Nazis have never been affiliated with the left; they’ve always been on the fringe anarchist/chaos/gov’t overthrow wing of the GOP, because there’s no way these white supremacists would vote Dem. After all, that party is polluted with black, brown…you know, the Mud People….
I thought the police department was there to protect all of Sanford’s citizens (when it’s not torpedoing its own bad police work/f’ing up cases involving black folks as victims), but as there’s nothing like having this paramilitary crowd with strong views on race stepping in to do the job. You know, like the KKK, it’s not intimidating at all.
[end excerpt]
A writer at Mediaite joined in [http://www.mediaite.com/online/armed-neo-nazis-patrolling-town-where-trayvon-martin-was-shot-in-case-of-race-riot/] (note: Mediaite has updated its post with a link here [http://www.mediaite.com/tv/sanford-police-deny-report-armed-neo-nazis-are-patrolling-town-in-case-of-race-riots/], and also has published a separate post on the Sanford denial):
[begin excerpt]
And just so we’re clear, the Neo-Nazis have no official position on the Martin case, because remember, George Zimmerman isn’t even white. But the Neo-Nazi commander is trying to assure everyone that they are trying to protect everyone, because “if something were to touch off a race riot, we’d already be in the area.”
Well said! Because whenever there’s a race riot, my first question is always, “Where are the armed racists when you need them? They’ll put a stop to all this violence!”
[end excerpt]
HuffPo [http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/04/06/trayvon-martin-case-armed_n_1409099.html?ref=tw] and The Daily Beast [http://www.thedailybeast.com/cheats/2012/04/06/armed-neo-nazis-patrol-sanford.html] are helping spread the story.
It even has spread to The NY Daily News [http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/neo-nazis-patrolling-streets-sanford-fla-trayvon-martin-shot-killed-report-article-1.1057851?localLinksEnabled=false] [note: The NYDN story changed tonight. after I contacted the writer, and now acknowledges police denial; the following is from the original story] :
[begin excerpt]
The Trayvon Martin case is getting even more heated as armed neo-Nazis are reportedly patrolling the streets of Sanford, Fla.-where the black, unarmed teen was shot and killed.
A representative for the Detroit-based National Socialist movement told the Miami New Times that his group of roughly 10 to 20 volunteers aren’t there to start trouble, but are prepared to protect the “white citizens in the area” in the event of race riots.
[end excerpt]
Only Gateway Pundit asked the obvious question [http://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2012/04/are-armed-nazi-socialists-really-patrolling-the-streets-of-sanford-florida/]: "Is there any evidence that this is actually happening in Sanford?"
Did anyone bother to contact the Sanford Police? I did, and the Sanford Police deny any indication of Neo-Nazi groups patrolling in Sanford. Here’s the e-mail exchange:
[begin excerpt]
My initial e-mail (which included an embedded link to the Memeorandum thread): “There are a number of reports in the media that Neo-Nazis are conducting armed patrols in Sanford. Can you confirm or deny whether this is true, and provide any information you have on the subject? If someone is able to get back to me as soon as possible (and before Monday) that would be appreciated, since such rumors are spreading.”
Response from Sanford Joint Information Center: “At this time the City of Sanford has not confirmed the presence of Neo-Nazis groups.”
My follow up: “You say “not confirmed.” Is there any indication of such patrols that the Department is aware of?”
Further Response from Sanford Joint Information Center: “We have no indication of any such patrols at this point in Sanford. The only large gathering was the children and their parents at the Easter egg hunt.”
[end excerpt]
I can’t say this is the worst example of rumor mongering and irresponsible conduct by bloggers and the mainstream media I have ever seen, but it’s a contender.
For The Daily Beast, Huffington Post, Mediaite, and The Daily News to spread such thinly-sourced claims without verification at a time when racial tensions already are high is irresponsible in the extreme.
---
Update: It’s now at Fark [http://www.fark.com/comments/7037179/Armed-Neo-Nazis-now-patrolling-town-where-Trayvon-Martin-was-killed-because-that-was-one-thing-missing-from-this-story], Gawker [http://gawker.com/5900035/armed-nazis-hope-to-keep-sanford-safe-for-white-people], The Blaze [http://www.theblaze.com/stories/armed-neo-nazis-patrol-sanford-as-black-panthers-hold-survival-training-session/] [now updated with link here] …. And now Drudge has it at the top of the page [https://twitter.com/#!/Drudge_Report/status/188778093299761152]— I’ve alerted them let’s see if they update with a correction… and The NY Post too [http://www.nypost.com/p/news/national/neo_nazis_patrolling_florida_town_5d9tjFKDIkiCkJKvWJ4zEJ].
---
Update 4-8-2012 7 p.m. – Finally the original blog post which gave rise to an internet craze about neo-Nazis partolling the streets of Sanford now, finally, after millions read the story or heard about it without equivocation, carries this disclaimer [http://blogs.miaminewtimes.com/riptide/2012/04/heavily_armed_neo-nazis_patrol.php]:
[begin excerpt]
UPDATE: The Sanford Police Department says that it has no evidence of neo-Nazis in the area. “We have not seen any neo-Nazis on patrol nor have we had any reports of them,” says Sgt. David Morgenstern. He added that there had been no sign of the New Black Panther Party, either.
[end excerpt]
Drudge has not updated, and still has as its top link: "Armed Neo-Nazis Now Patrolling Sanford, FL..."
Note from "United States Fascism Watch": The smug William A. Jacobson, author of the "authoritative" article poo-poohing the reports about Nazis patrolling Sanford, relies only on the same Sanford police to tell the truth when they had been knowingly lying about Zimmerman's previous shootings and mental problems...
The smug poo-poo attitude was turned over to FOX news who sent a reporter to grab the story.
The question remains, who ordered FOX news journalist Jennifer Bisram to use the phrase "civil-rights group" when describing the "National Socialist Movement"? Is she a foreigner recently arrived to the USA without knowledge concerning domestic racial-nationalist history within the USA?
The following screengrab contains the complete article with retraction as posted 2012-04-10
2012-04-08 "Jaw-dropper of the day: Fox Affiliate in Orlando Calls Neo-Nazis a ‘Civil Rights Group’" by Charles Johnson from "Little Green Footballs"
[http://littlegreenfootballs.com/article/40185_Jaw-Dropper-_Fox_Affiliate_in_Orlando_Calls_Neo-Nazis_a_Civil_Rights_Group]
What the hell is going on at Fox 35, the Fox News affiliate in Orlando, Florida?
Do you mean to tell me that nobody in the editorial chain for this story realized that they were not covering a “civil rights group” … but the National Socialist Movement, a neo-Nazi organization that uses a swastika for their logo?
Really? Civil Rights Group Patrolling Sanford.
In this video of their broadcast, you can see this isn’t just a fluke headline — the anchor refers to the Nazis as a “civil rights group” by name.
“There’s another civil rights group in town: the National Socialist Movement.”
And you can also see that they went to the Nazis’ website, and must have looked directly at its swastika logo. In the whole clip there isn’t even a hint of the National Socialist Movement’s true nature, except when they interview one of the Nazis and he denies that they’re a hate group — an assertion that goes completely unchallenged.
Again: what the hell is happening at this news channel, that they can’t distinguish between a “civil rights group” and an armed gang of white supremacists and neo-Nazis? Un-freaking-believable.
---
UPDATE at 4/8/12 4:28:36 pm
Fox 35 Orlando has now deleted the page from their site, but the URL still shows the title, and the article is still showing up in their ‘Featured’ list with the “Civil Rights Group” headline [http://www.myfoxorlando.com/dpp/news/trayvon_martin/040712-Civil-rights-group-patrolling-Sanford].
---
UPDATE at 4/8/12 4:43:43 pm
Here’s the new version: White Rights Group Patrolling Sanford [http://www.myfoxorlando.com/dpp/news/trayvon_martin/040712-White-rights-group-patrolling-Sanford].
A “white rights group?” Is that supposed to be an improvement? These assholes are not speaking for my rights.
---
UPDATE at 4/8/12 5:23:59 pm
Yet another headline at Fox 35 finally gets it right: Neo-Nazi Group Patrolling Sanford [http://www.myfoxorlando.com/dpp/news/trayvon_martin/040712-Neo-Nazi-group-patrolling-Sanford].
2012-04-09 "Fox News Affiliate Calls Neo-Nazis A Civil Rights Group" by Kristina Chew
[http://www.care2.com/causes/fox-news-affiliate-calls-neo-nazis-a-civil-rights-group.html]
Sanford police say that they have “no indication” of neo-Nazis patrolling the town where 17-year-old Trayvon Martin was killed on February 26 by neighborhood watch volunteer George Zimmerman, says Mediaite [http://www.mediaite.com/tv/sanford-police-deny-report-armed-neo-nazis-are-patrolling-town-in-case-of-race-riots/].
But a Fox Orlando affiliate, WOFL, has aired an uncritical report of the Detroit-based National Socialist Movement (NSM) doing just that and interviewed the group’s leader, Jeff Schoep [http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2012/04/08/460272/fox-orlando-affliate-calls-neo-nazis-a-civil-rights-group/]; the segment is on Little Green Footballs [http://littlegreenfootballs.com/].
Even more, not only does the Fox reporter not question Schoep’s claims. She introduces the NSM by saying “There’s another civil rights group in town.”
As Judd Legum on Think Progress notes, a brief summary of that Fox news segment was posted online with the title “Civil rights group patrolling Sanford.” [http://www.myfoxorlando.com/dpp/news/trayvon_martin/040712-Neo-Nazi-group-patrolling-Sanford]
This summary was removed and a new story with the title “Neo-Nazi group patrolling Sanford” posted. The video is the same but an Editor’s Note now says [http://www.myfoxorlando.com/dpp/news/trayvon_martin/040712-Neo-Nazi-group-patrolling-Sanford#ixzz1rZkXibgT]:
[begin extract]
The report originally published Saturday inadvertently referred to the National Socialist Movement as a civil rights group. We intended to refer to them as a “self-proclaimed” civil rights group.
[end extract]
Schoep had described the NSM as a “white civil rights organization” in the Miami New Times blog post that first mentioned the neo-Nazis were patrolling Sanford’s streets [http://blogs.miaminewtimes.com/riptide/2012/04/heavily_armed_neo-nazis_patrol.php].
Again, Sanford police dispute that such patrols are going on, as Mediaite takes care to point out [http://www.mediaite.com/tv/sanford-police-deny-report-armed-neo-nazis-are-patrolling-town-in-case-of-race-riots/] with reference to a post on the blog Legal Insurrection by William Jacobson, a professor at Cornell Law School [http://legalinsurrection.com/2012/04/sanford-fl-police-deny-any-indication-of-neo-nazis-patrolling/]. But Fox News, or at least Fox’s Orlando affiliate, is not so concerned about getting the details — the facts — right.
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