VIRGINIA
Community fight-back defeats racist goons
By Phil Wilayto
Chesterfield County, Va.
When elected officials in this rural, predominantly white
county just outside Richmond, Va., claimed they couldn't block
a national white supremacist group from holding a recruiting
meeting in a public library, they provoked a reaction that
challenged not only the fascists, but the county's all-white
Board of Supervisors as well.
The Illinois-based World Church of the Creator is a neo-Nazi
cult that worships the "white race," praises Adolph Hitler as
"the great racist leader" and urges its followers to prepare
for "Rahowa," or Racial Holy War. The largely Internet-based
group has been linked to a series of violent crimes, including
a 1999 shooting rampage by one of its Midwest members that left
two people dead and nine others wounded. All the victims were
African Americans, Asian Americans or Jewish people.
When John King, the group's Virginia leader, received a
permit to hold an "educational" meeting Sept. 21 at the Chester
Public Library, African American leaders in the county demanded
the permit be revoked. The Board of Supervisors refused,
claiming fears of a possible lawsuit.
This is the same board that just this spring declared that
Chesterfield would now celebrate every April as "Confederate
History and Heritage Month." That decision provoked three
prominent Black leaders to angrily quit a 10-member
county-sponsored "racial dialogue" group.
The same leaders--Bishop Gerald Glenn, pastor of the
2,500-member New Deliverance Evangelistic Church, and Paige
Johnson and Marlene Goodwyn, presidents of the county's NAACP
and Southern Christian Leadership Conference chapters--took the
lead in opposing the racist meeting.
Defying pleas by county officials to stay away from the
library in favor of a "unity" rally in a high school a
half-mile away, Glenn announced he would attend the racist
meeting himself. He also urged his congregation to support an
NAACP-sponsored mass prayer vigil scheduled to take place on
the library grounds during the meeting.
County officials whipped up a tense atmosphere, warning of
violence and urging merchants in the area to close their stores
early. Hours before the scheduled meeting and protest, the area
around the library was locked down by more than 100 state and
county police, including about two dozen in riot gear. A police
helicopter circled overhead while cops stationed on the
library's roof scanned the gathering crowd of protesters.
But by the time the meeting started, more than 800 people
had gathered, sing ing songs and holding signs condemning
racism. Half were African Americans, joined by local whites
disgusted by the racists' assumption that they would receive a
positive welcome in their neighborhood. Also supporting the
Black-led protest were about 50 young, mainly white activists
from Richmond groups like Food Not Bombs.
Meanwhile, inside the library, Glenn was joined by dozens of
other anti-racists, who had begun lining up hours before in
order to deny a sympathetic audience to the racists. Of the 60
seats in the library conference room, African Americans
occupied at least 35. Except for about a half-dozen
white-supremacist supporters, the rest of the audience was made
up of local anti-racist whites.
Protected by a contingent of police and an entourage of
three nervous looking skinheads, King delivered a subdued
version of his white supremacist message, interrupted
repeatedly by heckling and ridicule.
"Can we get to some of the more serious things," asked a
middle-aged Black man in a baseball cap, "like sending people
back to Africa? I've always wanted to go to Africa. Are you
giving away trips?"
As King was finally escorted out a side door and into a
waiting car by police, Glenn and the other anti-racists left
the library to join the protest outside.
"It's a new day in Chesterfield County," the bishop declared
to the cheering crowd. "After listening to Mr. King, I am
convinced that the philosophy of the World Church of the
Creator will not take root here in Chesterfield County!"
Reprinted from the Oct. 10, 2002, issue of
Workers World newspaper
This article is copyrighted
under a Creative
Commons License.
Workers World, 55 W. 17 St., NY, NY 10011
Email: ww@workers.org
Subscribe to WW by Email: wwnews-subscribe@workersworld.net
Donate to
support pro-labor, anti-war news.
Email
this article
Printable
page