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News :: Miscellaneous |
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ARA Faces Off Against WCOTC |
Current rating: 0 |
by Sophia Delaney, CIMC
(No verified email address) |
27 Aug 2001
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Schaumburg, IL, 25 August-- Over 300 people massed at the Schaumburg Library this Saturday night to protest the speech of Matt Hale of the World Church of the Creator, a racist group. |
Over three hundred people gathered outside the Schaumburg Public Library on Saturday night to demonstrate against Matt Hale and the World Church of the Creator, a racist group based in Peoria, IL that regularly holds meetings throughout Illinois.
The large crowd of both activists and curious locals of all ages crowded the parking lot and sidewalks near the library's back entrance as World Church members and other apparent racists attempted to enter the library.
Several protesters surrounded each of the racists as they approached the building to block their path and heckle them. Their choice of words-a litany of swears, invitations to fight, and angrily-made points about the incorrect aspects of the racist's views-were not as an argument for anti- or non-racism so much as an attempt to intimidate the racists into leaving either the meeting or the WCOTC entirely.
The reactions of the meeting attendees were generally calmer and more passive than the demonstrators. However, one member of another small group that was cornered near their car flashed a container of pepper-spray at an ARA member, who shouted out to unresponsive police. A few other meeting attendees walked through the crowd pushing protesters out of their way or with their fists up.
The protesters also loudly alleged preferential treatment for the racists by police officers, who ferried the racists into the library swiftly. Officer Carroll of the Schaumburg Police Dept. denied the preferential treatment, saying he had no opinion of the proceedings and that he does what he is told.
The attitude of the crowd outside was mixed. Nora Murray, a Schaumburg resident in her fifties, said that although she doesn't believe in racism and doesn't know much about the World Church of the Creator but was "pissed off" by mailed fliers asking people not to attend and came to the meeting with an open mind. She stated, "I do want my neighborhood cleaned up," and hopes that Hale's speech would have a positive effect on Schaumburg. Other local denizens said that they had no opinion of the proceedings.
After the anti-Semites and racists were safely in the meeting room, while the police announced a long string of rules to the seventy-five curious residents and demonstrators who were lined up for searches, questioning, and a walk through a metal detector before being allowed in the ostensibly public meeting. The majority of the protesters-a group of 250, many of them youthful Schaumburg citizenry-were corralled behind a police line halfway across the parking lot.
In the meeting room, Hale's speech involved racial insults. The estimated 50 white supremacists attendees clapped and occasionally gave a seig heil salute in response.
Several people who were anti- or non-racists were removed from the audience for activities perceived to be disruptive. Three were arrested on a variety of misdemeanor charges.
Outside, Neil Carlberg, also of Schaumburg, exercised his freedom of speech. To a crowd of protesters, he pointed out that there were other, larger venues in town for such a speech. He believed that the library was chosen for its small size, which kept people who did not agree with the WCOTC outside the meeting. He was also angry about the cost of the police mobilization, announcing, "Not only is he a nazi and a racist and just a f*ckhead, he's wasting the taxpayer's money! I'm white too, and I'm sick of hearing his white ass!"
A phalanx of roughly 100 police in full riot gear lined up and ordered the crowd to disperse as the end of the meeting drew near. The crowd retreated but did not immediately disband; instead, a van that was identified as being a racist's vehicle at the beginning of the night was vandalized.
Hale's speech has been a controversial issue in Schaumburg since Kathleen Robertazzo, a Hoffman Estates resident who first attempted to secure the library for the white supremacist's speech, proposed it. Permission was at first granted for a June meeting date, and then withdrawn after the library board became aware of protests and violence that had occurred at other WCOTC meetings. Following the library's refusal to allow the WCOTC to meet on the grounds that they may create a disturbance, Hale filed a lawsuit alleging that the denial was a First and Fourteenth Amendment and civil rights violation. An attempt to get the suit dismissed was unsuccessful, and a news release by the library earlier this summer stated that they would allow Hale to speak "to avoid lengthy and costly legal maneuvering." Hale called the settlement a "triumph of the Constitution," and said it sent a message that public meeting spaces in Illinois could not bar white racists from speaking.
An ARA activist who wished to remain anonymous said, "I'm in favor of free speech, but you have to understand the consequences of your speech. If I say that I want to kill a bunch of people, then I have to deal with the fact a bunch of people will want to kick my ass."
In light of the legal suit, the library has amended its rules regarding the use of its meeting rooms to include the right to deny anyone who may draw a large, unruly crowd or a protest. The new rules include an advance payment for police forces if demonstrations or violence are expected.
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See also:
http://chicago.indymedia.org/front.php3?article_id=4171&group=webcast
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