National Clips

TOLEDO, Ohio: Nazi march ignites violence

Over 600 residents protested a permitted Oct. 15 march in a North Toledo neighborhood by two dozen members of the National Socialist Movement, the U.S. Nazi Party. Some 150 police were present to escort the Nazis but the numbers of protesters and their anger caused police officials to cancel the march and provide protection for the Nazis to get out of town.

Some protesters hurled rocks at the police while others looted and torched a well-known politico bar. Police arrested 114 people, including 34 juveniles. Toledo Mayor Jack Ford, who is African American, issued a citywide curfew and declared a state of emergency.

The mayor said most protesters were residents “who were furious that the police protected Nazis in their neighborhood. Their anger was based on some longstanding things but also that we allowed the Nazis’ walk to occur in the first place.”

The next day, a religious coalition led by the First Unitarian Church wielded brooms in North Toledo streets to symbolically “sweep up the racism, the anti-Semitism and the homophobia.”

Police Chief Mike Navarre told reporters he believes John Szych, a resident feuding with an African American neighbor over a fence, contacted the Nazis.

The Nazis reportedly plan to march again soon.

ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill.: Minutemen protested

When over 300 people led by a multiracial immigrant rights coalition picketed an Oct. 15 summit hosted by the Chicago Minuteman Project, they were met by 120 cops in full riot gear and accompanied by police dogs.

As one group of protesters blocked the door to the Christian Liberty Academy, site of the summit, police arrested three. The summit went forward, attracting under 100 participants.

The Minuteman Project is an armed vigilante group that has garnered national attention for their racist, anti-immigrant actions on the Mexican border.

Students from DePaul University, the University of Illinois (Chicago campus) and Columbia College joined the immigrant rights leaders condemning the Minuteman Project’s racism.

BIRMINGHAM, Ala.: Racist rally mars Hispanic celebration

As 15,000 filled Linn Park to enjoy music, culture and delicacies from Latin American countries, racist radio personality Russ Fine was hosting a venomously anti-immigrant Tea Party a few blocks away for 1,500 white, mostly elderly Alabamans.

At the park, families spread out their blankets on the lawn and were clapping to Latin rhythms and learning many crafts from neighbors who had come from dozens of countries. Fiesta 2005, in its third year, is organized by the Birmingham Regional Chamber of Commerce’s Hispanic Business Council.

“I want the American people to know me, who I am and what is my culture,” said Ximena Sanchez, who is from Chile. Her booth displayed maps, flags and clothing from Chile, Mexico, Guatemala, Colombia and Spain.

Meanwhile, the Tea Party blared Twisted Sister’s “We Not Gonna Take It” and Lee Greenwood’s “God Bless the USA.” Fine presented the police department of nearby Hoover, Ala., with the “Patriot Law Enforcement Award,” and praised its city council for closing down a multicultural center run by Catholic Charities.

PHILADELPHIA: C. DeLores Tucker dies

Locked arm in arm with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., a young C. DeLores Tucker hit newspaper front pages across the country during the 1965 Voting Rights March from Selma to Montgomery, Ala. A few years later, she was elected secretary of state in Pennsylvania, breaking both color and gender lines. She worked to make the state one of the first to ratify the Equal Rights Amendment.

Tucker died Oct. 12 at age 78.

“She had a heart as big as Pennsylvania, yet she was absolutely determined and unflappable,” said NOW President Kim Gandy. “Whatever the issue, she had a laser-like focus on what needed to be done and you just couldn’t say ‘no’ to her.”

In 1984, Tucker was the founding chairwoman of the National Political Congress of Black Women, now called the National Congress of Black Women. “Never again will Black women be disregarded,” Tucker said at the founding convention, attended by 450 women from 29 states. “We will have our share and parity in American politics.” Most recently, Tucker was best known for her campaign against violent and misogynistic lyrics in rap and hip-hop music.

National Clips are compiled by Denise Winebrenner Edwards (dwinebr696@aol.com).