In a recent issue of THE VILLAGE VOICE   Maria Luisa Tucker reports covering a sizeable White Supremacist rally in New York.   It seems that several white supremacist groups called for a ‘Patriot’ get-together over the three-day holiday.  They were to include the usual Memorial Day stuff, no doubt, barbecues, plenty of beer, picnics and, the customary visit on Sunday to “the incomparable Metropolitan Museum of (White) Art.”  Now, I don’t know about you, but what family get together is complete without a museum visit, especially if we can count on the art having been created by white guys.

New York native, Jamie Kelso, a former Mensa member was in charge of the charming Sunday outing. In a pre-outing phone interview, he was asked how we might expect to see people dressed (One supposes there would be a dress code for such a gathering. After all, girlfriends, we wouldn’t want to wear khaki Bermuda shorts, Docksiders & pink Tommy Hilfiger shirts to be embarrassed at–what–underdressing, should other attendees be wearing Olive Drab uniforms, small black moustaches, or frocks from Springmaid.)    Kelso’s reply was that many preferred wearing “silly costumes” but there was no intention to “incite hate.”

Guys who are “man” enough to call themselves Copperhead, EuroWarrior14 or LongKnife are, no doubt, good old boys.  They proclaim their democratic leanings and patriotism, in fact, saying, “People want to think that we’re weird,” Kelso said. “We are the only normal ones, actually. We are the ones that see that the ship is sinking.”  He goes on to defend one specific group as, ”a legitimate force in American society, a sort of NAACP for white people.”

 This is good news, indeed. To think that I could have thought they were vicious, hate-mongering lazy-assed, sexist racists–who sat in their bunkers discussing Mein Kampf and Internet gun buys–while intent on destroying the fibre of “freedom and justice for all.” 

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