'I hate Illinois Nazis'

[NNN0LHI]

http://www.suntimes.com/news/steinberg/1534438,CST-NWS-stein20.article

April 20, 2009

BY NEIL STEINBERG Sun-Times Columnist

Driving requires split-second decisions -- who yields to whom when merging onto the highway, whether to speed up through the yellow light, and of course what to do if there are Nazis.

It has been a while since I've studied my Rules of the Road, but instinctively, you see Nazis, you slow down and try to find a place to park.

I had just hopped into the car after four hours outside in the penetrating cold at the dedication ceremony for the Illinois Holocaust Museum, and was not keen to return to the cold rain.

But Nazis! How often do you get to talk to Nazis? Maybe a dozen of them, in jackboots and black cargo pants, waving red and white swastika flags at the corner of Harms and Golf roads Sunday afternoon. I slowed, leaned over, gazing carefully, locking eyes with a round-faced, heavy lad of about 14.

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[Pirate Smile]

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"What kept me driving was remembering something former President Bill Clinton had just told the crowd of 12,000 people. He explained these Nazis more clearly than they could ever explain themselves:

"The capacity for evil has to be stirred," Clinton said. "Folks who are ripe targets for the stirring are people who are insecure -- insecure psychologically, insecure financially, insecure politically. They are more vulnerable to false claims by power mongers. ... The neo-Nazi groups in Europe and other hate groups around the world, if you really look at them, they basically were made up of angry, uncertain, insecure people looking for someone else to blame, cultivating, in their own minds, a phony victimhood to justify hurting others."

The only word of Clinton's I'd quibble with is "were" -- the neo-Nazis aren't a "were," alas, but an "are," as was clear Sunday to anyone passing the corner of Harms and Golf roads. They may be a rarity, but they are still with us, and while they are so far from their Nuremberg glory days as to be almost laughable, what they represent -- the idea that the life of Person A is diminished by the polluted presence of Person B -- is a philosophy by no means limited to those wearing jackboots, brandishing swastikas and eating birthday cake today."

[DainBramaged]

2. They have the right to speak, but I wish Elwood and Jake had been around

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t101rO7WuAM

[amandabeech]

5. Back in the summer of 1978, I was a summer associate in a big Chicago law firm.

I had fooled around during the week and had to go in on Sunday to get my work done.

My office faced Federal Plaza (I think that's the name), and I noticed that there was a crowd of 3-5,000 people and lots of cops milling around down there.

The crowd kept getting louder and louder until I couldn't work, so I stopped and watched what was going on.

Suddenly a 20-foot truck and a bunch of vans pulled up in front of the crowd. The cops jumped to control the teeming and screaming crowd.

Then a couple of Nazis, you could tell by the outfits and the flags, jumped out of the truck and pulled out a sound system and podium. The crowd seemed to leap forward, despite the huge police presence.

Then about 3 dozen Nazis piled out of the vans. Some just strutted around, but one mounted the podium and started to speak. I couldn't hear a thing because the screaming of the crowd was so loud.

The crowd went wild, and the huge number of cops, and these looked like an experienced bunch, could barely hold them back. I swear the crowd wanted to tear those Nazis limb from limb.

After about five minutes, the Nazis grabbed the podium and the sound equipment and sprinted for the truck and the vans. The drivers put the pedal to the metal, and the Nazis were out of there in a flash!

The crowd went wild with its victory celebration, and then drifted away to celebrate elsewhere.

On Monday, I asked one of the regular associates what had happened. He told me that the Nazis do occasionally do rallies, and the crowds are usually very vociferous. He said that the cops will let the Nazis speak for a few minutes, as a matter of Constitutional necessity. But after five or ten minutes, the head cop will tell the head Nazi that the cops "can no longer guarantee the safety" of the Nazis. That's the time for Nazis to make a run for it. And of course, they always do. I'm surprised that the demonstrators didn't have cars ready to chase the Nazis down Lakeshore Drive.

I did not see one Nazis supporter among the crowd, either.

[WeDidIt]

3. 1060 West Addison Street Chicago, Illinois 60613

[Posteritatis]

4. Possibly the greatest first sentence of a post I've seen all day (nt)