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White Supremacist Recruiting Poster Spotted, Then Destroyed In Bay Ridge
By
Jake Offenhartz
Published Jan 3, 2020
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Courtesy of tipster
By
Jake Offenhartz
Published Jan 3, 2020
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A recruiting poster linked to a violent neo-Nazi group was discovered in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn on Thursday night.
Spotted on 86th Street near 3rd Avenue, the flyer features the website for Patriot Front, alongside classical American imagery and the message, "To ourselves and our posterity."
Patriot Front is considered to be among the most active and pernicious fascist groups in the United States. Founded in the wake of the deadly Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, the organization's manifesto advocates for a white ethnostate, accomplished by seizing power and land from people of color, immigrants, and Jews.
Elected officials and local residents sharply condemned the poster on Thursday. "My constituents have a right to live without fear. We will not be intimidated by clowns and cowards," tweeted Councilman Justin Brannan.
Bay Ridge is a majority white neighborhood, but has the city's largest number of residents who speak Arabic at home, according to the census.
Assemblymember Mathylde Frontus added that the posters were "disturbing and unacceptable on so many levels." She said she'd spoken to the local police precinct, which promised a full investigation.
Patriot Front has reportedly upped its pamphleting and recruiting efforts in the past year, particularly on college campuses. A recent profile in ProPublica lays out the group's objectives:
Patriot Front aspired to help chart a new way forward: spread propaganda espousing its version of a nascent American fascism; quietly recruit new members worried about a nation overrun by immigrants and a world controlled by Jews; avoid talking about guns or violence online, but engage in a mix of vandalism and intimidation to foster anxiety; wear masks in public and communicate secretly.
Noah Weston, a longtime Bay Ridge resident and member of the South Brooklyn Democratic Socialists of America who shared the photo with Gothamist, said he was outraged to find a visible sign of the hate-filled group in his neighborhood.
"Bay Ridge is home to several communities to whom white supremacy poses a mortal danger, so we should treat anyone responsible for these posters or their apologists accordingly," he said. "These posters aren't an innocent act of free speech or an invitation to discuss ideas. They're a tool for Neo-Nazi recruitment."
The poster was subsequently destroyed shortly after the photo was taken, he added.
Tagged
neo-Nazi
patriot front
bay ridge
white supreamacist
Jake Offenhartz
Jake Offenhartz is a former Gothamist reporter.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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