A series of stickers advertising a white nationalist group were found across the street from the Simon Wiesenthal Center’s Museum of Tolerance on May 20.
According to a statement on the Wiesenthal Center’s website, there were three stickers on streetlight poles emblazoned with the Patriot Front logo. According to the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), the Patriot Front is a white supremacist group aiming to preserve “America’s identity as a European-American identity.”
Associate Dean and Director of Global Social Action Agenda at the Simon Wiesenthal Center Rabbi Abraham Cooper told the Journal that a member of the community noticed the stickers and notified the center, which is currently closed as part of Los Angeles County’s shelter-in-place restrictions. He added that the Wiesenthal Center has contacted local law enforcement about the matter.
Cooper said the stickers are part of Patriot Front’s modus operandi and that they seem to be particularly active in the Southern California area. “They’ve done similar stuff around UCLA, CSUN (Cal State Northridge), Cal State Pomona, and they’re active on Telegram,” he said.
He added he believes the stickers have been part of an overall trend of extremists taking advantage in the current climate of anxiety and fear surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic, to incite hatred against Jews and Asians.
“As long as people are unnaturally locked in and getting mixed signals from the people in charge … everyone is unsettled, and that is the perfect setting for extremists across the world to reap the whirlwind, try to find messaging that will resonate with people out there based on their fears, concerns and sometimes panic,” Cooper said. “I think that’s the overall game plan of all the extremist groups, including those who directly promote conspiracy theories.”
He pointed to a March 23 ABC News report in which white nationalists were calling for those infected with COVID-19 to spread the virus to the Jews.
“We’re all closed down everywhere and bigots are open for business, virtually and in reality,” Cooper said.
“While the COVID-19 crisis has shone a bright light upon the better angels of our society, we also have seen a dark underbelly of hate emerge in some quarters.” — Richard S. Hirschhaut
Other Jewish groups condemned the stickers.
“ADL was shocked to see extremist messages posted outside the Museum of Tolerance,” ADL Los Angeles tweeted. “One need only visit the Museum (when it is safely open again) to see evidence of where this kind of hate leads.”
ADL was shocked to see extremist messages posted outside the Museum of Tolerance. One need only visit the Museum (when it is safely open again) to see evidence of where this kind of hate leads. https://t.co/mKikaAhV8H @simonwiesenthal @musoftolerance pic.twitter.com/KrXdWi7nWo
— ADL Southern California (@ADLSoCal) May 20, 2020
ADL Los Angeles Regional Director Amanda Susskind also said in a statement to the Journal, “In 2019, Patriot Front was one of three groups responsible for 90% of the documented white supremacist propaganda incidents in America. Also, California continues to be the number one state in the nation for highest recorded number of white supremacist propaganda incidents.”
American Jewish Committee Los Angeles Regional Director Richard S. Hirschhaut similarly said in a statement to the Journal, “While the COVID-19 crisis has shone a bright light upon the better angels of our society, we also have seen a dark underbelly of hate emerge in some quarters. The hateful stickers posted outside the Museum of Tolerance are a reminder that much work remains to be done to push back against these dark forces.”
He added, “We can begin by advocating for passage of the NO HATE Act, now before the U.S. Senate. And we can support Assembly Bill 2236, sponsored by Jesse Gabriel (D-Encino), which would strengthen California’s response to the recent rise in COVID-19 related hate crimes and anti-Semitic incidents with expanded training of law enforcement. For now, we join in solidarity with our colleagues at the Museum of Tolerance in rebuking this cowardly attempt to sow fear and intimidation.”
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