Boneheads on the Westside

Unfortunately, it should be no surprise that there is a white pride element in Santa Cruz, predominantly in the San Lorenzo Valley. Their recorded presence dates back to the 1920's, a particularly xenophobic time in Amerikan history. In 1926, a KKK banquet at the Odd Fellow's hall had over 400 attendees. More recently, in 2008, two men were walking down Thurber Ln. in Live Oak putting white-supremacist fliers on car windshields. The fliers were the usual fare of neo-fascists: immigration, cross-burning, and a "future for our white children." Just last year, some fool living above Pacific had hung nazi flags from his window. Beyond this string of more identifiable instances, there are numerous accounts of people being yelled at from car windows, of people giving the nazi salute on Ocean St., and of hideous white pride graffiti.

Most recently, last Friday night, dozens of vehicles on the westside were had their tires slashed and were scribed with swastikas. While vehicle vandalism is neither here nor there (and, properly, targeted, can be an exciting addition to the social war), this action is just another reminder of the neo-fascist presence in Santa Cruz.

A year or so ago, a website entitled Anti-Fascist 831 popped up, attempting to document past and present fascist and anti-fascist activity. While it is obviously important to spread information about fascist or racist activity amongst Anti-Racists, Anti-Fascists, and anarchists, there is also a need for active resistance.

Some suggestions:

- Spray paint over racist or fascist graffiti

- Gather and share information about fascists and fascist activity

- Disrupt and confront public gatherings of racists and fascists

- Don't allow racist crews in music scenes and the like

- Find ways to (more) safely kick the living shit out of them