Fliers call for United States
to stop being Israel ‘shield’
Literature left at
Howell parking lot
by neo-Nazi
National Alliance
By kathy baratta
Staff Writer

Fliers promoting anti-minority and anti-Israel sentiments were distributed last week on cars parked at the park and ride lot at Wyckoff Road and Route 9 north, Howell.

The fliers were purportedly left by representatives of the National Alliance — described by watchdog organizations as the most important neo-Nazi group in America.

According to Howell Police Detective Tom Connors, police did not receive any calls from commuters reporting the fliers’ distribution at the parking lot.

Copies of the fliers were delivered to Greater Media Newspapers by a Howell resident who found them on cars May 1.

One flier quotes Osama bin Laden from statements he made in 1998 when speaking with an American reporter. Bin Laden is quoted as having said, "The continuation of tyranny will bring the fight to America. ... This is my message to the American people: to look for a serious government that looks out for their interests and does not attack others, their lands or their honor."

Rich (he would not provide a last name), who described himself as a 35-year-old "working-class white male of eastern European descent," answered the New Jersey telephone contact number included on one of the fliers. He said he was not aware the fliers had been distributed anywhere in Monmouth County, but said he was glad they had been.

He said he is the New Jersey contact person for the National Alliance. He described the West Virginia-based organization as a "civil rights group for white people whose mandate is preserving white society."

"We have no interest in being above other people. It’s not about being better than anyone; it’s about preserving our people," he said.

According to the Internet Web site for the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), Montgomery, Ala., the National Alliance is listed as "the most important neo-Nazi group in the United States." The SPLC describes itself as a nonprofit organization combating hate, intolerance and discrimination.

Chip Berlet is an analyst with the Boston-based Political Research Associates. According to Berlet, who co-authored a book on right-wing populism in America, the National Alliance should be taken seriously.

"It is small, but aggressive and growing," he said.

Regarding Rich’s assertion that the National Alliance is not a hate group, Berlet said, "One of the tricks of these types of organizations is to portray themselves as being against a secret, elite conspiracy aimed against the average citizen. That’s how they then work in anti-Semitic and anti-minority sentiments."

Berlet said the leader of the National Alliance, William Pierce, runs a record company called Renaissance Records which, Berlet said, markets what he termed "hate music." That, said Berlet, is how the National Alliance is increasing its membership — by grabbing teen-agers through the music.

Berlet said people who find the fliers may initially just want to throw them away. That, he said, is a mistake. Berlet said parents should take the literature home and talk about it with their children.

"Use it as a teaching mechanism; talk about what hate is," he said.

The National Alliance’s Internet Web site lists contacts for the organization in 21 of the 50 states, including New Jersey. In the Garden State, the base for the group is listed as being in Hewitt, a section of West Milford, Passaic County.

Other than saying he is a 12-year member of the National Alliance, Rich would not confirm membership numbers statewide or for Monmouth County. He referred questions to the national office.

At the West Virginia telephone number provided on the fliers, a man who identified himself as Billy Roper answered the telephone. Roper said he was the national membership coordinator for the National Alliance, but he declined to provide any membership numbers for the organization either nationally or in New Jersey.

When asked if quoting Osama bin Laden in a post-Sept. 11 America was a good way to gain membership, Roper said the quotes from bin Laden contained in the National Alliance’s literature were valid statements about the United States that citizens should and would want to know about.

Regarding the terrorist attacks against the United States which bin Laden has celebrated and admitted involvement in, Roper said, "Sometimes when you kill people, their friends come after you."

Roper, who said he holds a master’s degree in history and is a former teacher, said, "Unless accountability is demanded from our government, unless this country’s one-sided support of Israel is stopped, these types of things are to be expected."

He claimed the Sept. 11 attacks occurred as the direct result of what he called corrupt American policies in the Middle East. He said Sept. 11 was an effort to "make the United States stop putting bullets in Israeli guns which are being used to kill Palestinians."

When asked who is eligible to live in the America the National Alliance envisions, Roper said, "only white persons of wholly European descent, non-Jewish ancestry who are neither drug nor alcohol abusers." Also, said Roper, former felons and homosexuals are not welcome to join.

Interim Howell Township Manager Bruce Davis, who has been the town’s municipal clerk for almost 25 years, was angered by the report of the fliers’ distribution in Howell.

"I know this is America and everybody is allowed and entitled to an opinion. That’s what makes this country the great country that it is," he said.

However, Davis said what is not needed is what the National Alliance is attempting to spread with the statements in its fliers.

"There isn’t room anywhere in this town for that type of hate or the behavior of those that would work to spread this poison," he said.

When informed of the fliers’ distribution at the Route 9 park and ride lot, Mayor Timothy J. Konopka said he "totally deplored that type of activity."

"Granted the kinds of people that would work to spread this sick type of stuff have a protected right to do so under the constitutional protections we all enjoy," he said.

Konopka said Howell officials and law enforcement personnel had not been aware the activity had taken place. He said because this type of handout is sometimes accompanied by violent acts by members of the organization, the situation "is now something for our police to look into."

"Hopefully this was an isolated incident, but we will keep a close eye on it," said the mayor. "We’ll monitor the situation and make sure they, whoever they are, don’t work to incite any violence."

Noting Howell’s ethnic diversity and the ethnic diversity in neighboring Lakewood, Konopka said, "There is no place anywhere around here for these types of remarks or beliefs."

When asked if the flier’s enjoinder to "...deport these arrogant Jews. Let’s ship ’em all to Israel" could be seriously considered as a viable option under any conditions which could one day be expected to pass, Roper, of the National Alliance, said, "Before the Berlin Wall fell, no one believed that was going to happen either."