Herndon, VA Virginia Minutemen Protest
January 7, 2006

Just a brief report back. Baltimore ARA went down to Herndon,
Virginia--the closet location for a minutemen protest. Herndon,
Virginia is a middle-class to upper-middle class suburb west of DC on
a toll road. A variety of technology firms are also based in the
area. The unemployment near Herndon is 1.9% in one county, and 2% in
another. As of December, Herndon city council has all day laborers
come to one central site, a former police station, to get jobs. The
day labor center is open from 7AM to 10AM, and approximately 100
largely latino workers visit the center for employment on a given day.
This actually seems like an ideal situation logistically for
organizing a union of day labor workers. Something we in Baltimore
would like to explore with our contacts in the United Workers
Association and Casa Maryland.

There were more Minutemen having a protest than we expected. Around
35 or so, late middle-aged to retirement middle class whites (mostly
male with a few women). No obvious boneheads. Some of the Minutemen
supporters seem specifically against the location of the day labor
site being near their homes, a "Not In My Backyard" phenomenon.
Others are there for ideological reasons.. that is they oppose
immigration claiming that immigration results in crime and
prostitution. They are largely NOT making an economic argument here.
This was one of the largerer showins, though they've also had a
presence at the opening of the center and at the city council meetings
where the day labor center was first discussed. The Minutemen
regularly have a couple of members at the Day Labor Center every day
that it is open. The Minutemen carry large printed handheld signs,
and have dozens of cameras. They photograph day laborerers, those
that hire them, and counter-protestors.

The Minutemen were countered by other protestors, 15 or so people, a
third of which was ARA. Most were local or nearby residents,
demographically similar to the minutemen... though with some younger
faces and many more women. The main group is Herndon Embraces All
with Respect & Tolerance (HEART). Their agenda is primarily liberal.
While they "reject harassment, dispargment, and general prejudice
based on race, national origion, socioeconomic status, or immigration
status"; they also "support improved Federal border management and
sound immigration policies". Their tactics are passive, so much so
that their picket lines are quiet without chanting, and some of their
members scolded ARA members for yelling "Fascist" and "****ing Nazis"
in the direction of Minutemen. ARA was also lectured on how a
previous group of Latinos had been involved in an earlier protest and
used more confrontational tactics and "brought more trouble on the
people they were trying to help." HEART carries small lamented
signs, a posterboards, and a few cameras. HEART seems very concerned
with putting forth a very nonconfrontational image to the media.

Other proterstors came Socialist Party and Obrrea Hispana (a Falls
Church Catholic Church group). During the middle of the protest some
Latino workers joined in, as well as a contractor looking to hire day
labors but di not do so because he didn't want to face harrassment
from the minutemen--however this concern did not stop him from
verbally berating the crowd of minutemen.

Some of the counterprotestors are aware of that nationally some of the
Minutemen are connected with racist and white supremacist groups;
though they didn't offer any intelligence on locally who might be.

While Minutemen were in one large clump, and the counterprotestors in
another... individuals would freely mingle between the groups,
particularly on the margins or towards a more trafficked intersection.

Police presence was minimal with only a few uniformed officers, one of
which video-taped the entire event. There was also a small police
presence of uniformed officers in unmarked cars. Undoubtly there were
probably some plain clothes officers. With all the milling around and

There is little in the way of public to interact with in the area.
The surrounding area is 7-11, a storage facility, a few small shops,
and behind a stand of trees some upscale tract housing. Most people
who saw the protest were either protestors, day laborers, employers
hiring day laborers, or passing motorists.

There was good media turnout for this event, at least one local
television station, several reporters, including one from the
Washington Post which interviewed ARA. The Post is very interested in
any proof we might be able to provide that shows a direct connection
between the Herndon Minutemen and any white-supremacist group like the
National Alliance.

The League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) http://www.lulac.org/
did not appear to be at this protest. However, they appear to have
been their previously as they set up an anti-minuteman website:
http://www.weareracists.com where they post the photos of Minutemen at
earlier Herndon protests.

In particular... this minuteman
http://www.weareracist.com/images/war01.jpg
we think we recognize from protest at the Canadian embassy in DC,
where elements associated with the National Alliance were having a
protest (unsupported officially by the NA) to protest the deportation
of Holocause Denier Zundel from Canada to Germany. Can anyone
confirm this: According to him, he does not live in Herndon--but
instead in Manassas Virgina. He drives a silver convertible sports
car with a vanity license plate for Virgina labelled "KAMIT".

Coming up in Herndon, on February 24th-25th, Jared Taylor's American
Renaissance is having their biannual conference at the Hyatt Dulles
Hotel just outside Washington, DC. AR is quite openingly about
pushing a white nationalist agenda, and is regarded as _THE_ academic
conference of racists in the U.S. This conference's speakers
include:

Nick Griffin, chairman of the British National Party. He will go to
trial in Leeds, England on Jan. 16 on charges "incitement of racial
hatred," and faces up to seven years prison time if convicted.

Andrew Fraser, " This summer, Prof. Fraser stirred up enormous
controversy in Australia by publicly opposing non-white immigration.
An Australian law journal recently accepted his article, "Rethinking
the White Australia Policy," but canceled publication under threat of
a lawsuit. Prof. Fraser taught public law at Macquarie University in
Sydney until his recent suspension from teaching.

J. Philippe Rushton:"New Research from Sociobiology." Prof. Rushton,
who teaches at the University of Western Ontario, is the world's
foremost expert on racial differences. He is the author of many books
and articles, including Race, Evolution, and Behavior.

Jared Taylor:"The White Man's Disease: The Fantasy of Egalitarianism."
Mr. Taylor is editor of American Renaissance. He is the author of
Paved With Good Intentions and the primary contributor to the
collection, A Race Against Time.

Derek Turner:"The Island Race Debate: Britain Since the London
Bombings." Mr. Turner is editor of the British magazine Right Now!
Supporters call it "the leading publication of the conservative
right." Leader of the House of Commons Robin Cook says it should be
shut down.

Dan Roodt:"Prospects for the White Tribe." Mr. Roodt is a prominent
Afrikaner novelist and commentator, and one of the leaders of the
Pro-Afrikaans Action Group (PRAAG). His essay, "Afrikaner Survival
Under Black Rule," appeared in the May and June 2004 issues of
American Renaissance.

Guillaume Faye:"The Threat to the West." Mr. Faye is one of France's
most controversial authors and media personalities. Among his books
are The Colonization of Europe, Why We Fight, and The Coming
Cataclysm. He and his publishers have been prosecuted under French
laws against "hate speech."

Sam G. Dickson:"A Benediction for Heretics." Mr. Dickson is a
long-time racial activist, and will be addressing his seventh AR
conference.

Informal discussion by Baltimore ARA seems to think that this might be
the time to take on the AR Conference. We'd like to continue
surveillance of the Minutemen in Herndon, try to match them with known
white-supremacist/racist/fascists groups, as well to see how many of
them turn up to the AR confernce.

Further, we think it might be possible to get groups involved in
protest the Minutemen to also oppose AR. It seems neccessary that we
make the connection between the Herndon Minutemen and racist
organizations explicit and apparent to everyone. We also will need to
reach out to other groups in the area to bring numbers to future
protests.

Again, with think there may be potential to do successful labor
organizing among day laborers in Herndon specifically because of the
low unemployment rate and centralized location of hiring. This is a
matter we should carefully consider and would be a great way to change
the current dynamic of discussion in Herdon around day laborers and
immigration. More investigation of this potential will need to be
done.

The Project Hope and Harmony that setup the day laborers centers seems
largely concerned about civic, public safety, crowding and traffic...
they do not seem on the surface to be interested with progressive
labor causes.
http://www.projecthopeharmony.org/

* [Ed. Note: ARA is an antiauthoritarian anticapitalist
social struggle direct action network.]