COMMUNITY GATHERS IN CHARLOTTE TO CELEBRATE THE 2011 AM-ROUT!

You might recognize the guy on the left. That’s Michael from Charlotte (NC) Anti-Racist Action, the guy who was seen in news footage recently refusing to shake hands with Jared Taylor, editor and publisher of American Renaissance. This weekend, he found someone he wanted to shake hands with, and…well if blowing off Taylor’s extended hand bothered those supporters of American Renaissance as they noted in internet messages, this will just make them cry. And that makes us smile. It was good to go to Charlotte and meet with those we have worked with these past few months as they tried to deal with the American Renaissance Conference coming to the Queen City, and we are especially glad that all has worked out well for the good people down there. We especially have to extend a shout-out toTheresa El-Amin and her organization,  the Southern Anti-Racism Network. Everyone there worked tirelessly to get the word out and ultimately what was a call-to-arms so to speak was ultimately a victory celebration! We have video here with this article and keep watch on our featured video of the week as our next one will be more speakers from the rally.

One People’s Project

CHARLOTTE, NC–In 2007, the white supremacist newsletter American Renaissance (AmRen) reported on an item from Black Enterprise magazine where they listed the top ten best places for black people to live. Number 1 was Washington, DC, where the publication regularly held its biannual conferences which were just beginning to get the attention and to the concerns of progressives and the community. After outrage and protests forced American Renaissance to cancel their conference in 2010, organizers decided it was time to move the conference to another location, and they decided on Charlotte, NC – Number 7 on the aforementioned Black Enterprise Magazine list.

On Saturday, Charlotte community members and progressives from the South and North East came together to celebrate the city’s succesful efforts in prompting the AmRen Conference’s exit from the city after the second cancellation in a row, as well as to discuss the future of fighting racism and bigotry in this day and age.in a forum at a local library where prominent anti-racist author Leonard Zeskind spoke to the audience. The events were organized by the Southern Anti-Racism Network (SARN) who began organizing around the then-expected conference in November. Although AmRen organizers tried to keep the location of the conference under wraps, it was revealed to be the Sheraton Airport Hotel in Charlotte, who promptly shut their doors to the event. Other hotels in the area similarly closed their doors to AmRen, who ultimately had to cancel the conference. Ironically, the announcement cancellation came on the same day it was announced that the 2010 Democratic Convention was to be held in Charlotte.

The rally was held at the statue of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. in Marshall Park and afterwards, a forum was held at the West Boulevard Library titled “Dangers of White Nationalism”. WIllie Ratchford, the Executive Director of the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Community Relations Committee welcomed everyone to Charlotte and SARN Executive Director Theresa El-Amin moderated the forum. The keynote speaker was Leonard Zeskind, President of the Institute for Reasearch and Education on Human Rights and the author of Blood and Politics: The History of the White Nationalist Movement from the Margins to the Mainstream. He spoke on the number of ways that those who support American Renaissance get involved in mainstream politics, such as through the tea party campaigns. Other speakers included Donna DeWitt, President of the South Carolina AFL-CIO, Daryle Lamont Jenkins from One People’s Project, Flint from NEFAC and members of the US Human Rights Network.

Jared Taylor, the editor of American Renaissance, was interviewed by a local television station that covered the rally and said they will have to try other models for the next AmRen conference. He also admonished those that ruined his plans for the weekend. “They will not rest in their quest to supress free speech,” he said freely and without supression. Meanwhile White Nationalist writer Richard Spencer who now runs the National Policy Institute, which has been called a white supremacist counterpart to the Southern Poverty Law Center, was trying to put together a live streaming of an event that was to take the place of the aborted conference in an “undisclosed location”, but those who paid the $10 fee to watch the event were disappointed to see yet another problem. “Regarding the live web-stream, we’ve run into serious difficulties beyond our control,” Spencer wrote, saying further that something was indeed shot and will be available shortly. “We’ve decided not to go into details at this time, but you can use your imagination… It has become impossible to web-stream.”

On Wednesday, Feb. 9, SARN will continue to mobilize community against hatemongering when they sponsor a concert and poetry slam called “Lifting Our Voices for Social Justice”.  The concert, which will be at the Hayti Heritage Center in Durham, NC, will feature emcee and executive director of the Labor Heritage Foundation Darryl! Moch, theatrical performances from Children of the Sun Latino Theatre Productions, music from Tom Neilson, and poetry from Steve Bloom, CJ Suitt and SLAP (Sum-Thyng Like a Poet).