NEO-NAZIS IN PENNSYLVANIA PROMOTE, PARTICIATE IN ANTI-IMMIGRATION RALLY

The Keystone State “Skinheads” are not as strong as they used to be, which is why they aren’t doing a Leif Erickson Day Celebration in Philadelphia after they saw the opposition to them last year, not to mention why so many of them have left the state, let alone Philly. Still, some folks in the state, namely our state’s militia knuckleheads, don’t mind being seen with them – until someone asks about it of course.

One People’s Project

MOOSIC, PA – For at least the third time this year, Overpasses for America rally was organized and included members of various white supremacist groups, most notably the Keystone State “Skinheads” (KSS) who over the past year has been the target of such pressure in Philadelphia that not only they chose not to hold their annual “Leif Erickson Day Celebration” this year, many of its members including the family whose home was the group’s base of operations, have moved away from the city.

On a rainy Oct. 18, KSS joined members of American Freedom Party (AFP, formerly American Third Position) and Lurzerne County Republican Committeman and KSS co-founder Steve Smith’s European American Action Coalition (EAAC) on the Davis St. Bridge spanning I-81 to protest immigration. They in turn were joined by some adherents to the militia movement including Lackawanna County Mary Ann Benitez, who last summer stood with Smith in photographs at prior rallies and encouraged his fellow neo-Nazis to come out to future events. In all approximately 30 persons participated in the most recent rally, holding banners against immigration for motorists on I-81 to see as they drove underneath. Afterwards, the neo-Nazis went to O’Shea’s in nearby Shamokin, PA for an evening after party, put on by New Nation Productions, who recently promoted a benefit concert for neo-Nazi Martin Cox.

Overpasses for America is a national effort by conservatives to protest what they call on their website “rampant corruption that has infested our government”. Most of their protests have focused on immigration and its participants have included the most extreme of right wing activists.

The Overpass rally comes one day short of the anniversary of last year’s “Leif Erickson Day Celebration” on Boathouse Row in Philadelphia’s Fairmount Park, an annual event sponsored since 2007 by Keystone State “Skinheads”. Last’s year’s outing saw the largest opposition to the hate rally with over 200 persons coming out to face off with at least 30 white supremacists, many of them from outside Pennsylvania and representing a number of organizations, including the Vinlander Social Club (VSC) and Traditionalist Youth Network (TYN). In the year that followed two rallies were held in the neighborhood of Tacony where KSS members have called their home for years. The first one in June was in opposition to a clandestine Klan rally, but after that rally, participants rallied outside the nearby home of Bryan and Patricia Vanagatis which was considered a base of operation for KSS. Two months later, Philadelphia Antifa protested KSS in particular which drew out a number of members and supporters. Only two KSS members were from Philadelphia.

The Vanagatises moved from their longtime home weeks before the second rally and now reside in Highspire, PA, 7 miles from the state capital of Harrisburg, where there is a larger concentration of neo-Nazis, particularly KSS members. This was also the first time since 2007 the Leif Erickson Day Celebration was not held, and it is uncertain if it will ever be again. Other KSS members have also left Pennsylvania entirely.

Lackawanna County GOP Committeewoman and rally organizer Mary Ann Benitez, holding flag,  talks with Justin Vacula

The fallout from the presence of neo-Nazis at the Overpasses for America rally was felt after local blogger Justin Vacula wrote a series of articles about what he witnessed at the event, particularly after Mary Ann Benitez wrote him saying that she was unaware that pictures of her with Steve Smith were made public, that she isn’t a racist and that anyone is welcome to attend her rallies provided they are respectful, explaining further that she doesn’t ask ralliers what they do and that they are not allowed to advertise what they do. However, when Vacula was provided with evidence via comments on Facebook that Benitez was not only aware of the photos and presence of the neo-Nazis but encouraged it, he wroteabout her dishonesty. “Although she claims to not know about Smith’s activities outside of attending her rally, she’s added Smith as a Facebook friend, interacted with him on Facebook on multiple occasions, is almost certainly aware that he advertised whiteadvocate.org at her rally (despite saying no advertisements were allowed), and has almost certainly seen his Facebook activity apart from rally-related events,” he wrote. “I don’t buy it. Benitez is being profoundly dishonest. As an elected official, she should be held accountable for her dishonesty and affiliations with former member of Keystone United/Keystone State Skinheads Steven Smith and whiteadvocate.com.”

The series of articles was met by Smith himself, who tried to use both Vacula’s blog and his Facebook page to promote his ideology and then after Vacula posted a since-removed photograph of Smith at the rally with his son at one of the Overpass rallies last summer, used that to harass Vacula. “Don’t worry , you will see me again and I will embarrass you in public like I do to all my detractors,” Smith wrote on Vacula’s Facebook page. Smith, who while using the opportunity to be critical of black crime himself spent two months in jail for ethnic intimidation when he and two other KSS members attempted to attack a black man in Scranton, PA, was then called out and ridiculed by Vacula’s supporters.

The Pennsylvania and National Republican Party chapters were contacted in regards to party committepersons participating in events promoted and attended by neo-Nazis and even being involved in neo-Nazi activities themselves, but did not respond by press time.