The irony that these marches can happen legally, over and over again in the U.S., is a harsh one on many levels.
A bit of background first. Growing up I was called a “Nazi” because both my parents are from Germany. I grew up when many WWII veterans and their families were still alive and tied closely to that war and the horrors of Hitler and Mussolini. I was born many years after the war was over and I didn’t understand why I was being called those names, I heard it from classmates and neighbors. I’m sure they heard it from their parents. It made me feel very bad and guilty for many years, something I couldn’t change. It made us all feel ashamed many times over the years, my parents, my siblings and myself.
Germany and most of the citizens there have worked hard to make amends since the end of WWII, create memorials for the lives of the innocent Jews who died horrible deaths in the holocaust. They expunged from their public spaces any and all plaques, statues or memorials which in any way show Hitler, Nazis or Nazi symbols in a positive way.
Yet today the little town of Newnan Georgia has put up barricades to prepare for a neo Nazi march, they will have to pay for extra police officers to maintain order too, all at a cost. It’s not just a monetary cost, it’s a cost to society as well.
City officials met with business leaders last week to brief them on the rally, Craver said, although they didn’t offer any recommendations on whether businesses should close on Saturday. Nearly 50,000 people have signed a Change.org petition to stop the rally, but the city said it had no choice but to allow it.
Neo-Nazis – and about 400 cops – will be in Newnan on Saturday
That is true, the city had no choice. In this country, of all countries, neo-nazi groups can march. After years of me and my family feeling we had to hide our heritage for the shame of the sins of Hitler, this country allows Neo-Nazis to openly march on the street.
In Germany this would be illegal and no such march like this would be permitted legally as is done here. It is illegal to carry around flags with Nazi symbols, it’s illegal to deny the holocaust happened.
I know this runs into 1st amendment issues but there are limits on free speech. We allow groups like this to continue to have a platform to proselytize and organize. They need to be marginalized and though people with this mindset still exist in Germany and they will always exist here in the U.S. too, we are NOT obligated to give them an easy platform from which to spew their hate and authoritarian ideologies which incite violence, if not immediately, in the not too distant future.
It only took about 1/3 of the votes to help Hitler gain access to power and upend the Weimar Republic. One of our tasks upon gaining a foot hold in local, state and federal representative institutions is to follow Germany’s post WWII script, make these sort of marches and symbols illegal. If the Germans could do it, find the balance between free speech and not promoting hate, we can too.
It should not be limited to Neo Nazi’s and their symbols, I’m advocating for a deeper look into what can be tolerated in the name of free speech and what cannot. It won’t be easy but given the internet, social media and what has happened to the republican party platform, it’s way past time to make some changes.
The law goes further. There is the legal concept of “Volksverhetzung,” the incitement to hatred: Anybody who denigrates an individual or a group based on their ethnicity or religion, or anybody who tries to rouse hatred or promotes violence against such a group or an individual, could face a sentence of up to five years in prison.
How Germany Deals With Neo-Nazis
UPDATE- A lot of the comments center around the same slippery slope argument. You can’t hold that argument for one side of the slope only, that slope goes two ways. Given the election of Trump and his base of supporters built foundation of “Mexicans are rapists” I submit we’re already peering down the other side of that slope.
If you have to base your argument on the fallacious assumption that this is an all or nothing proposition you only have to look to many countries in Europe who achieved a balance and are not oppressive societies, they have freedom of press as well. Remember it is our country that has a President talking about jailing journalists. Being absolutist about the 1st A, is in of itself, a problem for free speech.
Lastly, if you could kindly refrain from jumping to assumptions about me not having thought the pros and cons of this through. I’m not asking all readers to agree with me 100% but at least ponder the points I’ve presented before you post...slippery slope!!! Thank you.
Personal foot note- this was in many ways very hard for me to write. I’ve been weighing the cost vs benefit of sharing my story and decided that if my experience helps in some small (tiny even) way to prevent history from even coming close to repeating itself, it’s worth the discomfort I experience sharing my story and history. Thank you for reading.