Columnist Jeff German: Vegas mustn’t tolerate bigots

Friday, Jan. 31, 2003 | 4:35 a.m.

IT'S TIME to wake up and get mad, Las Vegas. Last weekend's act of racial and anti-Semitic vandalism at a local furniture store is cause to sound the community alarm.

Swastikas and racist graffiti were sprayed around the business, which is owned by a Jewish family, in an attack now being investigated by the FBI.

The incident reminds us that bigotry still knows how to rear its ugly head in America, even in the multicultural entertainment capital of the world.

It comes in the middle of a local recruitment drive by the National Alliance, the country's largest neo-Nazi organization, which is estimated to have some 1,500 members.

FBI agents don't believe the National Alliance, even though it advocates white supremacy and social change through violence, is responsible for the local furniture store attack. A handful of other, smaller neo-Nazi groups maintaining a lower profile are being eyed as potential suspects.

But agents suspect the National Alliance's stepped-up recruiting efforts are encouraging the smaller groups, mostly made up of young male adults, to commit acts of vandalism. One group, the Independent Nazi Skins, has demonstrated a propensity for violence in the past. Its leader, John Butler, was sentenced to death in January 2001 for the 1998 slayings of two men who didn't share his racist views.

And now agents are worried that more violence is on the horizon.

"Experience tells us it's coming," FBI spokesman Daron Borst warned.

It's something that should concern the entire community. Do we want Las Vegas, a city that earns its livelihood boasting of its positive side, to be known as a breeding ground for this kind of hatred and contempt? How many tourists will that attract?

Here's an example of the slanted ideology we're facing. In response to an inquiry, a local spokesman for the National Alliance sent an e-mail describing his group.

"The National Alliance is an organization that is working toward securing a future for the white race in America and around the world," the spokesman wrote. "It is my belief that the white race is beginning to awake. We must take back what our Founding Fathers established and rebuild a healthy home for people of European descent."

These hatemongers are out of touch with reality. This country is growing together. It's growing exactly according to the principles of freedom and equality laid out by the Founding Fathers. Las Vegas is a perfect example.

Like other metropolitan areas, we have become a city that's home to many minorities. We have an active Jewish community here. We have a dedicated black community. And we have the fastest-growing Hispanic and Asian communities in the country.

Las Vegas works because everyone is willing to work together.

Why should we let a few misguided demagogues who want to tear us apart ruin a good thing?

Some people make the argument that writing about such groups as the National Alliance and Independent Nazi Skins plays into their strategy of obtaining publicity for their deranged preachings.

But there's a broader belief that it's better to shine a light on these bigots and expose them.

"If a community looks the other way and pretends these groups don't exist, the groups tend to grow," says Mark Potok, of the Alabama-based Southern Poverty Law Center, which has been tracking hate groups in America for more than 20 years.

"When people understand that the National Alliance is not merely a group of people standing up for the civil rights of white America, but rather a group that has produced murderers, bombers and a whole array of other criminals, it makes a difference."

So wake up, Las Vegas, and get mad. Let these hatemongers know they're not welcome here.