‘Fahrenheit’ showing becomes white supremacist soap box

Jen Lawson

Wednesday, June 30, 2004 | 9:04 a.m.

Hoping to capitalize on politically-minded moviegoers, members of a white separatist group slapped propaganda fliers on the windshields of vehicles parked at a Las Vegas theater on the opening night of the controversial film "Fahrenheit 9/11."

The Regal Cinemas' Village Square 18, in the 9400 block of West Sahara Avenue near Fort Apache Road, is in a section of the city regularly targeted by members of the National Alliance.

"That particular area has outreach programs on a whole multitude of issues," said Michael O'Sullivan, a Las Vegas real estate agent to whom the Web site for the National Alliance's local chapter is registered.

And because "Fahrenheit 9/11," a Michael Moore film critical of the Bush administration's war on terror and in Iraq, has sparked strong feelings among liberals and conservatives alike, National Alliance volunteers thought there could be civic-minded citizens at the theater who would find their message appealing, O'Sullivan added.

The management of the theater could not be reached for comment.

Three different fliers were distributed at the film's Las Vegas debut Friday night: one was anti-gay, one denounced multi-culturalism and one attacked a minority group.

They are among the several dozen fliers the organization hands out regarding "laws and social issues facing white Americans worldwide," O'Sullivan said.

While the fliers may espouse "unpopular opinions, they are totally protected" by the First Amendment right to free speech, Allen Lichtenstein, general counsel for the ACLU of Nevada said.

The fliers would be not be protected by the First Amendment if they advocated an immediate illegal action and were likely to cause such action, he said.

"The group has values that clearly are contrary to most people -- the overwhelming majority of people -- and contrary to the values of the ACLU," Lichtenstein said. "But that doesn't mean they have less of a right to voice them than anyone else."

FBI spokesman Todd Palmer agreed.

"Even though they may be considered a hate group, what they're doing is not illegal," he said.

According to the Southern Poverty Law Center, a civil rights law firm that tracks hate groups, the National Alliance is considered a neo-nazi group.

The firm's Web site says "neo-nazi groups share a hatred for Jews and a love for Adolf Hitler and nazi Germany." The site also says they "hate other minorities, homosexuals and even sometimes Christians."

Statistics are hard to come by, but Lt. Lewis Roberts of Metro's gang crimes section said there "seems to be an uptick in the activity of the hate movement in Las Vegas."

The Southern Poverty Law Center, an organization that tracks racist organizations and monitors racism and racial violence nationwide, identifies Las Vegas as home to the National Alliance as well as two black separatist groups, the Nation of Islam and the New Black Panther Party.