Not welcome here

Editorial

The Aryan Nations threw themselves a party, but next to no one bothered to show up.

Their attempt to tap into perceived anti-immigrant sentiment to attract new recruits failed. While they displayed their hateful ideology at the Cave Creek Recreation Area, life went on as normal in the town of Cave Creek.

And that's how it should be.

Unfortunately, various hate groups appear to believe that Arizona, being a border state, represents fertile ground for new members. How else to explain the fact that the National Alliance has deposited flyers in Moon Valley? How else to explain why the Ku Klux Klan has recently met here twice?

And how else to explain why "Aryanfest 2004," a hate group music festival featuring at least nine rock and roll bands and Tom Metzger, founder of the White Aryan Resistance, is scheduled to take place Jan. 31-Feb. 1 in Phoenix. (At press time, no information was available about the specific location.)

Various hate groups are listed as endorsing the festival, including Volksfront, Women for Aryan Unity, Western Hammerskins, Aryan Nations, White Revolution and White Aryan Resistance.

Hatemongers do not come to Arizona for the weather or the beautiful desert landscape. They come because they think they are welcome and believe they can spread their hate-filled ideology.

We have a responsibility to prove them wrong.

That white supremacists, Neo-Nazis and hate groups exist in our democracy comes as no surprise. That they oppose those who are not like themselves is not news. What would be news is if they grew large enough to become a divisive force in the mainstream community.

We in Arizona must show that they are not welcome here. We also need not fear them. Fear would divide us. Fear would give them the power they crave.

At the same time, we need always to maintain a sense of wariness and vigilance.

While these groups have a history of violence, we strip them of their power by marginalizing them to the borders of our society.

As we prove that Arizonans will not contribute to their hate-filled cause and fill their bigoted ranks, then they may slither away.

Let them go elsewhere. Better yet, let them fade into history as an unfortunate footnote in the rich and diverse racial, religious, ethnic and cultural story of our nation.

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