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'White Pride' backers demonstrate in downtown Scottsdale
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A small group stood on the corner of Scottsdale and Camelback in Scottsdale Wednesday holding banners for ‘White Pride.’
Paul O'Neill, Tribune
Scottsdale motorists traveling through one of the city’s most congested intersections Wednesday came across a small group of people holding banners promoting “White Pride Worldwide.”
Cars honked going through the intersection of Camelback and Scottsdale roads, and a number of obscene gestures by passing motorists were witnessed. A passenger threw ice out the window at the group of four to six people. At times, people would approach the group on the sidewalk in front of P.F. Chang’s and engage in a debate, criticizing the “White Pride” message.
Dana Arnold, who spoke on behalf of the rally, said the group chose the Scottsdale and Camelback intersection “because there’s a lot of white people here.”
Joel Breshin, associate director of the Anti-Defamation League’s Phoenix office, said the rally was organized by the neo-Nazi group National Vanguard, Arizona Unit. The ADL is a civil rights organization that monitors hate groups.
“Usually with these white power events they’re really trying to recruit,” Breshin said. “They’re trying to show their strength in a particular area.”
The choice of a high-traffic intersection in Scottsdale for the demonstration is an attempt to maximize the dispersion of their message, he said.
Arnold said the group is not preaching hate, but Whites should be allowed to celebrate their culture the same as Blacks or Mexicans, and ideally have their own land “to evolve and prosper.”
“I believe if there were no white people in America it would be total chaos,” Arnold said. “White people are the backbone of the country.”
The demonstrators’ use of rhetoric claiming they stand for anti-discrimination against white people is not a new phenomenon, Breshin said.
“That’s been around for years. It’s just the same message that manifests itself in different ways every year. It’s a fallacy,” he said.
The rally came on the day the United Nations celebrates the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, or Harmony Day. In response, Stormfront White Nationalist Community promoted White Pride World Wide Day on its Web site, encouraging displays like the one seen in Scottsdale.
Tribune writer Ari Cohn contributed to this report
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