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Jewish Community Center of Northern Virginia Vandalized with Swastikas

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*This is a developing story. 

Earlier today the Jewish Community Center (JCC) of Northern Virginia (NOVA) was the target of an anti-Semitic crime when Swastikas were painted across the front of the facility. A letter released by the JCC in Fairfax said, “As many of us recognize, these acts do not represent the community around the J or the community in Northern Virginia.” Also in the letter was an acknowledgment that that neighboring churches have also “suffered recent vandalism.”

According to a Twitter post from Peggy Fox, the bureau chief for CBS in NOVA, a suspect can be seen in a surveillance video walking round the facility’s premises. The suspect, clad in a black shirt and pants with a hood concealing his face, was seen spray painting the building at 4:39 a.m. based on the video’s timestamp.

JCC Surveillance Footage

In the JCC’s letter they make it known that their community’s safety is the top priority, but that they will continue to operate as normal. “We will continue our extensive security measures and ask the community to remain alert and vigilant,” the letter said, before closing with “We continue to serve as a welcoming gathering place for all members of our community.”

Incidents of anti-Semitism have skyrocketed in the U.S. Last year the FBI released statistics on hate crimes that showed most religiously motivated crimes remain directed towards people of the Jewish faith. The Jewish publication Tablet Magazine, analyzing the report, observed: “Despite constituting just two percent of the American population, Jews were subject to 54.4 percent of such attacks.” This was also echoed by the Anti-Defamation League which found that incidents of anti-Semitism rose 57 percent in 2017 – the largest single year increase on record. This has also coincided with a handful of Republican candidates running on anti-Semitic platforms that include holocaust denial. Arthur Jones, a member of the American Nazi Party, managed to secure the GOP nomination for Illinois 3rd Congressional District unopposed. Despite his platform, he still received 20,000 votes.

In early September, another incident of anti-Semitism occurred when Patrick Little, a neo-Nazi, flew a blimp over Giants Stadium in San Francisco which read, “Jews Rape Kids.” Little was a supporter of Jason Kessler, who planned the notorious Unite the Right Rally in Charlottesville in August 2017, which left one person dead and thirty wounded in a vehicular attack by a white supremacist.

Senator Tim Kaine released a statement about the incident on Facebook around 2 p.m. today, which said, “We must stand together to unequivocally condemn this unacceptable behavior, and counter vicious anti-Semitism by working to build a more tolerant, loving, and inclusive community for one another. Hate has no place in Virginia and our nation – period.”

“Jews Rape Kids” Blimp Spotted in California

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A blimp reading “Jews Rape Kids” was attempting to fly in the harbor of San Francisco over the weekend. The stunt was led by a neo-Nazi named Patrick Little who was recently in Washington, D.C. supporting Jason Kessler’s second Unite the Right rally. Little, a former marine, espouses typical white nationalist claims that European heritage is under assault and white people are careening towards “extinction”. On his website, he claims, “I came to realize that the majority of the problems that Americans face today are the result of subversion and tyranny by a powerful group of people from the Jewish race.”

Little attempted to fly the small blimp over the harbor while the San Francisco Giants were celebrating Jewish Heritage Night. The blimp, known as the Jew-Namer 800, failed to take flight as strong wind and poor weather conditions scuttled the Nazi’s attempt. “Even though a harsh Russian Winter stymied Germany on the Eastern Front, still those who fought for freedom soldiered-on,” wrote Little on the blimp’s failed flight attempt.

Anti-Semitism is currently at a five-year high in the U.S. Releasing statistics on hate crimes last November, the FBI data showed that anti-Semitic crimes are the main target of religiously-motivated crimes. Tablet Magazine, a Jewish publication, said this of the FBI report: “Despite constituting just two percent of the American population, Jews were subject to 54.4 percent of such attacks.” In their most recent report, the Anti-Defamation League found that the number of anti-Semitic incidents in the U.S. rose 57 percent in 2017 – the largest single-year increase on record and the second highest number reported since ADL started tracking such data in 1979, citing the majority of incidents are on college campuses and schools.

There is also a rack of candidates running on GOP tickets this mid-term who are open Holocaust deniers, and, in one instance, an actual Nazi. While the circumstances surrounding the rise in anti-Semitism can be debated, most Jewish communities will point to the ongoing political climate and the use of racially and religiously motivated dog-whistles as the primary motivator.

Anti-Racism in Action: RVA Mag’s Photo Journal from Washington, DC

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This weekend, anti-racists, anti-fascists, student protesters, clergy, and everyday citizens proved that, when it counts, people will stand up against those who would seek to perpetuate violent and vile ideologies. That is not to say that the mainstreaming of white supremacy isn’t ongoing within the nation’s politics, but this past weekend in Charlottesville and Washington, D.C. proved the space for white nationalists, supremacists, fascists, and xenophobes to publicly gather is shrinking.

And every counter-protester who took to the streets this weekend, regardless of motivation or ideology, took part in a grand display of anti-fascism.

While that term has been politicized by those who attempt to rationalize the ideas espoused by white nationalists, for those who are seeking to challenge the worst excesses of this new complex political reality, it is the glue that ultimately binds people together. The unfortunate perception driven by mainstream media outlets, some misguided like CNN, others entirely nefarious like Fox News, is that these counter-protests and demonstrations are nothing but packs of violent anarchists, equivalent with violent white supremacists.

Let’s not forget, who actually killed someone last year? Not the disparate groups of people marching against racism and anti-Semitism. The counter-demonstrators, comprised of community organizers, young professionals, parents with their children, housing advocates, students, clergy, and faith-leaders, who, while disparate, were all committed to the idea that overt displays of racism and anti-Semitism have no place in our public squares.

RVA Mag was on the frontlines of both events, however, this photo journal is an account of the events in Washington, DC this past Sunday, when over 5,000 counter-protesters denied space for white supremacists to rally in the nation’s capital. The same white supremacists who marauded through UVA last year chanting “Jews will not replace us.”

This was a powerful message to send in 2018 when the president refused to publicly denounce the march planned by Jason Kessler, and, as of publication time, has just publicly referred to a black woman as a “dog.”

Some of the best photos from the weekend can be found below:

Landon Shroder: Managing Partner 

Counter-Protestors Gathering at Lafayette Park in the Shadow of the White House.
Counter Protestor Marching up 15th Street in Washington DC
Listening to Speeches in Lafayette Park
Two Columns of Counter-Protestors Converging on H St.
Counter-Protestors of all Kinds Linking Up in Lafayette Park
Hello! Wink, Wink
Black Lives Matter March to Lafayette Square

Branden Wilson: Staff Photographer 

Something for Everyone Fighting Racism
In Position, Adjacent to the White House
One of the Original Nazi Fighters
Everyday People Joining in the Counter-Protest
Marching up 15st Street with a Picture fo Heather Heyer
Veterans Protesting White Supremacy in Lafayette Park

Ku Klux Klan Recruitment Flyers Found on Cars in Staunton, Virginia

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According to the police in Staunton, the Ku Klux Klan (KKK) distributed recruitment flyers on residents’ cars yesterday. Local resident Lydia Roberts posted the flyer left on her car to Facebook. The flyer was headed with “Black Lives Matter” followed by the text, “are killing white people and police officers in the name of justice for the killing of negro’s by policemen in the line of duty.” The flyer goes on to say “Join the Ku Klux Klan” and lists a bunch of reasons to do so, including, “We are the invisible empire, have been for 150 years. ” Her post, now shared over 274 times, highlights the deep concerns people in the community have over the public display of recruitment by the hate group in her town.

Roberts spoke with RVA Mag about finding the flyer on her car. “I was walking up the hill and noticed these flyers on every single one of them [cars] I was walking past.” According to Roberts, the flyers were folded in a way that showed the Black Lives Matter header, “was facing up. That is what you could read when you were walking past… they were folded like that on purpose so that people would read that first.” She estimated that at least 50 flyers were left on the cars where hers was parked.

Police in Staunton told the News Leader that the flyers were objectionable, but “would be treated as any other handbill.” According to the police spokesperson, this is a Class 4 misdemeanor. RVA Mag called the hotline number listed on the flyer and was directed to a voice message that stated, “We all hear the fairy tale of six-million Jews died by the hands of Nazis during World War 2, but what they do not tell you is why. Under Lenin’s orders killed 68 million white Christians during the Russian Revolution… the Jewish hatred for white Christians turned the streets of Europe blood red.” The message concluded with, “Save our land, join the Klan… If you are white and proud, join the crowd,” and directed listeners to go to a website that is currently not listed. This sort of Holocaust denial and anti-Semitism has been one of the foundations for the kinds of white identity politics that are endemic throughout hate groups such as the Ku Klux Klan, as well as more contemporary white nationalist, supremacist, and alt-right groups.

The KKK marched in Charlottesville this past summer over the planned removal of a statue glorifying Confederate General Robert E. Lee. This was followed by a storm of white nationalist activity throughout the Commonwealth, culminating in the terrorist attack at the Unite the Right rally on August 12 in Charlottesville. While the KKK’s numbers have dwindled in recent years, providing space for more modern hate groups, they are the oldest active terrorist group in the US, making their re-emergence into public life a very real threat.

“I work and am very active in my community and love this place, and this is scary. People don’t realize that this is still happening. That is the reason I posted it to Facebook,” said Roberts. She finished with, “Active racism still happens every day.”