Aryan Nation poised to invade Oregon

Beautiful John Day, Oregon

Yesterday, a coworker who has family in Grant County informed me of the news that leaders of the Aryan Nations, based in Idaho, are interested in purchasing property in John Day, Oregon, so that they might establish a new headquarters.  A headquarters from which, they informed Scotta Callister of the Blue Mountain Eagle, Grant County's local newspaper, they hope to create a nation-state in the Pacific Northwest for the "Aryan race."

Apparently, the "national director" of the Aryan Nations movement, Paul R. Mullet, and several cohorts, came to John Day on Wednesday, appareled in full Nazi regalia, and checked into a local motel.  They proudly displayed their Nazi flags from their room, causing people in two other rooms to check-out early.

Is this our new neighbor?

Mayor Bob Quinton had this to say about a potential Nazi headquarters in downtown John Day, "That's the last kind of thing our reputation needs.  We need to be inclusive and emphasize positive things here."

I lived in Eastern Oregon for nearly half my life, and I can tell you, there are definitely racist sentiments over there.  When you live amongst rednecks, you will inevitably hear ugly racist remarks and bear witness to racist incidents.  Ask anyone who has lived east of the Cascades for any length of time.

But it is hard for me to believe that the people of Eastern Oregon will give much of a welcome to overt and organized racism.  The same people who might make tasteless and offensive racist jokes in the privacy of their own homes will recoil in fear and horror when faced with the truth of the Aryan Nations creed.  The people in Eastern Oregon are not bad people. They're not Nazis.

Folks, I'm a lifelong Oregonian, and I'm damned proud of it.  And I'll be god-damned if I'm going to let my home become a hotbed of the most virulent and poisonous of human attitudes.  It remains to be seen what can be done, but acquiescence is certainly not an option.