I was very glad to see some discussion of NCOR in the last issue of the Eagle and to see that I was not alone in being disgusted and angered at what went on at our school last weekend. However, my disgust goes a little deeper than many who just had to walk through an alien MGC, taken over by the professionally homeless, made into the center for 9/11 conspiracies, anti-tampon booths, and other absurd fringe causes. I was mobbed and nearly jumped by roughly 25 of these "activists" for only daring to walk through Mary Graydon Center wearing an American flag.
I knew about the conference and thought it would be interesting to see the booths and get an idea of the issues that would be raised by the conference. Big mistake. I wore a jacket with an American flag on it and combat boots (as I frequently do). Big mistake. I brought along two friends, one of whom had a shaved head and also wore an American flag. Too much to handle for the crusaders that were welcomed onto our campus last weekend. After walking around and viewing the booths for a few minutes and purchasing a clever sticker, we were stopped by three of the booth operators who demanded that we leave because we were "racist Nazis." They explained that we were skinhead nazis and they ordered us to leave. This was particularly interesting to us since we were wearing American flags, our grandfathers both fought in WW II, and the third friend in our group was a Jewish girl.
ÿAs we tried to explain that we weren't Nazis, offering up futile defenses, they grew more agitated and loud and a crowd began to form. 3 minutes later, we were surrounded, on all sides, by furious looking activists. One of them put a black bandana around his face and a hood on his head. We tried to walk away and someone shouted "Don't let them into the hall!" and our path was barred. We told them that we were AU students at that we would call public safety and they said they didn't care. I told them that if they touched us they would jeopardize NCOR itself. At this point, one of the first 3 that had accosted us said, "There are a number of animal testing facilities at AU that up till now haven't been demonstrated against, and if anything happens to NCOR, then all deals are off." Whatever that means.
ÿTheir mob was growing larger and no matter how many times we explained that we weren't Nazis, no one seemed to care what the original justification was in the first place. There was an obvious mob mentality. We pushed through and as we walked towards the other side of the building to the main entrance, someone shouted to the rest of the building "These two are racist skinhead Nazis! Don't let them in the building!"
ÿIt was time to leave. We got out and watched our backs as we left. Luckily we caused enough doubt as to our status as "Fascist Nazis" that we weren't followed and attacked. They had no reason to think we were racists because of the way we dressed or cut our hair, and even if we were racists, mobbing someone and trying to intimidate them into leaving is no way to change someone's mind!
ÿBottom line: it is insane and offensive that we are inviting some of the most dangerous fringe elements of this country to stay at our school and 'organize.' Please do not bring them back next year - they are going to hurt someone. It is not fair that I pay tuition, I'm a Junior, and I walk into MGC and get mobbed , screamed at, and called a Nazi for no reason by people who are supposed to be guests at our school.
Charles Olson is a junior in the School of Public Affairs
