At Conference, White Nationalists Rail Against Jews, Throw Nazi Salutes
Image by Getty Images
By Josh Nathan-Kazis November 21, 2016
White nationalists threw Nazi salutes at a Washington, D.C. conference over the weekend, as energy surges on the so-called “alt-right” following Donald Trump’s victory.
At the national conference of the white nationalist National Policy Institute, the group’s president, Richard Spencer, inveighed against Jews, according to a New York Times report, claiming that the media had attacked Trump in order to defend Jewish interests.
“One wonders if these people are people at all, or instead soulless golem,” he said, using a term describing a monster from Jewish folklore, according to the Times.
In his remarks, Spencer, who coined the term “alt-right” to describe the younger, web-focused wave of white nationalists, said that the Trump victory had been a signal moment for his movement. “An awakening among everyone has occurred with this Trump election,” he said, according to the Washington Post. “We’re not quite the establishment now, but I think we should start acting like it.”
The Times reported that “several audience members” gave Spencer the Nazi salute as he finished his talk.
“The alt-right is here, the alt-right is not going anywhere, the alt-right is going to change the world,” Spencer said, according to NPR.
Speakers at the conference included Kevin MacDonald, who the Southern Poverty Law Center called “the neo-Nazis movement’s favorite academic.”
Protesters massed outside the conference.
Contact Josh Nathan-Kazis at nathankazis@forward.com or follow him on Twitter, @joshnathankazis.
A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.
We’ve set a goal to raise $260,000 by December 31. That’s an ambitious goal, but one that will give us the resources we need to invest in the high quality news, opinion, analysis and cultural coverage that isn’t available anywhere else.
If you feel inspired to make an impact, now is the time to give something back. Join us as a member at your most generous level.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
