Anti-Racist Action
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The Anti-Racist Action Network (ARA) is a decentralized network of anti-fascist and anti-racists in North America. ARA activists organize actions to disrupt neo-Nazi and white supremacist groups, and help organize activities against fascist and racist ideologies. ARA groups also oppose sexism, homophobia, heterosexism, anti-Semitism, and the pro-life movement. ARA originated from the skinhead and punk subcultures.
History
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Anti-Racist Action was founded in Minneapolis, Minnesota in the late 1980s by members of the anti-fascist skinhead group Minneapolis Baldies and other activists.[1] ARA then expanded to several communities in the United States and Canada. Members of Love and Rage, a revolutionary anarchist organization, played a major role in building ARA groups and the ARA Network in the 1990s,[citation needed] and the group's structure was formalized in 1994 at the first Midwest Anti-Fascist Network conference, in Columbus, Ohio. [2]
On July 4, 1998, Daniel Shersty and Lin Newborn, members of Las Vegas ARA, were murdered execution-style by neo-Nazis in the desert outside the city.[3] Shot at close range with a shotgun, their bodies were found in an area known to be used by white supremacists for target practice.[4]
On August 24, 2002, a large neo-Nazi demonstration was planned in Washington, D.C., and some neo-Nazis were planning to take a bus from the Baltimore Travel Plaza to Washington. Several ARA affiliates demonstrated against the neo-Nazis, and in the melee that resulted, 28 of the ARA activists were arrested. Within about 36 hours, most had been released from jail. Many claimed that they were not properly informed about any crime they had allegedly committed until their release, if informed at all. The group became known as the Baltimore 28, Parking Lot 28, Baltimore Anti-Racist 28 or the Anti Racist 28. Charges against 26 of the 28 activists included: inciting a riot, malicious destruction of property, aggravated assault, and disorderly conduct. The charges were eventually dropped. One of the 28 was not charged with any crimes due to her status as a minor.
On October 15, 2005, ARA members participated in a protest in Toledo, Ohio against the National Socialist Movement, in an incident that became known as the 2005 Toledo Riot.[citation needed]
Notable members
See also
Footnotes
- ^ Skinheads at Forty - City Pages (Minneapolis/St. Paul)
- ^ http://antiracistaction.org/index.php?page=history
- ^ http://www.splcenter.org/intel/intelreport/article.jsp?aid=246 Racist Skinheads - Nazi Skinhead gets death in murder of antiracists]
- ^ Schoenmann, Joe. "Anti-racist Skinheads Killed". Retrieved 2007-03-02.