The blog of Michigan State University’s (MSU) chapter of Young Americans for Freedom (YAF)–a group known for bringing racist speakers to MSU–is shutting down according to a recent post.
The blog post says that the blog will be taken offline in the next few days:
The sites that readers are referred to are indicative of why YAF has been dubbed a “hate group.” This includes the Council of Conservative Citizens, a racist group that is active in Michigan, the British National Party (BNP), a British fascist group, the American Renaissance (a racist publication), and the John Birch Society, a longstanding far right group in the US. He also suggests people visit lesser known rightwing publications such as Chronicles Magazine, Taki’s Magazine, and Tradition, Family, and Property. Bristow also links to Pat Buchanan, a prominent rightwing politician who has turned towards white nationalism in recent years, as well as a blogger who goes by Paul J. Borowicz and claims to be from Michigan. Borowicz has described a Michigan Ku Klux Klan member’s protesting Obama’s election as “courageous.”
The YAF blog also recently began using a symbol–an odal rune–in its masthead that is often used by the racist right:
The Anti-Defamation League’s database of racist symbols includes a symbol very similar to the YAF blog header:
“Nazi Germany glorified an idealized “Aryan/Norse” heritage, consequently extremists have appropriated many symbols from pre-Christian Europe for their own uses. They give such symbols a racist significance, even though the symbols did not originally have such meaning and are often used by nonracists today, especially practitioners of modern pagan religions”
In response to an article about this by YAF Watch, YAF member Kyle Bristow claimed that the ribbon was in reality a “Support the Troops” ribbon. YAF Watch has noted that “Support the Troops” ribbons are typical rounded on the top. Moreover, the Youth branch of the British National Party used the symbol for a while. Bristow is presumably sympathetic to the BNP’s views, as he links to them and brought BNP leader Nick Griffin to MSU to speak.
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