America’s white supremacists ban swastika in bold attempt to ‘go mainstream’

THE face of White Power in America has a plan to push his views further into the subconscious. His first step was a big one.

Jeff Schoep wants to take his organisation mainstream, buoyed by a Donald Trump victory. Picture: David S. Holloway/Reportage by Getty Images

THEY burn crosses, worship the swastika and associate with figures in white hoods, but don’t tell America’s predominant neo-Nazi party it’s racist.

“We are not racist, and I do not like that term,” Jeff Schoep tells news.com.au.

The commander of the National Socialist Movement — described as the party “for every patriotic white American” — has a brand new reason to protest the point.

His party is about to do something it has never done. It is making a run at the mainstream, and it is even banning the swastika. Gone. Banished from uniforms that haven’t changed since the 1960s, well before the commander joined the ranks as a 19-year-old.

In a statement on the NSM website earlier this month, Mr Schoep called it a “slight re-branding”.

“Your party platform remains the same, your party remains unchanged, it is a cosmetic overhaul only,” he wrote.

But let’s be clear, it is so much more than a rebranding. Towards the end of his announcement, Mr Schoep made one last ominous statement.

“Our time to rise is now.”

Mr Schoep knows the world is changing. He watched as Brexit revealed a seething underbelly of resentment towards outsiders. As Donald Trump swept to the most powerful position in the free world on a platform littered with policies spruiked by the NSM and the KKK.

Even in Australia, there’s change. Pauline Hanson’s One Nation gathered up Senate seats in August despite a significant percentage of Australians bemoaning her position on foreigners.

But nobody wants a neo-Nazi in the halls of parliament. That’s a step too far, according to Mr Schoep. The Odal rune, a less-well-known Nazi Germany symbol, will take the place of the swastika on all official uniforms and banners.

Mr Schoep says it’s a gentler approach to preaching the same messages.

“It is something that we have been thinking over for a number of years. To some this may seem a major change, as we have fought long and hard under the swastika for decades. This change is not up for debate, nor was it done on a whim.

“The party leadership has every intention to bring the party, our leaders, our members and supporters into the halls of government here in the United States, and to do that we must reach more of the public.”

That’s right. Into the halls of government. Mr Schoep says the NSM has fallen behind its European counterparts including the Golden Dawn, Greece’s nationalist far-right political party.

“We are currently considered by friend and foe to be the largest white nationalist organisation in the USA,” he told news.com.au.

NSM Commander Jeff Schoep says his party is not racist. Picture: Al Henkel/NBC/NBCU/Getty Images

“We intend to take our party into the halls of government, and our past symbolism has held us back. Too many people get a negative image in their minds due to the brainwashing against the swastika historically, and (we have heard) literally thousands of people tell us the only thing that has held them back from joining our ranks is the symbolism.

“Our political platform can save our nation, and almost anyone who reads it agrees with most of our political points, so we are entering a new era now in American national socialism, and we expect it will bring us where we need to be, especially now with nationalism on the rise worldwide.

“Yes, we are going more mainstream. It’s not that we are against the swastika, it is public perception, and the public’s lack of understanding, so we are not allowing ourselves to be held back from actual political power, due to symbolism alone.”

Donald Trump’s victory is certain to help. The NSM never publicly supported the Republican candidate, but Mr Schoep admits internally the President-elect had the group’s backing.

“We did not openly endorse Donald Trump, but I think it is safe to say now that a large portion of our membership did vote for him.

“Many of his campaign promises are/were in line with our stances, such as America First, building a wall to stem the tide of illegal immigration, American jobs and fixing our economy.”

He said Mr Trump was not the “perfect candidate” but Hillary Clinton “was unacceptable” and “not fit to lead in our opinion”.

NSM leader Jeff Schoep, centre, is a Trump supporter. Picture: Alamy

Mr Schoep does not believe Mr Trump is racist. He doesn’t believe any member of his organisation is racist, despite links to the KKK.

“We are not racist, and I do not like that term. There is nothing in our Party Platform based on hate, racial hatred, or anything of that sort. Our goal is preserving white heritage, and speaking on behalf of white interests, which to the forces of intolerance, the communists, antifa, anarchists, and assorted ilk they label us racists, but it is them who are the truly intolerant ones.

“They always attempt to silence us, but fail miserably every time. Thankfully we still have freedom of speech here.”

At a cross-burning ceremony attended by various Klan organisations in April, Mr Schoep announced he was “making history”. Never before had various White Power groups come together with shared goals.

He told the newly-formed Aryan Nationalist Alliance: “We are putting together all the white organisations ... there is no more time for division, whether it’s over religion, whether it’s over uniforms, whether it’s over symbols.”

The mainstreaming of previously-far-right ideas was summarised by Mark Potok from the Southern Poverty Law Centre. He told Vox that Mr Trump has played a role.

“Just a year or two ago, a lot of the things that Trump says — the idea, for instance, of banning Muslims from this country — were considered really beyond the pale of political life in the United States.

“Now, those kinds of ideas are, in effect, normalised.”

And that’s a scary thought.

Jeff Schoep told news.com.au there’s never been a better time to be a nationalist. Picture: Jeff Schoep

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Twitter: @ro_smith