From Further Up the Organization by Robert Townsend
Conviction vs. Ego
"Things get done in our society because of a man or woman with convictions...
"At the other extreme the economy is crowded with giant institutions, scientific, religious, educational, or artistic, that are not centers of conviction but monuments to an ego...
"Lots of money goes into them. Lots of good people work there. No results.
"Before you commit yourself to a new effort, it's worth asking yourself;
are we really trying to do something worthwhile here? Or
are we just building another monument to some diseased ego?"
My 1958 Chevy ran dependably well and we arrived at Marquette Park where the march was to begin. Some people came over and invited us to join Rockwell in a small store front he had rented. We agreed, since it was by his invitaion. I had briefly stayed at Rockwell's home earlier in the year, but that's another story.
The room contained about 20 people all busily engaged in screen printing "White Power" T-shirts and posters. We helped for a while and were paid off in merchandise. At this time, Rockwell announced that he was off to the park and that we should join him in about 15 minutes. I stuffed the posters and T-shirts into the trunk of my car and walked two blocks to the crowd which was plainly visible at the edge of the park. We arrived only to find that Rockwell had been handcuffed and loaded into a paddy wagon. These 4 frames are of that moment and reporters can be seen talking to Rockwell who was behind the wire mesh. Although several hundreds of White people rallied at the park, the local news media announced that "a few of the curious showed up."
Once we entered the Black area, the landscape took on an entirely different hue which clearly demonstrated that Negroes and White people simply do not have the same values when it comes to the visual appearance of their neighborhoods. Gone were the flower trims. Gone were the carpet-like lawns. Nowhere in sight was a freshly painted house. We saw litter and garbage all over. (Perhaps those terrible honkies dumped the stuff off in the dark of the night so that the down-trodden could belly-ache about their filthy living conditions.) Broken windows and doors separated from their hinges were not an uncommon sight.
Blonk! At the sound, I quickly turned to observe one police officer delivering a second blow to the head of a negro who had assaulted him with a broken bottle. Blonk! It was the first time I had ever heard the sound of a skull being thumped upon. I also learned from observation, that the typical negro skull can take a tremendous blow without the slightest hint of fracture.
With the negro safely stowed away in a waiting patrol car, the next
skirmish involved a barrage of potatoes hurled at the police and the marchers.
The potatoes had been previously laced with double-edged razor blades and
nails. I could not determine if anyone was cut by those missiles, or not.
A few fires were started and handfuls of burning trash could be seen flying
though the air.
It was a rather dull event and the hot walk back to Marquette Park
seemed shorter than it actually was. Some people who had recognized us
at the silk screening effort came over and mentioned that Rockwell would
be released in time for his 7 PM speech which was to be delivered downtown
in a rented theater, as I recall. The name "coliseum" comes to mind.
Clyde and I were approached by 3 young men dressed in Nazi regalia. We could all use my car and have a restaurant dinner somewhere. I had lived in Chicago about a decade previously and was somewhat familiar with the ethnic and racial neighborhoods. However, my suggestions were drowned out by one of the "soldiers." What has always perplexed me, is that each and every so-called anti-Semite organization and racist bunch -- those who view Jews as the be-all and end-all of our racial problems -- seem to be totally blind as to the identification of their enemies. And so it was that we ended up in Moe's Delicatessen. I quietly smiled to myself as I ordered the corned beef.
There was some time remaining, and we were asked to sell those posters
and shirts which were brought along. Again, to add humor to the whole event,
only Black people were interested in buying the wares. A photo of a mounted
poster here appears and I somehow failed to take a snapshot of those negro
kids happily bouncing about in their newly acquired White Power T-shirts.
Since the TV stations had continually repeated that Rockwell's speech
was called off, it was surprising that so many people actually showed up.
He, as always, delivered an arousing call for White Power and unity --
something which has not been heeded even to this day. As a decorated U.S.
Naval officer, little did anyone realize that one year from that date,
his charisma would be ended by an assassination's bullet in front of a
laundromat.
What I find very odd about all racist groups, is that they invariably let into their organizations -- as did Rockwell, Matthews, Pierce, Metzger, Zündel, etc. -- people who are obviously not White, only to end up betrayed, or killed, by those very same people. It is as if they all had some innate desire to pursue failure. Then again, there seems to be some suicidal death-wish which has embedded itself into the psyche of White people as a whole. They no longer appear to be interested in dealing with reality and that is perhaps an explanation to their addiction to TV and computer screens.