Fascist hate group begins recruiting on campus

By: Kevin Waltz

Editor-In-Chief

The stickers were discovered on Saturday, Sept. 28.

“What brought it to our attention was when one of the local colleges, Siena college, called us and said that they had gotten a bunch of these stickers on campus,” said Fred Aliberti, Director of Public Safety.

After being notified about findings on other campuses, Public Safety officers discovered five stickers on campus. 

The following Wednesday morning, Public Safety informed the collegiate body of the sticker findings via email.

“College Public Safety officers have removed several stickers from campus signage and bulletin boards that promote Patriot Front,” the email stated. “Hudson Valley is not the only local college to find the organization’s promotional stickers on its campus. At least two other colleges have alerted us to incidents on their campuses.”

The two stickers posted on Hudson Valley Community College said, “United we Stand” and “Revolution is our Tradition.” 

“The stickers themselves were not offensive,” said Aliberti.

Other stickers found on nearby campuses said things such as “America First” and “Better Dead than Red”.

“Our Public Safety staff is working collaboratively with those institutions and is sharing video camera footage with the State police who are leading the investigation in our region,” said Aliberti. “There is no evidence that these incidents involve anyone from our campus community.”

According to police, two suspects, men in their early 20’s, were seen on video entering campuses around the time that the stickers appeared to have been posted.

Many questions remain about the incident. First of all, what is Patriot Front?

According to the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), Patriot Front is a white nationalist hate group that formed in the aftermath of the deadly Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Va. on Aug. 12, 2017.

The SPLC described Patriot Front’s agenda as explicitly fascist. 

Patriot Front’s manifesto calls for the end of democracy. 

“The time of the Republic has passed in America as the system grows too weak to perform its duty,” the manifesto claims. 

It continued, “The damage done to this nation and its people will not be fixed if every issue requires the approval and blessing from the dysfunctional American democratic system. Democracy has failed in this once great nation.”

The manifesto promotes ideas that some may deem to be racist and anti-semitic. The manifesto also maintains that in order to be an American, you must be of European ancestry.

“An African, for example, may have lived, worked and even been classed as a citizen in America for centuries, yet he is not American,” said the manifesto. “He is, as he likely prefers to be labelled, an African in America.”

According to the SPLC, the amount of white nationalist groups increased from 100 to 148 from 2017 to 2018, making an increase of almost 50%.

Student Senate President Zion Sherin said he has not heard of Patriot Front prior to hearing of the event on campus.

“I definitely feel that our community as a whole is fairly accepting and fairly diverse. Our values definitely don’t align with any of those organizations,” Sherin said. “It’s confusing to me why organizations would try to recruit from our college.”

Many on campus have their own ideas as to why Patriot Front would want to recruit students.

“Maybe they’re thinking these are just American students just trying to get their education,” said Amber, a fine arts major. “Maybe if it’s a community college they don’t think they are from out of state or from out of the country.”

“College students are here to learn and broaden their horizons,” said Aliberti. “Maybe they think they see some of this information and might look into it further.”

Sherin sees why they might want to target young people.

“College students are the future of tomorrow. A lot of our students here will be leaders in different industries and will have a lot of importance on where our country goes,” said Sherin. “When you recruit the future leaders of tomorrow, you’ll have a lot more weight with where laws and policies go.”

Sociology Professor Paul Calarco sees a similarity in tactics with other political movements. According to Calarco, there are parallels to the way political organizations look for the college vote, support and visibility.

“Visibility brings viability. Especially media viability,” he added. “If there’s one of those stickers on the street, is it going to bring as much attention as if stickers are on a college campus? Heightened visibility is something that individuals and groups look for.”

According to Patriot Front’s manifesto, to be an American is to be a descendant of conquerors, pioneers, visionaries and explorers. 

“This unique identity was given to us by our ancestors, and this national spirit remains firmly rooted in our blood,” it stated.

A common slogan used by Patriot Front on their posters is “conquered not stolen”. The slogan is in reference to the settlement of the United States.

According to Sherin, the slogan raises a question. What’s the difference between conquered and stolen?

“Conquered is when you take it with force versus stolen [which] is when you try to take it without them knowing about it,” he explained. “I feel like both of them involve taking from others, so I don’t know if there is a difference.”

Many students do not welcome Patriot Front’s ideology on campus. 

Jared Fink, an adolescent education major, said he feels strongly about the situation.

“They can eat [expletive] for all I care,” he said. “I will never set a toe near white nationalists unless it’s against them.”

Fink added, “I don’t want my friends to be afraid on campus.”

“I think everyone has a right to say their thoughts, but at the end of the day they have to respect other people’s ideas and differences,” said Gabriel, an architecture major.

Perhaps the feelings of these students on campus can be best summed up by the words of Chris Plant, a fine arts major.

“Don’t be a jerk. Help people out like a true American.”