Another white supremacist rally has been canceled in the wake of the backlash that followed the Charlottesville, Virginia protest. However, this one has a unique twist.
In recent weeks, Nazi and white supremacists have claimed that they would be hosting additional events in opposition to monuments to Confederate generals being taken down across the United States. One was to be held in Eau Claire, Wisconsin, according to WQOW, but it has now been canceled. It is not the first, a book-burning of "degenerate literature" was canceled after backlash last week.
The group initially claimed the event was part of the National Socialist Movement and would be a barbecue meet and greet. They planned to gather at a local park Sept. 16, but the event has been canceled until further notice.
After announcing the event, a petition was posted trying to prevent the group from gathering. So far, over 1,200 people have signed it and a copy was sent to members of the city council.
"We're just regular people, too. We're not a threat, we're not going to hurt them," petition organizer Ebony Cooper told WQOW. "I'm hoping to kind of raise awareness for it and get people to come closer because that was the goal for my project, is to get people to see that we're all just people, and we need to be together as a country instead of everybody dividing based on what color they are."
She and her mother began a new Facebook page called The Fight Against Racism Project and they hope to use it to expose the racism they see in Eau Claire.
Cory Klicko, the president of the Wisconsin chapter of the National Socialist Movement, said that the event wasn't canceled out of fear or community outreach, rather he decided to renounce the movement entirely.
"All associations and contacts are renounced and no longer in force," Klicko told WQOW in a statement. "After careful consideration and communications with positive people, I've decided to break away from anything that may be perceived as negative to myself, my family or the community."
He also said that the anti-fascist group Antifa were contacted and informed but he said that the group "continued bullying" him as well as friends and family. Klicko was then doxxed, a tactic that has been used by Trump supporters to attack the media and their families in the past.
The site that revealed Klicko's information described him as someone who "appears to not even be able to hold a job or support his own children. This Nazi cant [sic] even ‘secure a future’ for his own kids. Public court records show that he had to be sued to pay child support. By night he engages in armed robbery, obstructing an officer, bail jumping, driving while suspended, driving uninsured, and theft of movable property."
The site then listed his last known public address in Wisconsin.
"Death or violence directed towards myself and others are being noted and reported," he said in the statement. "I do not believe any person on this Earth is superior or inferior than others based on race or religion. I have cut ties with anyone who believes any differently. Racism and hate have no place in communities and we all need to move forward to better provide for our future."
However, Klicko's website for the Wisconsin chapter of the NSM described itself the "nation's largest white civil rights organization."
While Klicko cites death threats as a source of his fear, Antifa explained that they never personally threatened the man or his family. The said that the purpose of their doxxing is to inform others in their community who the white supremacists or Nazis are. They explained that Klicko is part of an organization that advocates ethnic cleansing.
"We believe people have the right to know when a person who identifies with a group responsible for the wholesale slaughter of millions of civilians lives in their city," the group said in a statement.
Attendees of the Charlottesville rally have been identified using photos on social media. Some have lost their jobs or been kicked off of social media, while others then had warrants issued for their arrest and ended up sobbing on videos.
