I had a run in with some nazi's/kkk this weekend. My brother-in-law and I (25,31 white catholics)live in Suburbania. We have one decent bar in the whole town that has every beer under the sun available. The place has a reputation as being a "biker bar", but up until now (3 years patronage) every person I've met there has been extremly nice.

Mind you, bars always have their occasional wasted-guy vs. even-more-wasted-guy tiffs, but this night was different. I guess the 40 something skinhead goatee sportin' guy with a shirt that read "What about all the good that Hitler did?" should have tipped us off. Another had a t-shirt that read "KKK Construction Co.".

Not long after we noticed these guys, we started looking around at the others around them. What's scary, and still the scariest part of this story, is that you just can't tell who's on who's side...

Anyhow, something was said to the Hitler guy, we're still unsure what was said, and the next thing you know he whaled the other guy (I'm guessing a non-nazi and the guy looked white from where I was at.), beer glasses fell to the ground and smashed, the girl bar tender was frozen, as was most of the bar. The nazi moved in and had the recipient in a head lock within seconds. It seemed as people were trying to break it up. Finally, the bar owner, who was also tending bar that night, had persuaded nazi guy to let the poor bastard go. The owner took the guy in the back and I'm not sure where the other bar tender got to at this point.

Pretty standard as far as bar fights go. But then it got frickin' wierd. A third dude stepped up, we'll call him the leader, and started yelling at the guy who was hanging out with the poor bastard in a tone that made me believe they knew each other. When I could finally make out what he saying it went something like this: "...he's your friend. You brought him here. This is a white bar! Can't you see that?! This is a white bar. White power man, f*ckin' white power."

The couple next to us who had just gotten there, got up an left full drinks on the bar. Seconds later, some chick, unrelated to anyone in the story, on the other side of the bar must have said something to the leader b/c it caused him to scream at her across the bar calling her a "n*gger lovin' bitch". And to top things off, he yelled "white power", and started doing that infamous nazi hand salute; His lackeys followed suit as the leader guy surveyed the bar patrons for support. Frickin' scary man. A guy, with a shaved head, on the other side of the bar, near the chick on the other end of the bitch comment, did the salute back. I think he was doing it to make fun of them, but I couldn't tell. The nazi slammed their beers and they split, saying stuff like "you saw him push me first, right?" to patron, non-combatents, on their way out.

Now, the owner wasn't around for this stuff, but like I said, you just don't know who's on who's side. I was telling my b-in-law, just prior to the whole thing, that the owner shouldv'e pulled some "proper dress required" clause on them and asked them to leave. We started arguing the point where his side was, if the owner did that he might face retaliation in the form of a pile of ciders formerly known as his bar. He thinks the owner is in with them. I'm fairly certain he's not, but you never know.

Most people stayed, and business continued as usual. Everyone was chatting within their groups about what just went down. We split, b/c honestly, we were scared. My b-in-law vows not to return. I'm at an impass on whether we should return. Was this just an isolated event? I hungout with a black dude there. Was it just a matter of good timing on his part? Is the owner in on it? Would I feel safe bringing a non-white there? These are valid concerns and would pretty much say to me stay away. But if I do, am I giving in to what the nazis want?

I've seen several shows on these types and am a historian/educator by trade. You can't possibly image the chill that runs through you when you see someone nazi salute and mean it. Like I said, Nazis suck.
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-Jim

...the sort of general malaise that only the genius possess and the insane lament.