BY ROSE ADAMS
Community advocates held
an anti-hate forum at a southern
Brooklyn church on Feb. 6,
hours after a pastor discovered
stickers baring the name of
white-nationalist group stuck
to the house of worship.
The pastor of Fourth Avenue
Presbyterian Church between
Senator and 68th streets
said he discovered more than 20
stickers advertising the whitepower
group plastered across
the church’s gate, a nearby
bench, and around the street on
the morning of Feb. 6.
“Though there was an attempt
made to intimidate us,
we know we’re not alone in our
beliefs,” said Pastor David Aja-
Sigmon, who said he believed
the groups members targeted
the church after hearing about
the forum. “One of our guiding
principles as a church is
the scriptural charge ‘to be a
house of prayer for all nations’
(Isaiah 56.7), so of course we
would feel called to host a community
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forum on countering
hate.”
The Texas-based nationalist
group fi rst reared its ugly head
in Brooklyn in early January,
when members posted recruitment
fl yers across Bay Ridge
and hung a banner that read,
“Protect American labor” on
the Belt Parkway’s 80th Street
pedestrian overpass. Residents
responded by holding a 300-
person rally on Jan. 6, where
they denounced the group and
expressed support for the borough’s
immigrant communities.
After the rally, the white nationalist
group laid low until
Feb. 7, the day of the community
forum.
“I do know that these groups
operate in waves,” said Mallory
McMahon, the co-founder of
Fight Back Bay Ridge, a progressive
group that organized
the rally and the anti-hate forum.
“They really care about
preserving their anonymity.”
McMahon added that stickers
were most likely posted by
local members of the nationalist
group rather than recruiters,
since the perpetrators
knew about the church’s event.
“The fact that they knew
to target the church before
the event indicates that they
might be local,” she said. “It
seems like they got wind of
our event and wanted to intimidate
people.”
Despite the threatening
posters, more than 100 people
attended the anti-hate forum on
Thursday night, where the executive
director of an anti-fascist
group called One People’s
Project spoke about ways of
combatting racist hatred.
“You cannot ignore this or
expect somebody else to fi ght
this for you,” said Daryle Lamont
Jenkins. “It’s not always
going to be a physical manifestation
of violence, but we still
have to get involved. We see it
on Facebook and Twitter. We
have to call it out.”
Jenkins and other local leaders
advised attendees to monitor
their children’s online presence
and to publicly denounce
signs for the hate group whenever
they appear.
“If you see something, you
have to say something,” McMahon
said.
The police department is
aware of the group’s recruitment
signage and is investigating
the matter, according to
spokeswoman Det. Sophia Mason.
A white nationalist group posted
promotional stickers on a Brooklyn
church. Photo by Mallory McMahon
Locals gathered at the Fourth Avenue Presbyterian Church on Feb. 6,
where activists discussed how to respond to white nationalists’ recruiting
efforts. Mallory McMahon
Sticky situation
Activists hold anti-hate forum after white nationalists
vandalize southern Brooklyn church with stickers
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