Please skip this story if you don’t want to read about racism.
This weekend’s Nazi demonstrations in Charlottesville, Virginia, are an ugly reminder of our current situation. Since Friday night, the Unite The Right rally has brought together various factions representing white supremacy, white nationalism, fascism, and Nazis to the University of Virginia for marches and violence. It’s a sobering reality, and it takes on a pall of surreality when you notice all the Detroit Red Wings logos among the crowd.
A group of white nationalists called the Detroit Right Wings have appropriated the team’s winged wheel logo, sticking it on the shields they carry.
I look away for 12 hours and the Detroit Red Wings have become a symbol for neo-Nazi dickheads? pic.twitter.com/s7aBiyYkmA
— Andrew Kirell (@AndrewKirell) August 12, 2017
The Detroit Right Wings (motto: Rust Reforged!) are a Michigan-based group of Identitarians, an anti-immigrant vein of white nationalism that counts Richard Spencer among its proponents.
The video above was created to raise money for the group’s road trip to this weekend’s rally. They raised $328 towards their $2,500 goal. There were four donations in total.
The hate group is not affiliated with the hockey team, nor should they represent the team’s fan community any more than the most vile and pathetic members of any community should represent its whole.
The only purpose they have is as a reminder that hate is always with us – sometimes latent, sometimes not – and it must always be opposed with solidarity and inclusion. The struggle for equality did not end with abolition or integration or the VRA or the ACA or Obergefell v. Hodges. The struggle does not end. Every time we climb a hill, we will find another hill, so we’ll climb that one too. Together. 🌹
Update: 11:50 AM. The team offers this statement.
— Detroit Red Wings (@DetroitRedWings) August 12, 2017
Update: 4:25 PM. The league shares this statement.
NHL STATEMENT REGARDING USE OF RED WINGS LOGO
NEW YORK (August 12, 2017) — The National Hockey League today released the following statement regarding use of the Detroit Red Wings logo:
“We are obviously outraged by the irresponsible and improper use of our intellectual property as seen this weekend in Charlottesville, Va. This specific use is directly contrary to the value of inclusiveness that our League prioritizes and champions. We will take immediate and all necessary steps to insure the use is discontinued as promptly as possible, and will vigorously pursue other remedies, as appropriate.”
Headline photo: ACLU of Virginia
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