Edhat Staff
A white supremacist group displayed an anti-semitic banner on a Highway 101 overpass in Santa Barbara on Saturday.
A small group of at least six white males dressed in black clothes, black hats, and red scarves covering their faces stood atop the pedestrian overpass near the 400 block of W. Anapamu Street before noon.
The group held a sign that read “Aryan Youth Against Foreign Invaders” with witnesses reportedly seeing swastikas and the men performing Nazi salutes.
Edhat readers also reported seeing officers from the Santa Barbara Police Department arrive on the scene but the group had already fled the area.
According to a post on Reddit, one of the vehicles the men arrived in, a blue Nissan pickup truck, had an Iowa license plate. A bystander reportedly smashed in the windshield of the truck.
A website on the banner linked the group to the “Clockwork Crew,” a fitness focused neo-Nazi group based in Southern California. The group, formerly the Crew 562 Active Club, formed in 2022 and organizes small, localized events and has also participated in events organized by White Lives Matter and the Goyim Defense League, according to the Anti-Defamation League.
Last year it was revealed that several current and former members of the United States military are members of this white supremacist group. The Guardian reported the group was founded in Long Beach and has members throughout Southern California, including one who lives in Oxnard.
“Researchers say Clockwork Crew stands out because of its members’ willingness to engage in public confrontations and the key roles played by active-duty and veterans of the armed forces,” the Guardian reports.
Don’t let these hate mongers make you fearful that our FREE Democratic country is teetering on the brink of fascism. They are cowards running and hiding. There are far more brave honorable ordinary citizens who value what our country was founded on …. and would be willing to fight to keep it that way ! 🇺🇸
Scum
They’re lucky no one did more than smash a windshield. Groups like this need to be pushed back into the shadows.
Curious…. who disagrees with the statement that these groups should be back in the shadows?
Come on, who?
Photo of windshield
https://www.reddit.com/r/SantaBarbara/comments/1c9rtlu/hate_not_welcome_in_our_town/
“Fitness focused neo nazi group”
smdh
Funny how all these uneducated morons hide their faces and run when confronted by authorities.
Yeah, NOW they wear masks. 😉
No mention of the anti-semitism going on in the current demonstrations on our college campuses?
RUBAIYAT – because the pro-Palestinian protests (with some racist and antisemitic outsiders stirring things up) are not the subject of this article.
But anti-semitism is the subject of this article.
No, the banner on the bridge flown by an Aryan group that hates ALL non whites is the subject here. Their banner wasn’t just against Jews, it stands for their hate against all.
I bet you could submit an op-ed about the college protests where people are being arrested for peacefully protesting against what Israel is doing, in addition to outside, racist agitators threatening Jewish students. Then, we could all talk about that if you want.
The article states these white men were giving Nazi salutes, you can see it in the linked reddit photo too, and the ADL classify’s this group as Neo-Nazi. Couple those facts with “aryan” in their sign, seems pretty anti-semitic to me but this is a silly thing to argue about rubaiyat.
I’m Jewish, and protesting genocide is not antisemitic.
DALGORF – agreed. I have yet to see any specific acts of antisemitism on the part of the actual student protesters. They oppose funding and arming Israel as it kills tens of thousands of innocent children. The protests shown in the media are pretty much all completely peaceful. Granted, there are confirmed outside agitators (likely groups like on the bridge) that are calling for much worse and I can understand the fear of some Jewish students. Overall though, I’ve yet to see the antisemitic “hate and violence” Fox News is trying to scare people about with these protests.
Calling for divestment, cease fires, freedom for Palestine, etc is not antisemitic on its own and the constant labeling it as such is leading to this rapid anti-protester hate we’re seeing in the media.
This is so disheartening.
Look at people’s character, not color.
Right wing bigots, people who rail against “woke” and “CRT”, have no business coopting the words of MLK Jr., who spoke of his dream that one day his four children would live in a nation that is free of such bigots so that *then* they would be judged by their character and not the color of their skin. The people who put up the banner are your brothers in arms; they too rail against “woke” and “CRT”, claim that liberals can’t define “woman”, and support the orange dictator wannabe … the guy who emboldened these proud boys in masks.
Dirty fascists, throw them in a hole and toss the key.
There’s little that they don’t agree with you about. The following could have been written by any of them:
”
It would be great to be able to get an education in STEM without being taught about extra pronouns, how privileged / not privileged we all are based on our skin color, or other useless and controversial ideologies decided by democrats in Sacramento. The same ideologies are intended to divide and destroy us the way they are forced ok children through the public education system in California + others.
Go ahead, call me a bigot, just my 2 cents that those ideologies do not belong in school where we traditionally should learn reading, writing, math, history and science, not “how to be woke 101”
“
going to play devils advocate here. So they aren’t allowed the same principals we enjoy? Sadly, they do. They have their right to freedom of speech and freedom of expression. regardless of how you or I feel about their message and it’s nastiness, they are allowed to do this. It’s their opinion. There is no law preventing this either. You can’t call it a hate crime, because it’s not a crime.
They didn’t even vandalize something. They held up a rude banner.
The only offense i’ve seen reported here is someone smashing in their windshield, which is dumb and will cost that “bystander”.
What they did, they should not have done. It’s not right, not nice, not caring about others ‘feelings’. Is it illegal? Nope and it’s protected speech. We can’t cherry pick…it’s all or nothing, and I like having my freedom of speech and expression.
No one is saying it’s illegal, we’re saying it’s disgusting and has no place in our community. Which is clear because they aren’t from here. But when it comes to white supremacists, why do you feel the need to play “devil’s advocate?”
KNein – I’m going to guess the “bystander” smashed the windshield believing the car was being driven at them in an attempt to strike them and this was a defensive move. Strange what some people will do when in danger, would you agree?
They did have their say. The conversation in this thread is one of the consequences.
I’ve been chuckling at your screen name; it’s ironic in this thread.
Anonymous – Oh, my. Whatever are you implying?
Would you like to justify killing puppies and throwing them in a gravel pit while you’re at it?
There is a difference in being able to express oneself and in causing public disturbance. Hanging a banner in the public right of way transcends the protections of free speech, whether it is a hateful banner or an advertisement for a yard sale. The same goes for pro Palestine, pro Israel, pro Ukraine, pro Russia, MAGA, ANTIFA, or anyone else. Anything not attached to you or your property is obstructive. Blocking the Bay Bridge is obstructive. Gluing yourself to the freeway (public right of way) to protest oil is obstructive. It makes no difference that they feel that they are expressing their rights.
They are free to walk around saying stupid hateful things if they want to. But to hang that banner and obstruct a foot bridge in a community they are not from, without permission from the local government to do so, is not protected by free speech.
Yeah, being a fascist and being against fascism are the same thing, amirite?