By DAMIEN FISHER, InDepthNH.org
Neo-Nazis trying to intimidate patrons and performers at a Concord restaurant failed to stop the scheduled Drag Queen Story Hour this weekend.
A large group of young men wearing baseball caps and mostly concealing their faces descended on Teatotaller Cafe on Main Street in Concord Sunday morning as drag performer Juicy Garland was reading to children and families at the brunch spot.
“I do story hours there… The cafe (and community) there is FANTASTIC and racist outsiders came in to make it miserable,” Garland wrote on Twitter. “We prevailed and had a great time with the families anyway.”
Garland, whose given name is not publicized, did not respond to a request for comment. Videos of the young men show them giving Nazi salutes and shouting racist slogans outside Teatotaller Cafe.
Emmett Soldati, Teatotaller’s owner, said on Twitter groups like the gang that showed up Sunday will not stop his restaurant from hosting drag queen-related events.
“We’ve been hosting shows + story hours for a decade. We’re going to host them for decades to come,” Soldati said on Twitter.
Michael Garrity, communications director for New Hampshire Attorney General John Formella, said the agency is looking into Sunday’s incident.
“Our Civil Rights Unit is certainly aware of this incident and is actively working with Concord Police and our law enforcement partners to look into it further,” Garrity said.
One of the few members of the gang of young men to remove his face-covering during the demonstration was identified on Twitter as Christopher Hood, leader of NSC-131, the group recently labeled a terrorist organization by Task Force Butler.
Task Force Butler is a group of United States Military veterans who track and investigate white supremacist groups. Its recent report on NSC-131, called Project Husky, states Hood and his gang are intent on igniting violence through demonstrations. NSC-131 has been targeting LGBTQ+ events throughout New England.
“NSC-131 remains a violent terrorist gang that primarily functions to plan, train, and obtain weapons for the explicit purpose of engaging in acts of violence and harassment against religious, racial, and ethnic minorities, the LGBTQIA+ community, and others deemed ‘enemies’ by NSC-131’s leader Christopher Hood of Newburyport, MA,” the report, dubbed Project Husky, states.
Task Force Butler’s Kristopher Goldsmith said NCS-131 engages in stochastic terrorism, using violent rhetoric and propaganda to inspire real-life violence.
Republican Rep. Leah Cushman, R-Weare, took to Twitter to claim without evidence the group at Teatotaller could have been liberals trying to make conservatives look bad. First she made a mocking reference to a popular conspiracy theory that white supremacist groups are made up of undercover federal agents.
“Truly atrocious behavior by these federal agent provocateurs. The Biden Administrations owes NH an apology,” Cushman wrote. “In all seriousness though, how do we know they aren’t liberals LAPRing for political ends again.”
Cushman did not respond to a request for comment.
Last month, NSC-131 member Kyle Morris, 23, of Salem, was sentenced to federal prison for owning machine guns. Morris allegedly planned violent attacks on minorities, including suicidal mass shootings and a terror attack that would end with blowing up the Massachusetts State House.
Hood, Leo Anthony Cullinan, and their group, NSC-131, were charged with violating the state’s Civil Rights Act for hanging the banner proclaiming “Keep New England White” on a Route 1 overpass in Portsmouth last summer. Those charges were dismissed earlier this month after Rockingham Superior Court Judge David Ruoff ruled the Portsmouth demonstration are protected by the First Amendment.
New Hampshire Attorney General John Formella filed a motion to reconsider on Friday, arguing Ruoff’s interpretation of the First Amendment protections as applied to the case is too broad.
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June 20, 2023 at 03:47AM
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AG Looking Into Neo-Nazis Gathering Outside Drag Queen Story Hour in Concord - InDepthNH.org
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