Community Confronts Neo-Nazis and Proud Boys Disrupting Kid’s Pride Event in Sacramento, CA.

Report back on recent confrontation in Sacramento, CA against neo-Nazis and Proud Boys by local antifascists.

On Saturday June 24th, the Sacramento Children’s Museum was set to hold their pride event, a joyful all-ages celebration with food trucks, story time, and other fun, family-friendly events.

Last year, this same event was attacked by White Lives Matter affiliated neo-Nazis, as well as some local Proud Boys, so this year the event organizers decided to “enhance” security by involving more local police, which consisted of three foot-patrol cops stationed around the event. The outside part of the event, with food trucks and tents, was only fortified by a loose barricade on one side, while the other side was completely open, expect for a small grass hill.

It should be noted that unlike some other Pride events in Sacramento and around the country, this one relied heavily on police instead of the community to keep them safe from the potential harm and threat of Nazis.

At around 10:45 a.m., a group of approximately 14-15 neo-Nazis approached the event from White Rock Road. They marched and chanted obscenely violent and homophobic slogans in earshot of parents and their children. The two fascist groups represented and arrived together were the Norcal Active Club and Patriot Front. Two Norcal Active Club members leading the group held small circular police-like riot shields. They walked up to the barrier outside the event where a group of cops stood guard. As the Nazis were marching up to the event, more police trickled in to the area and were clearly staged somewhere else away from the event. They allowed the Nazi group to March right up to the outside event space even though in doing so they were in the parking lot of a permitted event and if police really wanted them gone, they would of removed them.

The fascists began chanting and holding banners that featured their usual Nazi propaganda. They also took turns reading out passages of the Bible. The two Norcal Active Club members with shields tried to form a walking perimeter between the folks holding banners and anyone who tried to confront them. The police sat and watched as the neo-Nazis yelled anti-LGBTQ slurs and racial epithets, leaving event attendees to fend for themselves. Some folks from the event moved their tented areas further away from the Nazis once they arrived. But that didn’t stop the Nazi groups, who still tried to intimidate and yell at event attendees.

Shortly after their arrival, the Nazis were confronted by community members and a couple event attendees. While the Nazis seriously outnumbered the folks confronting them, those who stood up against them were able to block some of the Nazis’ propaganda with flags and bodies and shout over them when they tried to spew their rhetoric. Also with the Nazis focusing on the folks confronting them, they had less time to harass the event.

Norcal Active Club members repeatedly pushed people with their shields as police stood by and did absolutely nothing to the group of Nazis. Further, instead of keeping their eyes on the Nazis, the police threatened to arrest community members standing up to the Nazis, claiming they were the ones “inciting violence.” No matter how many times the Nazis pushed people with shields or stopped people from walking in certain areas, none of the Nazis were ever threatened (or even talked to) by police.

One officer told a community member that the Nazis had more of a right to be in that area because, “they were here first.”

Local media KCRA 3 was present and once again provided free publicly to the Nazis, despite being asked not to by community members. They filmed the Nazis’ propaganda and posted it in their news story without blurring or covering any of the hateful rhetoric or links to active clubs online social media.

After 20 minutes of the Nazi group being there, Jeffery Perrine, a local Proud Boy, showed up and immediately shook hands with a member of Norcal Active Club. He was given a news interview with local media where he was allowed to dictate the narrative of the day’s events and had two quotes featured in the KCRA news story.

Near 12 p.m., as the event wrapped up, the Patriot Font and Norcal Active Club members began to leave in a group from the same areas from which they came. Two community members followed the Nazis and confronted them in the Lowe’s parking lot where the groups had parked. As a community member was confronting the Nazis in the parking lot, one of the Nazi group members talked about their plan to “take power.” The conversation was caught on video. The Nazi said, “All we need is a little State power and you will be gone.” While this was going on the other Nazis we’re yelling anti-LGBTQ+ slurs, anti-Jewish slurs and anti-black slurs. Many times during the event and the confrontation after, the Nazis used the N word towards the folks confronting them.

Once again, with limited numbers, the community stood up to the Nazis and had them scrambling to their cars. One Patriot Front member was seen and heard running and screaming in fear from community members and asking for the police. The Nazis eventually dispersed, without the help of local police.

Another important note: Other events in Sacramento that have featured a strong community defense response (and limited or no police presence) and have seen much larger success rate, with fascists not being able to get anywhere near the event where they could scream and yell at children.

However, the Sacramento Children’s Museum’s reliance on police to keep them safe led to a silent wall of cops who stood and did nothing but aid the Nazis in their mission to harass families and children. In this instance, Nazis were allowed to get extremely close to kids and parents, whereas previous events that relied on community defense instead of cops, the fascists were met with enough hostility to thwart their plans.

This is the first time Patriot Front, White Lives Matter/ Norcal Active Club, and Proud Boys have teamed up in Sacramento at an event. It shows a clear escalation of tactics.

In sum, from people on the ground that day to the “news” story by KCRA 3, it’s clear that not only are the fascist groups themselves a danger, but the police and local media that stand idly by to help platform and protect Nazis are also a serious threat to our communities. Standing up to Nazis and not turning a blind eye or taking a “turn the other cheek” approach is what keeps communities safe. People who decide to do something and take action when Nazis rear their ugly heads is what true community safety looks like.

We keep us safe, always.❤️