Controversial Pennsylvania Politician Takes Selfies with Fascists at Rally

The right to keep and bear arms should not be infringed, but let Stephanie Borowicz’s latest stunt remind us all how the people who come out for gun rights are often the people we may one day need to use them against. The rest of us need to come out too.

HARRISBURG, PA – A state legislator who generated controversy when she gave an invocation in March that was derided as an Islamophobic attack on the first Muslim woman legislator shortly before her swearing in was photographed during a pro-Second Amendment rights rally as she took selfies with members of the neo-Fascist American Guard.

Stephanie Borowicz participated and spoke at the “Right to Keep and Bear Arms Rally” on Monday that brought out conservative and libertarian activists that condemned the gun control policies being considered by the state legislature as well as others being passed in the city of Pittsburgh in the wake of the mass shooting at the Tree of Life Synagogue allegedly by Robert Bowers, a White supremacist that  wanted all Jews to die and also that “they were committing genocide to his people,” according to a police criminal complaint. At some point, Rep. Borowicz saw members of American Guard participating in the rally and posed for a selfie with them. A picture of the encounter was posted on Twitter.

Here is @PAHouseGOP rep Stephanie Borowicz posing for a selfie with white nationalists from the group American Guard. This photo was snapped at Daryl Metcalfe's pro-gun rally.#PAHouse pic.twitter.com/cmypcakzFN

— Sean Kitchen (@RCPress_Sean) May 6, 2019

The American Guard is an organization founded in 2016 by two members of the Florida based neo-Nazi group the Hated and Brien James, best known for also being the founder of the Vinlander Social Club, both groups with a history of violence including murders that members are currently serving time in prison for. One of the better-known members of the Vinlanders is Bryon Widner, who famously left the group, and had his racist tattoos removed, which has been shown in the MSNBC documentary Erasing Hate as well as the feature film Skin with Jamie Bell playing Widner. James, who represented the American Guard when he participated in the 2017 “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, is also the Indiana representative of the neo-fascist Proud Boys as well as the Fraternal Order of Alt-Knights, what has been called the “tactical defense arm” of the Proud Boys.

The American Guard, who is listed as a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center and an extremist group by the Anti-Defamation League, attended last year’s gun-rights rally in Harrisburg, which just as was the case this year was organized by Pennsylvania Rep. Daryl Metcalfe, who also has a history of associations with White supremacists which includes inviting White supremacist Robert Vandervoort, the Executive Director of the English-Only advocacy group ProEnglish, to testify during hearings to make English the official language of Pennsylvania. Metcalfe later took issue with Vandervoort being called a White supremacist as opposed to a White nationalist, saying that “a white nationalist … is a lot different than a white supremacist.”

On Tuesday, Borowicz attempted to defend her photo with the neo-fascists. “On any given day as a state lawmaker, I am frequently approached and honored to have my photo taken with individual constituents, groups and organizations, as are most of my colleagues,” Borowicz said in a statement that did not condemn the American Guard. “We do not, nor should we, require ID or background checks as a condition for being photographed with the people of Pennsylvania — our constituents! The many photos taken of me at this year’s Rally to Protect Your Right to Keep and Bear Arms are no different.”

However, this is not the first time that Borowicz has seen controversy in her very brief time in the House of Representatives. In March, Rep. Borowicz, herself a freshman legislator, delivered a 100-second ceremonial invocation that was seen as an Islamophobic swipe at Rep. Movita Johnson-Harrell, who was about to take the oath of office as the first Muslim woman to sit in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives. “At the name of Jesus every knee will bow and every tongue will confess, Jesus, that you are Lord,” Borowicz said in her prayer when she also thanked Donald Trump for standing with Israel.  Pennsylvania House Democratic Leader Frank Dermody called Borowicz’s invocation “beneath the dignity of this House” and Johnson-Harrell later said that while she respects everyone’s right to praise the president, “we cannot weaponize what’s going on with Israel and Palestine.”

When asked about this latest incident, Johnson-Harrell said that the American Guard members identify themselves as constitutional nationalists and their social media pages show anti-immigrant and anti-Muslim rhetoric. “We need our elected officials to be aware and conscious of who they are meeting with, and the message that sends to the public,” she said. “Being seen smiling next to members of a hate group is not the image I would choose for myself. Hate has no place here in the state Capitol.”

The Anti-Defamation League echoed Johnson-Harrell’s comments in a statement on Tuesday, noting she has yet to condemn the American Guard. “It is irresponsible for state legislators to pose for selfies with white supremacists,” ADL Regional Director Nancy K. Baron-Baer, said. “ADL can confirm that the individual in the photo is connected to multiple right-wing extremist movements, and there is simply no excuse for anyone in a position of leadership in the Commonwealth to appear to legitimize extremism. Whether or not Representative Borowicz knew who this individual was or what he stood for, she knows now, and should immediately apologize and condemn white supremacy.”