The Reopen NJ crowd deny that they are associated with White Supremacists, but it keeps looking like a wink and a nod – but with one of their more prominent supporters promoting civil war, it is so not being ignored.
POINT PLEASANT, NJ – Despite denials by the owners of a South Jersey gym who opened in defiance of the current shutdown orders in that state that they are associated with or support White supremacy and a megaphone used by one owner that belonged to a neo-Nazi was a fluke, organizers of a Memorial Day rally calling to reopen the state used a picture of that owner using the megaphone in one of their flyers advertising their event in Point Pleasant, only to remove the picture after questions were raised about its inclusion. Hours later, a local politician who was scheduled to speak dropped out of the rally saying that the event “distorted” his beliefs in civil rights and freedom.
And as the rally took place yesterday, at least one neo-fascist who regularly promotes civil war in the United States on social networks and has been involved with several past rallies sponsored by the group Reopen NJ was in attendance, raising the concerns of those taking issue with their presence at such events.
Over 200 persons participated in the rally on Monday demanding that the state reopen, which ironically it has already begun doing as retail outlets are now allowed to do curbside service and non essential construction is now allowed. The speakers ranged from local activists to politicians like Republican State Sen. Joe Pennacchio to Ian Smith, the co-owner of Atilis Gym in Bellmawr, NJ that has since been shut down by courts after it reopened last week. During last week’s rally, it was he that was holding the megaphone with the decal on the side of it from the New Jersey European Heritage Association, a White supremacist group founded by Dan D’Ambly who attended the “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville, VA in August 2017, and the one held on its anniversary in Washington, DC. D’Ambly and other neo-fascists were in attendance at the gym rallies and was using the megaphone, but Smith says he did not notice the decal on the side of it when he asked to use it.
New Jersey Assemblyman Jamel Holley announced appearance at the rally raised concerns among some after a flyer promoting the event featured the picture of Smith using the NJEHA megaphone, and some attempted to contact him via Facebook and email. In the end, Holley chose to not attend the rally. “(W)hat I will not do is mix the politics on an important day that we should pause and highlight our service men and women for the efforts they have made on our behalf,” he said in a Facebook post. “To that end, I will not be stepping on stage today in Point Pleasant. It’s a choice I personally made once the focal point of my attendance changed as I saw the issues I stand for: civil rights, freedom rights and justice begin to be distorted in a way that is not becoming of what I represent as a person.”
It is not known if D’Ambly or anyone from the NJEHA participated in the Point Pleseant rally, but there were others from within the far right circles that would have still prompted such concerns as what Holley expressed. Paul Miller, a blogger who has been using his social media outlets to cover the rallies and give commentary on the issue, also uses those outlets to promote what has commonly referred to among the so-called “alt-right” as the “boogaloo”, which he has said on one of his Instagram videos as “the coming second civil war” that will happen because the right fears losing power. Miller was one of those who fought with antifa outside the Metropolitan Republican Club in October 2018 as Proud Boys founder Gavin McInnes gave a speech. Ten members of the Proud Boys and the 211 Bootboys were convicted of rioting as assault charges, with some serving jail time, although Miller has never been charged with any crime.
Some of you might remember Paul Miller from the thread we did on him last year, when he was openly calling for Ilhan Omar to be killed. He’s now calling his account “_gypsycrusader,” but not that long ago, his @instagram account was “Gypsy_Crusader88.” 🤔https://t.co/cp45gEVPxD
— New York City Antifa (@NYCAntifa) May 19, 2020
Miller regularly uses the screen name “gypsycrusader” and many variations of it on many of his social network accounts, and until recently one of his Instagram accounts was gypsycrusader88, the 88 recalling a common neo-Nazi numeric code meaning “Heil Hitler”. It was under that name Miller called for U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar to be killed, said that those who were murdered by a White supremacist mass shooter in Christchurch, New Zealand last year that he wrote that were targeted for being Muslim, “had it coming,” and hope for liberals to be killed in the aforementioned civil war. One of his more recent posts is of him saying he doxed Microsoft founder Bill Gates and opined “If someone wants to set Bill Gates’ house on fire with him inside, more power to them.”
Originally from North Brunswick, NJ, a video was posted on YouTube showing FBI agents reportedly going to his home on Easton Ave. in New Brunswick, NJ that also houses a tarot card reading business his family owns.
In February, the Department of Homeland Security and Preparedness raised the threat level coming from hate groups in the state to high, above that of groups like ISIS and Al Qaeda, due to a number of arrests of White supremacists plotting attacks and the deadly attack on a kosher supermarket in Jersey City in December. Reopen NJ has not spoken about what associations they have with Miller or even D’Ambly by name.
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