![]() ![]() We are a tolerant community, and we celebrate diversity. “Free speech is one thing, but this really flies in the face of trying to revitalize Gloversville as a 21st century community,” said DeSantis, who said he was not aware of the hateful displays ahead of a reporter’s phone call on Monday. Freya’s Forest, located at the Four Corners in Gloversville, has not received any public funding, according to DeSantis. That doesn’t make it less offensive or hateful.”Īll of it leaves Gloversville Mayor Vincent DeSantis scratching his head as to how to best proceed as local leaders look to rebuild the historic but long-struggling downtown with the help of a $10 million New York State Downtown Revitalization Initiative grant. “It’s fairly predictable the way they will answer. “She’ll probably give an answer like ‘it’s my religion’ or something like that,” Squire said. Winchester-Kenna’s response was predictable, said Megan Squire, a senior fellow at the SPLC. ![]() Heinrich Himmler inlaid a Black Sun into the marble floor of the Castle Wewelsburg, the castle that Himmler made the spiritual and literal home of the SS – the elite corps and self-described “political soldiers” of the Nazi Party – during the reign of the Third Reich, according to the SPLC. The Black Sun symbol is based on the ancient sun wheel artifacts that were made and used by Norse and Germanic tribes as a symbol of their pagan beliefs, according to the SPLC. It is part of my heritage, it’s part of my religion. “Well, what I say is they can take any symbol that they want, whether it’s a cross, a pentacle, a star – anything – and they can procreate any symbol that they want to say whatever they want. “They say it’s a hate symbol? Are you serious?” Winchester-Kenna said. When asked about the Black Sun, which a community member-submitted photo later showed was displayed behind the store’s cash register and was also for sale during the ribbon cutting, Winchester-Kenna claimed ignorance while self-identifying as a member of the known hate group. But if it quacks like a duck and walks like a duck, it’s a duck.” “Anybody in the AFA is going to say they are just proud of their white European heritage. “They are a white supremacist group, no doubt about it,” said Chris Magyarics, a research fellow in the Anti-Defamation League’s Center On Extremism. But experts at the Southern Poverty Law Center and Anti-Defamation League identify that organization as a hate group and say the Black Sun is synonymous with far-right groups who traffic in neo-Nazi and other hateful ideologies. The owner, Raven Winchester-Kenna, claims the Black Sun – or Sonnenrad – is an innocent symbol affiliated with her religion, the Asatru Folk Assembly. In the weeks since, The Leader-Herald has learned that the business owner of Freya’s Forest is part of a known hate group and is displaying and selling flags depicting an identified hate symbol. GLOVERSVILLE – Late last month, Gloversville’s mayor, members of the Gloversville Common Council, county business leaders and others celebrated a ribbon cutting at a downtown plant store.
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