Back in July, we broke the story of Baldurshof: Third Hof of the Asatru Folk Assembly setting up in Murdock, Minnesota.
Murdock residents have organized against the whites-only AFA, which has been identified as a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center.
We weren't able to make the Murdock city council meeting last night, but the Star Tribune and Fox9 news sent reporters.
At the Star Tribune, John Reinan reported in Big crowd in Murdock, Minn., grills representative of controversial Nordic heritage church:
The two sides were crystal clear Wednesday night as a packed town hall in this western Minnesota town debated the arrival of a controversial Nordic heritage church that scholars have identified as a white supremacist group.
On the one hand, residents who have mobilized against the Asatru Folk Assembly (AFA), which bought an abandoned Lutheran church here earlier this year and hopes to turn it into a Midwest regional gathering hall. “We don’t want to be known as the hate capital of Minnesota,” said Murdock resident Pete Kennedy.
And on the other, a representative of the church, who defended his beliefs under a spirited grilling from community members.
“A hundred thousand years from now, I want there to be blond hair and blue eyes,” said Allen Turnage, a member of the AFA’s board. “I don’t have to be a German shepherd supremacist to want there to be German shepherds.”
Nearly 50 people in the Swift County town of 275 residents filled the hall for a special City Council meeting, wearing masks and sitting in chairs placed 6 feet apart. Most clearly were there to oppose the church’s application for a permit that would allow it to hold gatherings in the old church building, vacant for years and purchased by the AFA for $45,000.
The AFA is among a growing number of groups that seek to practice a pre-Christian, European spirituality. The AFA is unabashedly pro-white, according to statements on its website. . . .
Turnage said the AFA would not admit a Black person “because they’re not of northern European descent.”
That brought a response from Christian Duruji, a Black resident married to a white woman.
“I fail to see how a group that would reject me on sight and view my daughter as an aberration not to be celebrated” could contribute to the well-being of Murdock, he said.
“These groups are growing,” said Tammy Porwoll, who has family ties to the area and now lives in Alexandria. “What they’re promoting is ringing hollow to me.”
There can be a danger in such groups, said Lisa Waldner, a sociology professor at the University of St. Thomas who has studied white supremacy for decades.
“I don’t think there’s anything wrong with having an interest in one’s ancestry or participating in ethnic celebrations,” she added in an interview, citing the Sons of Norway as an example. “It can be a healthy form of self-identity.”
The problem, she said, comes when groups become exclusionary and believe that their identity is superior to others.
“It sounds a lot less offensive to say, ‘I don’t hate minorities. I love my race! What’s wrong with that?’ ” Waldner said. “Well, it’s about thinking minorities are inferior, and to create separate social spaces where minorities are not welcome.” . . .
City Council members spoke little at the meeting, saying they were there to listen. The council plans to take a vote on the church’s permit request at a meeting scheduled for Nov. 4.
Fox 9's Sarah Danik reported in Community members fight against permit for whites-only Pagan organization in western Minnesota:
A special meeting in a small western Minnesota town was filled to capacity on Wednesday. The residents of Murdock showed up to oppose a controversial group that wants to set up shop in the town. The group does not allow anyone of color to join -- and that’s not sitting well with the people who live there.
The meeting on Wednesday was to consider granting the group a conditional-use permit. For most organizations, the request doesn't get much attention. But the request by a group labeled a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center led to a packed house at the Murdock City Council. . . .
AFA says they consider themselves a religion for only those of northern European descent and makes clear they don’t allow anyone outside of that to take part. That doesn’t sit well with those who live in Murdock.
"I fail to see how a group that will disqualify me on sight as well as view my daughter as someone not to be celebrated, I fail to see how that would promote the general public safety," said Murdock resident Christian Duruji.
"We don't hate anybody," argued Turnage. "This is our religion. It's our way of practicing our religion."
But those who live here want to make sure Murdock is a place that is welcoming to all and doesn’t discriminate.
"We really don’t want to be known in Murdock as the center of hate in Minnesota," said resident Pete Kennedy. . . .
Here's the Fox9 clip:
We'll update this post when other news reports and commentary is published.
UPDATE #1: At NBC News, David K. Li reports in Whites-only church eyes small town; residents fear becoming 'hate capital of Minnesota':
Plans by a little-known whites-only church to open in a small Midwestern town drew sharp opposition Wednesday from residents, who don't want their community known as "the hate capital of Minnesota."
Nearly 50 residents of Murdock filed into a town hall to largely voice opposition to the Asatru Folk Assembly (AFA) which wants to establish its Midwest regional center in the western Minnesota city that's home to less than 300 people. . . .
etired elementary school teacher Karen Falk attended Wednesday's meeting with a hand-painted sign reading "Life is too short to hate."
If the church was allowed to take root in Murdock, Falk said outsiders would believe her town "isn't a welcoming community that people would want to seek out."
"I am hopeful they will be denied," Falk said Thursday. "And if it's not denied, at least have very strict conditions placed on the conditional use permit."
Falk is the mother of former state representative Andrew Falk.
UPDATE #2: In the West Central Tribune, Tom Cherveny reports in Murdock residents tell council to deny permit to Asatru Folk Assembly:
Citing concerns for safety and voicing their rejection of the Asatru Folk Assembly’s practice to exclude those not of northern European descent, residents of Murdock pleaded with City Council members to deny a conditional use permit to the new owners of a former Lutheran church building in the community.
“We don’t want to be known as the hate capital of Minnesota,” resident Pete Kennedy told council members at a public hearing Wednesday evening on the permit request.
An estimated 50 people, including news reporters from the area and the Twin Cities, attended the hearing. A majority of those who spoke voiced objections to a permit. . . .
Residents cited concerns raised by organizations such as the Southern Poverty Law Center, which has termed the Asatru Folk Assembly a hate organization.
Murdock resident Victoria Guillemard organized the Murdock Area Alliance Against Hate in response to the arrival of the AFA to the community of 275 people earlier this year.
She told council members that the FBI has identified several members of the national Asatru Folk Assembly as active in the Klu Klux Klan and Nazi hate groups. Some people have been prosecuted in the name of the religion for attempting to bomb a black church and a synagogue, she said.
Guillemard said the AFA does not have the means to police its members. The evidence showing violent activities by some of its members puts residents in the small town at risk, she said. “How are we going to protect our citizens,” she asked.
Laura Thomas, of Benson, urged council members to consider the “long-term trajectory” of allowing the group to establish a hof in the community. She said it will put Murdock on the map for hate groups, and attract more.
She warned that this is only a “honeymoon period,” with people focusing on the group’s activities to clean up the church property and donate its Christian crosses to local churches.
“It’s important to think about the safety of the community going forward,” she said.
Thomas said many workers at the local Riverview dairies, many of whom are from Mexico and Central American countries, are terrified of what the AFA’s arrival will mean for their personal safety and livelihood. She expressed concerns that they may choose to find employment elsewhere, and harm the economy dependent on their labor.
Christian Duruji is a Black man who lives just west of Murdock with his wife, a Murdock native, and their daughter. Pointing to the AFA’s avowed practice of not accepting people of color, he told council members that they have the obligation to say “no” to a permit on the basis of protecting the welfare and safety of citizens.
“I fail to see how a group that will disqualify me on sight as well as view my daughter as somewhat of an aberration or something that is not to be celebrated, I fail to see how that would promote the general public safety,” he said. . . .
One meeting participant said she wanted to thank Asatru for having cleaned up an “eyesore” after purchasing the vacant church building.
But other residents at the meeting took turns expressing their dislike for AFA’s exclusion of people of color, and said the community is a welcoming one.
Pam Skoglund said her mother-in-law moved to Murdock more than 70 years ago as its only Native American resident, and never had a door closed to her.
“I don’t think any of us want Murdock to get a reputation as a town that is not welcoming to all people,” said Skoglund. . .
Related posts:
- AFA gothar coordinator's life changed from police shoot-out & prison to serving old Gods
- WC Trib: "Murdock City Council, on advice of city attorney, not commenting" on whites-only group
- Bluestem in the news: Strib & the Intercept
- Quiet protest is start of anti-hate movement in Murdock (West Central Tribune)
Photo: Concerned area residents share their concerns before the meeting. Photo by Kathy Hartley, via Facebook.
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