Back in July, we broke the story of how the Baldurshof: Third Hof of the Asatru Folk Assembly [was] setting up in Murdock, Minnesota.
On Wednesday, the Murdock City Council voted to approve the permit sought by the pagan organization, deemed a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center. The council took a voice vote in a Zoom meeting with no camera feed.
At the Star Tribune, John Reinan reports in Minnesota town votes to allow white supremacist church:
The people of Murdock, Minn., will be getting a new neighbor.
The City Council voted Wednesday night to grant a permit allowing the Asatru Folk Assembly (AFA) to use an abandoned Lutheran church in the Swift County town as its third "hof," or gathering hall, in the United States.
Meeting online because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the council kept its video camera turned off, meaning that other meeting attendees couldn't see the members' faces. Despite repeated requests from the online audience, council members refused to identify who voted for or against the permit, passing it on a voice vote without a roll call. One member on the five-person council could be heard voting no.
"We as leaders of the city of Murdock want people to know that we condemn racism in all forms," Mayor Craig Kavanagh said before the council voted in favor of an organization that religious scholars have identified as a white supremacist group.
Before the vote, council members heard from Don Wilcox, the city attorney, who told them that they faced possible legal jeopardy if they voted against the AFA based on its beliefs. . . .
The group's arrival sparked a wave of activism in this farming community along U.S. Hwy. 12 about 115 miles west of the Twin Cities. After the AFA purchased the church earlier this year for $45,000, area residents formed a group called the Murdock Area Alliance Against Hate and have held several protests against the group, including one Wednesday night.
Read the whole article at the Star Tribune. For the West Central Tribune, Tom Cherveny and Mark Wasson report in Murdock City Council approves permit for whites-only group to use former church:
City Council members in Murdock at their meeting Wednesday approved a conditional use permit and conditions for it, allowing the Asatru Folk Assembly to use the building it purchased as a church.
Council members voted 3-1 on motions for the two actions, with council member Stephanie Hoff casting the lone no vote. It was not clear from the audio of the virtual meeting who else voted.
The Asatru Folk Assembly purchased and rehabilitated a former Lutheran church building located along U.S. Highway 12 in Murdock. The group learned after the purchase that the building had been previously rezoned for residential use.
The building is intended to serve as the third “hof,” or place of worship, for the Asatru Folk Assembly, which is designated a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center. The assembly also owns property in North Carolina and California.
Murdock Mayor Craig Kavanagh opened the meeting Wednesday by taking note that the issue was “pretty controversial.” He emphasized that council members had to consider it as a zoning matter and not on how council members might feel about the group. He said the city of Murdock “condemns racism in all forms.”
City Attorney Don Wilcox told council members that he found no evidence that the Asatru Folk Assembly’s use of the building would violate the city’s conditional use permit standards.
The virtual meeting was conducted via video software. No one on the council had an active video feed. Only audio was available on a black screen, and there was no on-screen indication of who was speaking. Several public viewers of the meeting commented in a chat feed that they could not hear well and did not know who was speaking or who was voting.
The resolution approved by the council found that "establishment, maintenance or operation of the conditional use will not be detrimental to or endanger the public health, safety, morals or comfort. The concerns raised by the public did not relate directly to the use by AFA of the property. Rather they related to the presence of AFA in the community regardless of location.
nonprofit, religious organization. The attorney said zoning cannot be used to place a burden on the exercise of religious expression.
The Asatru Folk Assembly has been designated a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center because of their whites-only belief system and current and former leaders espousing racist ideology.
See more about the AFA's background here
About two dozen people gathered earlier Wednesday along U.S. Highway 12 in protest of the group setting up roots in Murdock, a town of less than 300.
One of the protestors, Ben Kowalskygrahek, of St. Paul, said he came out because he wanted to make clear the Asatru Folk Assembly does not represent other heathens.
"I think the AFA appropriates or uses pagan rituals, gods and goddesses as a veneer of spirituality over white nationalism," said Kowalskygrahek, who identified as a pagan.
The protest was spearheaded by the Murdock Area Alliance Against Hate, and members said they plan to keep pressing for the group's removal in response to the vote.
Victoria Guillemard, organizer for Murdock Area Alliance Against Hate, said they were protesting Wednesday to support the town's City Council and wanted the council to deny the conditional use permit to the Asatru Folk Assembly. . . .
The Asatru Folk Assembly faced backlash from the community during an October public meeting when residents worried about the violence of former members and what a racist organization setting up shop in Murdock would say about the town.
“We don’t want to be known as the hate capital of Minnesota,” resident Pete Kennedy told council members at the October public hearing. . . .
Read the rest at the West Central Tribune.
We think when your whites-only "pagan" group has lost the rest of the pagans, you might want to evaluate that core racist identity.
Related posts:
- Baldurshof: Third Hof of the Asatru Folk Assembly setting up in Murdock, Minnesota
- AFA gothar coordinator's life changed from police shoot-out & prison to serving old Gods
- Bluestem in the news: Strib & the Intercept
- Quiet protest is start of anti-hate movement in Murdock (West Central Tribune)
- WC Trib: "Murdock City Council, on advice of city attorney, not commenting" on whites-only group
- Resident: "We really don’t want to be known in Murdock as the center of hate in Minnesota"
Photo: "Victoria Guillemard, left, and Ben Kowalskygrahek stand Wednesday, Dec. 9, outside the Murdock building of the Asatru Folk Assembly, a whites-only organization, in protest of the group's presence in the small Minnesota town. Kowalskygrahek said his sign reads, in Old Norse, "Where you see evil declare it evil and give your enemies no peace." Mark Wasson / West Central Tribune.
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