Neo-Nazi vandalism in Kernville shocks residents

The swastika pictured above appeared in the window of a vacant building in the 11000 block of Kernville Road, Kernville, sometime during the weekend. It was one of numerous sites in Kernville defaced by Neo-Nazi messages.

Cathy Perfect
Kern Valley Sun

Linda Block of Kernville made a gut-wrenching discovery as she entered Kernville on her way home Saturday night from Bakerfield, where she and a group of friends had attended a showing of “The Laramie Project,” the chilling, true story of Matthew Shepard who was brutally beaten and tied to a fence in Laramie, Wyo. in 1998, and left to die alone simply because he was gay.

A vacant building in the 11000 block of Kernville Road, the Kern Valley Museum, the “Welcome to Kernville” sign as well as various community groups’ signs were defaced with Neo-Nazi graffiti that had been spray painted on them.

“I was upset to begin with,” Block said commenting on the play, “but then to see signs and buildings defaced (with swastikas and ‘N___ go home’) in Kernville. It’s just more hate.”

The Southern Poverty Law Center, based in Montgomery, Ala., counted 888 active hate groups in the United States in 2007, including 80 in California - the highest number in the country. Nearer to home, the Aryan Militia, in Bakersfield, consists of various Neo-Nazi chapters such as American National Socialist Workers' Party, American Thule Society, Aryan Nations Youth Action Corps, and White Revolution. In Porterville, a Racist Skinhead chapter, Skinheads of the Rahowa, is active, as well.

The Southern Poverty Law Center was founded in 1971 as a small civil rights law firm. Today, SPLC is internationally known for its tolerance education programs, its legal victories against white supremacists and its tracking of hate groups. For more information visit the organization’s website at www.splcenter.org.