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A known Neo-Nazi has packed up camp and left Maine. Good riddance, and hopefully he took any Neo-Nazi friends with him. They were not and will never be welcome here.
There is a place for pretty much anyone here in Maine, except those whose stated purpose is to further hate. Amid a seemingly constant stream of devastating news here in the state, the departure of Christopher Pohlhaus and an end to the “Blood Tribe” training ground in Springfield is a most welcome development.
Predictably, if incorrectly, Pohlhaus has described this departure as a “leftist win,” as if the political left has a monopoly on opposing antisemitism and other despicable forms of hate. That is not true. This is a win for all of Maine, regardless of political ideology.
Was Republican Senate leader Trey Stewart being a leftist when he spoke out against the training ground in Springfield? No. He was being a Mainer standing up to hate.
“These individuals likely need intense mental treatment or the confines of a jail cell — not open space to camp and plan illegal activities in northern Maine,” he said in August. “Maine law enforcement is likely within its bounds to step in under Maine law and should be considering what recourse they can take before some tragedy occurs.”
Pohlhaus also said that the attention focused on his camp made it “too dangerous” to continue in Maine. That’s an ironic excuse for someone who spreads hate and violent ideology.
The First Amendment gives Pohlhaus and others the freedom to hold hateful beliefs. But we and others don’t have to like it. We don’t have to remain silent. As a society, we don’t have to tolerate it if those intolerant beliefs cross a line into hateful action. And we must not — in the face of alarming antisemitism, islamophobia and other forms of hate — lull ourselves into some false sense of victory now that one Neo-Nazi has left Maine.
Pohlhaus and his group are but a symptom of a larger problem, of a hate thousands of years in the making, that must continue to be repudiated. Essentially, his departing message wasn’t that he’s done being hateful, just that he’s taking his hate elsewhere. Hate existed in Maine before the Springfield training facility and it will linger in dark corners now that it’s gone, sometimes revealing its ugly, selfish worldview for all to see.
It falls to all of us to counter hate with love, acceptance of those who are different from us, and a tolerance of diverse views — except for those based on hatred and intolerance.
It also still falls to state policymakers to craft legislation that prohibits paramilitary activities while balancing First Amendment rights. Just because the most current and obvious example of this disturbing paramilitary trend has ended, does not mean this statewide issue is resolved moving forward. Half the country has figured out how to ban this activity, and Maine must still do the same.
