White supremacist protestors in Charlottesville, Virginia are taking the streets shouting Nazi slogans and holding pro-Nazi, fascist and supremacist banners.
Now, there’s a deeply disturbing Detroit connection.
The Unite The Right rally that started Friday night has brought together various factions representing white supremacy. These groups include white nationalism, fascism, and Nazis to the University of Virginia.
Pictures have started to surface of a Michigan-based anti-immigrant, white nationalist group called the Detroit Right Wings.
I look away for 12 hours and the Detroit Red Wings have become a symbol for neo-Nazi dickheads? pic.twitter.com/s7aBiyYkmA
— Andrew Kirell (@AndrewKirell) August 12, 2017
They are carrying makeshift shields with a very slightly modified version of the logo of the Detroit Red Wings hockey team, replacing the spokes of Detroit’s beloved winged wheel with the symbol of the SS of Nazi Germany.
The SS (or Schutzstaffel) started as bodyguards for Adolf Hitler and the Nazi party. Over time, they became the group most responsible for the genocide millions of people during the Holocaust.
The Nazis basically Nazi-fied the Red Wings logo. That thing inside the wheel is an SS pattern. pic.twitter.com/8nB8DZL6jg
— Dunkirk Van Houten (@50_MissionCap) August 12, 2017
The motto of the Detroit Right Wings is “Rust Reforged,” and they believe they need to secure the future of the white race and Detroit from other races.
Here’s a close-up of their logo from one of their pins. The shot is from a promotional video the Detroit Right Wings created that rips off a ton of footage from that iconic Chrysler ad with Eminem from a few years ago.
For their part, the Detroit Red Wings organization has quickly issued a statement denouncing the use of the logo and that they’re looking into legal options to stop it.
— Detroit Red Wings (@DetroitRedWings) August 12, 2017
“We are exploring every possible legal action as it pertains to the misuse of our logo during the demonstration,” Todd Beam, the Red Wings Director of Public Relations told For The Win.
The Unite The Right event continues in Charlottesville as of this writing (2:00 p.m.) and violence has broken out multiple times.
Not sure who provoked first. Both sides were hitting each other at Justice Park before police arrived. #Charlottesville pic.twitter.com/onABUPq1mm
— ACLU of Virginia (@ACLUVA) August 12, 2017