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Supremacist group moves concert to Jacksonville
©Associated Press
December 6, 2002
JACKSONVILLE -- A violent white supremacist group, faced with growing opposition in Daytona Beach, moved its weekend Hammerfest 2002 concert to a secret location in Jacksonville.
Plans by Hammerskin Nation to stage the concert in Daytona Beach were changed after officials there said they would not issue permits and a bar canceled two of the featured bands when it learned about the group's messages of hate.
The Hammerskins, which uses Confederate flags and Nazi swastikas as its emblems, is an umbrella organization for the skinhead movement. It has sponsored an annual Hammerfest since 1997, according to the Anti-Defamation League, which tracks white supremacist groups.
Bands with names like Attack, Definite Hate, White Wash and Intimidation One use lyrics that promote beating and killing nonwhites, especially blacks and Jews.
Civic opposition was also being felt in Jacksonville.
Isaiah Rumlin, president of the Jacksonville branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, said his members would protest at the site if they can learn where it is.
"We don't believe in groups which spread hate," he said.
Sharon Ashton, a spokeswoman for Mayor John Delaney, said Thursday the group would need a permit if it wanted to hold its gathering in a city park, but would need no permission if it held a concert in a business. Lt. Randy Parmer, head of a Jacksonville Sheriff's Office intelligence unit trying to track the concert, said the group typically notifies its members to come to a specific parking lot to get information about where the bands are playing.
Hammerfest 2001 drew about 600 skinheads to a small city west of Atlanta.
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