Posted on February 2, 2007

White Supremacists Target Protesters

Rachel Boomer, Daily News (Halifax), Feb. 2, 2007

They’ve got his home address. His phone number. His picture. There’s even a photo of his father.

But Aaron Doncaster says he doesn’t believe members of the white supremacist group Stormfront will hurt him, despite the lengths the group has gone to identify him on its website.

“It’s a little creepy,” Doncaster, 31, admitted yesterday.

He said he’s “not paranoid,” but takes better note of his surroundings and tries to avoid going out alone after dark. “I have thought about means of protecting myself, whether I want to acquire a baseball bat. I may get some pepper spray.”

Doncaster and one of his roommates, who goes by the pseudonym Brad Religion, earned notoriety on Stormfront.org for showing up, masked, to protest self-described “race realist” Jared Taylor’s appearance in Halifax Jan. 16.

Mark Black, a Halifax freelance writer, is also named on the website as a protester. Protesters physically forced Taylor out of the room without giving him time to speak; Halifax Regional Police are investigating whether that was an assault.

On Jan. 23, a moderator at Stormfront.org who goes by the screen name Odin Patrick began posting photos of Doncaster, Religion and Black, along with e-mail addresses and the address of the home where Doncaster and Religion live.

The photos came from their MySpace.com profiles, which both men have since made private.

A photo of Doncaster’s father, Cape Breton politician Ivan Doncaster, was also posted on the site.

Since then, Religion—who didn’t want his last name printed, because Stormfront.org doesn’t seem to have it—says he’s gotten several e-mails from a few members of the group, calling him “vermin” and suggesting that he learn kung fu or judo, because “you’ll probably need it.”

“They’re not going to scare me. I’m going to continue to ignore them,” Religion said yesterday.

Stormfront.org moderator Jamie Kelso said yesterday the group had no intention of inciting anyone to hurt Doncaster, Religion or Black.

“Our primary concern is freedom of speech. We considered the people who interrupted that appearance to be criminals,” Kelso told The Daily News yesterday in an interview from West Palm Beach, Fla.

“We don’t want anybody to contact these people or take any action against these people. We are completely against anybody who wants to do vigilante justice.”

He said posting the photos was an attempt to help police identify the ringleaders of the protest and prosecute them. Address and phone information is acceptable if it’s already available online, Kelso said, but he said the photo of Doncaster’s father is against Stormfront rules.

“That’s completely unacceptable. That’s way far afield.”

Doncaster and Religion both dismiss Kelso’s explanation, saying the group is trying to intimidate them.

The men said yesterday they’ve set up a “phone tree” with other activists, so that if they’re threatened, others can come to their defence.