Amy Spitalnick is aiming to stop American neo-Nazis in their tracks.
The 34-year-old executive director of Integrity First America, a nonpartisan legal organization, is leading an effort to halt American neo-Nazis by suing some of the key participants of the infamous 2017 “Unite the Right” neo-Nazi and white supremacist march in Charlottesville, Virginia. She recently spoke with Aish.com about her vital work.
During two days in August, 2017, much of America watched in horror as hundreds of neo-Nazis and white supremacists gathered at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville. Organized by right-wing provocateurs Jason Kessler and Richard Spencer, the gathering was meant to be a show of force for America’s burgeoning neo-Nazi and far-right movements. On Friday night, August 11, 2017, hundreds of men marched in military formation, surrounding students and other members of the public, holding torches, yelling “Jews will not replace us!”, “Blood and Soil!”, “This is our town now,” and other provocative slogans.
The next day, Saturday August 12, the neo-Nazis and white supremacists reassembled and marched through Charlottesville, holding swastikas and spewing anti-Jewish and racist slogans. As a group of protestors peacefully countered the neo-Nazis, one member of the Unite the Right rally drove his car into a group of anti-fascist demonstrators, injuring nineteen people and killing one, 32-year-old Heather Heyer. It was a defining moment for America.
Amy Spitanick
“Like many people, I remember hearing about the march and watching images of that weekend,” Amy explains. She was working for New York’s Attorney General at the time, and she was asked to interrupt her weekend and help craft a statement in response to the hate and violence that had just roiled Virginia.
Amy was hosting her sister’s bridal shower and relatives and friends had gathered together to celebrate. As she stood with her family, watching the news, the horrific images coming out of Charlottesville resonated with her own family’s history.
Both of Amy’s mother’s parents were Holocaust survivors. They’d lived in Poland, and her grandmother used to tell Amy about the terrible things she saw and endured during the Holocaust at the hands of Nazis and their enablers. Amy’s grandmother was rescued by a prisoner swap while she was on her way to a concentration camp: she spent much of the war in hiding. “She hid above a stove with her aunt,” Amy recalls. Her grandparents met in a displaced persons camp after the war.
Amy and her sister had decorated the site of the wedding shower with family photos, and the pictures of her grandparents gazed back at her from within their frames. “I wondered how horrified and baffled they might be if they’d lived to see neo-Nazis openly marching and attacking people on the streets of an American city."
Amy was approached by former Federal Prosecutor Roberta Kaplan who was putting together a legal case to sue some of the Charlottesville neo-Nazis. She wanted her help. Amy soon became executive director of Integrity for America, which is organizing the suit. "The search for justice is compelling to me,” Amy explains. “We have a justice system and we have a rule of law – it’s easy to feel frustrated and scared and hopeless but there are things we can do.”
The case that Integrity First for America is bringing, Sines vs. Kessler, is about conspiracy and planning violence and murder. “If they’d gone to Charlottesville and stood on a street corner with their hateful, anti-Semitic signs, that would have been legal,” Amy points out. But that’s not what the neo-Nazis did. “They used social media to actively conspire to bring violence to Charlottesville – it’s not a speech case, it’s a conspiracy case.”
Charlottesville Rally, 2017
Organizers of the Unite the Right rally used far-right fringe social media sites to discuss ways they might harm people in Charlottesville. Discussions involved what weapons the neo-Nazis could carry – including guns, knives, lengths of pipe and axe handles – and what the likely legal consequences might be for using them.
One neo-Nazi who attended the rally suggested on social media that participants not bring ax handles longer than three feet: “Anything longer is too long to effectively bludgeon someone with.” The same neo-Nazi asked whether it was “legal to run over protestors blocking roadways”. He and the other neo-Nazis who were planning the rally used extremely anti-Semitic and racist language. The Integrity for America lawyers are arguing that this is proof that they planned to commit violence against racial minorities – which is illegal under federal law. “There is no First Amendment protection for violence,” explained Karen L. Dunn, a lead attorney in the case.
Integrity for America is arguing their case using a little-known 1871 federal law that criminalized efforts by the Klu Klux Klan to re-enslave African Americans. The law, known as the K.K.K. Act, makes it a crime for people to plot racially motivated violence in advance of an actual attack. “The K.K.K. Act gives citizens the right to protect themselves against this,” the very sort of premeditated hateful acts that the Charlottesville neo-Nazis engaged in, Amy explains.
The case is being brought on behalf of nine plaintiffs who were injured by the defendants. They include Marcus Martin, who attended the peaceful anti-Nazi protest with his fiancée Marissa Blair and her coworker Heather Heyer. When neo-Nazi (and defendant in this case) James Fields drove his car into the crowd, Marcus pushed his fiancée out of the way. He was struck by the car which killed Heather Heyer. Marcus sustained severe leg injuries, breaking his leg and ankle and requiring surgery; he continues to feel the trauma of that day.
Plaintiff Natalie Romero was also struck by the car. She was an undergraduate at the University of Virginia at Charlottesville and sustained a concussion and skull fracture and was knocked unconscious. Natalie continues to suffer from vertigo and debilitating headaches.
Hearing about the pain and shock the plaintiffs are still suffering motivates Amy to keep working to pursue justice for them – and for all Americans.
Even though hundreds of neo-Nazis and white supremacists took part in the Charlottesville rally, Sines vs. Kessler names just two dozen defendants. They include Jason Kessler, leader of the white nationalist group the Proud Boys, and Richard Spencer, who organized the rally.
Amy points out that it isn’t only people who were directly present and affected by the Charlottesville rally who were harmed by the event: through online chat groups, the Charlottesville neo-Nazis have inspired a whole new generation of hate.
Among them is Robert Gregory Bowers, the white supremacist who murdered eleven worshippers at the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh on October 27, 2018. He communicated with the leaders of the Charlottesville rally on the far right social media sight Gab before his attack.
The shooter who murdered 51 Muslims in shootings in two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand on March 15, 2019, painted a white power symbol on his gun that was popularized by one of the defendants in the Charlottesville lawsuit.
The shooters who murdered Lori Gilbert Kaye, a Jewish woman in Chabad of Poway on April 27, 2019 and the shooter who murdered 23 Mexican-American shoppers in an Walmart in El Paso, Texas, on August 3, 2019 both watched videos of the Charlottesville rally before carrying out their attacks.
It’s important that people understand just how significant the anti-Semitic, white supremacist threat is.
“Since August, 2017, the threat of extremist violence in America has been made painfully clear,” Amy explains. “It’s important that people understand just how significant the anti-Semitic, white supremacist threat is… White supremacy is rooted in a hatred of Jews.” Even though white supremacists hate many groups of people, they seem to reserve special ire for Jews, who they believe want to “replace” the white race with non-whites. “They think Jews are puppet masters replacing the white race. We as Jews need to understand how dangerous this is – we have an obligation to speak out against it, whether they target us or any other community.”
As Sines vs. Kessler makes its way to trial, it is garnering widespread attention. It’s tentatively scheduled to begin in April 2021 and it could turn into a landmark legal case.
In the meantime, the lawsuit is already acting as a brake on some of the neo-Nazi groups named as defendants. “Suits like this have a long history of using civil judgments to bankrupt hate groups and their leaders,” Amy notes. That seems to be the case now. Richard Spencer has publicly complained that Integrity for America’s case against him has been financially crippling. The League of the South – a hate group named in the case – has said that they’re unable to afford a new building. Amy is confident that these and the other named neo-Nazi defendants will face real consequences once the case goes to court. “When we go to trial we expect civil judgments against two dozen of our defendants.”
Amy wants the case to remind people that planning racial hatred will always be punished. She and her fellow workers at Integrity for America have faced abuse and field constant threats of violence. Security is one of their largest expenses. Yet they are determined to continue their vital work standing up to hate.
(22) Martin (UK), October 26, 2020 3:33 PM
Publicly shame your so called leadership to take energetic action.
I have recently anchored a show on a pro-Jewish/Zionist/Israel TV channel in the UK It is RevelationTV and called the Middle East Report hosted by Simon Barrett. I was asked as British Zionist Jew from the East End of London originally about growing up there, life today and my experiences in Israel including my time in the IDF. It has just gone onto Youtube.
I have opnely spoke about Jewhate in the UK and our lusstrelacking "leadership" unable to take courage and become more aggressive towards thiose who attack us. I have stated openly that this leadership is frightened of a backlash against the Jews.
My only fear is fear itself and that your leadership is as gutless as ours. Where was the fightback to support the very frum Jews in New York, against the Marxist led BLM and your so called Democrat Socialists campaigning and 2/3 of US Jews will vote for Biden. Unbelieveable!
There is only one difference between the extreme rightwing National Socialists hate for the Jews and the extreme International Socialists haste for the Jews and that is the term Inter.
The National Socialist German workers Party (Nazis) sums up Socialism perfectly. Which is why I posted my concerns earlier.
Have a happy life asnd get rid of those who hate you. Khazak ve emetz!
Oh yes, you might find the interview interesting as well.
(21) Barry Boardman, October 25, 2020 9:00 PM
These groups need support and funds to survive! Who are the people who are the instigator s?
CNET s domestic and foreign instigators, you find the heads! I believe the instigators are the direct decedents of the 3 rd. Reich!
(20) Joel Pachter, October 25, 2020 3:52 PM
That’s fine. Now how about sueing BLM? Spitalnick should be an equal opportunity fighter against anti-Semitism.
(19) carol, October 24, 2020 12:00 AM
This is fantastic. I was on the zoom the evening this case was mentioned and am so proud and pleased that you are doing this. We need many tools to deal with these current day Nazis. I just heard today on another zoom that they are not neo-Nazis, but just Nazis. Do you agree?
(18) Ilene Shapiro, October 23, 2020 10:06 PM
Support IFA for religious and racial justice
(17) Martin (U.K.), October 23, 2020 6:53 AM
US Jews need to wake up and smell the coffee
The US Democrat party is now following in the footsteps of the U.K. Labour Party under the previous leader Jeremy Corbyn Have US Jewish leaders learnt nothing from the silence shown by their predecessors prior to and during WW2? The last U.K. election brought in the Conservative party. The Labour Party attracted more than 20 million votes even though it was widely considered that Corby. And his union leaders were Jew/Israel-Haters Social Democracy is a threat along with all extreme left and extreme right parties and their Islamic allies The EU is still basically socialist led I would not argue iAmerican history but European and elsewhere history shows that extreme left wing totalitarian states don’t work. As the sun set on the British empire, I fear the same is happening to the USA with the Obama inspired Social Democrats. Even Sweden and Scandinavia are suffering. Paradise is what you make of life
(16) Anonymous, October 23, 2020 4:29 AM
Suing Neo Nazis is exactly what needs to be done
Suing Neo Nazis is exactly what needs to be done. When they live at home & under their parents roof, they need to sue their parents as well, most Neo Nazis are broke & delinquents and won’t have a dime anyways so go after their parents. Secondly, start a master list of the Neo Nazis lies. One reason they keep going is because they are not held accountable for their lying. Keep a running scorecard of each of their lies & broadcast it everywhere. For most people you only have to show someone lying 2-3 times before people realize they are nothing but liars!
(15) Bobby5000, October 23, 2020 2:03 AM
real dangers
An article reported, New York City's alarming surge in gun crime continued with seven more shootings and 10 victims — including two people hit during a party in East New York — capping a week that averaged a murder a day, according to police sources. After the city on Saturday reached the grim milestone of having already seen more shootings than the whole of 2019, the gunfire continued across the city into early Sunday. It capped a week with 32 shootings — that left 36 separate victims — far more than the 19 attacks for the same week last year.
The primary danger to the Jewish community and others is the dramatic increase in crime, caused by the release of criminals, sustained attacks against the police, and elimination of quality of life offenses. Several report New York State is no prosecuting those who attack police.
Ask someone in Brooklyn, is he more worried about a shooting on the next street, or an incident in the south. The New York Attorney General needs to start worrying about street crime in New York.
(14) David, October 22, 2020 8:02 PM
Question
What is significant about August 2017?
(13) Paulette Simon, October 22, 2020 7:15 PM
Your courage is what this world needs most now . Thank you for standing up for the Truth and Justice.
Finally representatives of the Jewish nation are staring up to the lies that have been perpetuated for so long.
Truth and justice must be our strong values for a peaceful world without violence or fear
(12) Reuven, October 22, 2020 6:10 PM
Another lesson
I am with you, but please remember Nazis are of the left. Socialists are leftists. Richard Spencer is a Biden supporter. The Proud Boys are headed by a black man and are not a white supremacist group. Western Chauvinism is their general tenet. They should not be included in this piece.
Joseph Harris, October 22, 2020 8:28 PM
Nazis were fascists who started as an anti-communist and anti left party.
The notion that Nazis were left wingers is one of the more delusional and stupid things that right wing nuts say. They were literally the opposite of the left.
Martin, October 23, 2020 6:36 AM
You are wrong.
European history note
The National Socialist Workers Party in Germany was classified as far left. As Stalinists clashed with Trotskyists so did Hitler clash with the Communist party.
Personal power came first as Hitler equated the communists as Jewish led
It was only after Hitler and his Nazis invaded the Soviet Union that it became Right wing
(11) Anonymous, October 22, 2020 5:40 PM
Defendants are Most Likely Judgment-Proof
The defendants in this suit probably don't have two nickels to rub together. They are a very small group of pathetic losers.
KH Ryesky, October 25, 2020 1:48 PM
Judgment-proof, Shmudgment-proof
Many probably are judgment proof. But Bankruptcy Code § 523(a)(6) makes debts "for willful and malicious injury by the debtor to another entity or to the property of another entity" nondischargeable in bankruptcy.
They will have extreme difficulty getting approval for credit cards, mortgages, and other loans.
Get the judgment against them and impose upon them the economic equivalent of slavery for the remainder of their lives.
(10) Anonymous, October 22, 2020 5:09 PM
Do you have Amy's email address as I warntto check something out on her last name and a possible family tie.
Tanks
Bruce
(9) Joseph Harris, October 22, 2020 4:25 PM
Trump and racism
Just two things I encountered recently.
First, the "high brow" Trump racist.
Conservative lawyer floats challenge of election outcome. This is an AP article.
https://apnews.com/article/election-2020-virus-outbreak-iowa-city-iowa-michigan-9a626c52364b28c4194dafac7039f04a
"Kaardal is an attorney for the Amistad Project of the Thomas More Society,"
So you don't have to look them up, I did. They are primarily interested in attacking virus restrictions in the name of religious freedom, anti-abortion stuff, and in this case, voter suppression. Voter suppression under the name Amistad project.
For those of you who don't remember your early 19th century American history. *The Amistad was a slave ship.*
The second was just a redneck I saw driving in his big ole pick-up truck. It had the big wheels and the Dixie flags and the MAGA stuff. It tastefully added large plastic testicles to its cargo hook.
The vanity license plate displayed the tea-party appropriated Culpepper flag, with the coiled snake. It said MG-34.
For those of you who aren't up on second world war military hardware... An MG-34 was the Maschinengewehr 34, otherwise known as a burp gun, used by the German army to kill thousands of our men and countless civilians.
Trump emboldens racists. Trump is a racist. Trump famously thought there were good people on both sides of Charolottesville. At ths point, anyone who ignores this simply signals that they too are racist.
037, October 22, 2020 6:56 PM
I think you're full of hatred
On what bases are you accusing Trump of being racist? Just because you hate him so bad? Thank you President Trump for moving US Embassy Bach to Jerusalem! Thanks for the Peace Treaty with the Arabic nations! Trump 2020!
RA'ANAN, October 22, 2020 8:44 PM
Joseph Harris, you are really good at...
disseminating disinformation! Here's what Trump said during that same speech: "And you had people, and I'm not talking about the neo-Nazis and the white nationalists, because they should be condemned totally. But you had many people in that group other than neo-Nazis and white nationalists." That's the exact OPPOSITE of racism!
You know who emboldens ANTI-SEMITISM??? The DEMOCRATIC PARTY which wants to push the 6 MILLION JEWS in ISRAEL into the Auschwitz Borders of 1967, BEFORE 5 Arab nations attacked Israel in a failed attempted-genocide of the Jewish people in their land! The Democratic Party has shifted from liberalism to leftism & their last leaders, Obama & Hillary Clinton, blocked weapons to Israel in the middle of one of the last Gazan Wars! Those same leftists also gave $150 BILLION to the terrorist leaders of IRAN! Iran said they wanted to use that money to destroy Israel & bankrolled the terrorist leader Nassrallah on Israel's northern border. You've actually brought out why it's so important to VOTE for President Trump's reelection! He certainly did NOT support white supremacists who chanted "the Jews will not replace us" when his own daughter & grandchilren are JEWS!
Anonymous, October 24, 2020 12:35 AM
Thank you RA'ANAN!
Yes, thank you RA'ANAN you have written my own thoughts pretty well. I am amazed at the blindness so many people seem to have. I recently said to a friend who supports Biden, we might have had our last Fourth of July if Biden gets elected. And this friend is a veteran-he said,"so what who cares.' I was speechless. At that very moment I felt a strong felling of demonic evil. And later that day the name Democrat became,"Demonrat" very strongly in my mind. I for one love the United States of America & am very concerned about Her future. I've noticed in all of the comments not one person has mentioned the Almighty G-D of all creation. I feel we need to cry out oh so humbly that He may hear from heaven and heal our land. The righteous prayers of the humble can accomplish much. Please vote for Donald Trump because he is a nationalist-not a communist. He truly loves America!! I ask please don't defeat my comment-thank you.
(8) Anonymous, October 22, 2020 3:19 PM
The new Nazis
Today's Nazi's come under the guise of governmental officials seeking to protect us against ourselves. In the Jewish communities of NYC, there is an overwhelming amount of Governmental agencies closing down Jewish shop keepers, and doing it with glee and a vengeance. While other minorities are free to assemble unmasked by the tens of thousands to protest social injustice. The double standard is glaring, frightening and dangerous. One man has unilaterally with no checks and balances closed down Shules, Yeshivas and Bais Yaakovs, yet everyone is silent. Neither the courts or the assembly or State Senate have stopped the Governor/Mayor, or challenged his state of emergency. What emergency? According to the NY Times there were 7 Covid deaths in NYC on October 21,2020, which has a population of 8,300,000. Are we missing something? People always wonder why the Jews were silent in the WWII era, aren't we doing the same?
(7) DAVID GOLDSTEIN, October 22, 2020 3:04 PM
Bravo
Keep up the great work!!
(6) Hindy Kierman, October 22, 2020 2:58 PM
Election
There is only one answer to all this and that is Trump. Jews voting for Biden are either in an ‘anyone but Trump,’ mentality, or they are looking at Trump’s personality, and not his policies, or they simply do not understand what a Biden win would mean: the end of America as we knew it, with hate groups such as Antifa, BLM and White Supremacists attacking Jewish neighborhoods, like a pogrom of so many years ago in Europe. Sooner or later, the ‘welcome mat,’ for the Jews in whatever country they’re in, (except Israel) wears thin, and it seems that, that is the case now. Virulent AntiSemitism has reared its ugly head here in the U.S. Unbelievable? Not really. Meir Kahan’s predicted this 45 years ago when American Jews were thriving. Nobody gave his prescient words a thought. Well here it is and with a Biden win, it will make now look like DisneyWorld.
Anonymous, October 22, 2020 3:49 PM
Trump 2020
I agree. Trump is the better choice for American Jews. Most Jews can’t see this, as most are Democrats. Trump has done more toward Middle East peace than Obama/ Biden ever did.
I think that Trump will do more for Jews and will have Israel’s back. After all, Trump and Netanyahu are good friends, unlike
Obama and Netanyahu.
Clifton, October 22, 2020 4:38 PM
Agree
Totally agree. The first US President to recognize Jerusalem and work towards viable peace and yet is denounced by the left wing marxists and anti-semites.
I will always stand with my Jewish brothers and sisters in the face of violence. Denounce the dnc for their disgusting support of the KKK And groups like them. Biden glowingly eulogized that senator grand kleagle Byrd and we are supposed to ignore that.
037, October 22, 2020 7:08 PM
Zactly!
Am w/ye on that one bro!
Viva Israel!!
(5) Anonymous, October 22, 2020 2:52 PM
Overrated
Extremists on the socialist side of things and the extreme anti-socialist side of things both have a wretched history of dealing with Jews. Two minority extremist groups brawling do not make for a defining moment in America. A curse on all their houses, though.
(4) Anonymous, October 22, 2020 1:51 PM
Thank you!
Amazing what’s she’s doing. This is living Torah, in my opinion, standing up to make a change to help the Jewish people and mankind! Inspiring to us all to do what we can even if we don’t think it will change anything.
(3) Bill Josephson, October 22, 2020 1:49 PM
Neo-Nazis and Charlottesville
I only have 2000 symbols so here goes.
The overwhelming majority of anti Semitic violent behavior in the US is perpetrated by the Democrat Party base BLM, Antifa, and Black Muslims.
All violent authoritative totalitarian groups advancing communism, fascism, socialism, and Marxism are leftist. Even Richard Spencer today is a Biden supporter. KKK David Duke's favorite congressman is Omar.
Yes, they're all anti Semitic and they all come from the left side of the political spectrum. They hate Jews more than people of color minorities. The Jews harmed/dying in New York and New Jersey were Louis Farrakhan Nation of Islam disciples.
My point being. Democrat party supporting Leftists and Muslims are those most violent towards Jews blaming us for slave trade bringing Blacks here, "Jewish International bankers controlling the world," Israeli "apartheid," 1967 Israeli sinking of the USS Liberty, and many more throughout history.
Jews supporting Democrats need to understand they're supporting a party whose base either hates or doesn't care what happens to them.
Final point, those supporting retaining Lee's statue had protest permits.
Antifa did not. They were the ones causing the riots. And the police response separating the two groups ineffective. They, in turn funneled, lawful protesters into the Antifa protesters there illegally exacerbating the problem.
Of personal interest to me as our son went there and graduated in 2010--wo we knew the area.
Best Regards,
Bill
Anonymous, October 22, 2020 4:46 PM
Thumbs Up
Excellent summary. I agree. Bravo for Amy.
Reuven, October 22, 2020 11:10 PM
Liked the comment
I wish I had read your comment before I wrote mine. Regardless, dittos to you Bill
(2) Anonymous, October 22, 2020 1:42 PM
Guilty by Association or Innocent by Acclimation?
Ah the "little-known 1871 federal law law that criminalized efforts by the Klu Klux Klan to re-enslave African Americans." This law was written by Republicans, and passed by Republicans. Not ONE DEMOCRATE voted to pass this law. Look it up quick before Google removes all ability to easily 'fact check' this. YES, the groups of people you describe by their actions are anathema to anyone who purports to love and serve God. Yes, we should call them out whenever we encounter these types of actions or THE KIND OF THINKING THEY ENGAGE IN. And that is why I am calling you out, Dr. Miller. Because you are inadvertently guilty of the this type of thinking. We need to profoundly resist the urge to 'brand' people as guilty by association, lest we create the same morass that Europe descended to in the early part of the 20th century. People whose political opinions are merely different from our own should be embraced and even tolerated, (keep reading Dr. Miller) up to the point that they threaten violence. Then that is a different matter. This is called 'free speech.' If an individual expresses an opinion that is left or right of center, they are entitled to that opinion. We can ignore it, or choose to discourse with them on it, as I do now. But what we should NEVER do, is demonize them by associating them with something pernicious, exaggerating their belief or opinion into something it is not. This is a trick of the evil one, as old as what we know from Genesis. And just so we are crystal clear, yes people who carry axe handles and fly confederate flags and shout hateful speech should be called out for what they are, just as people who fly BLM or Antifa flags, loot, burn and destroy property should be called out for who they are. Both groups are the same. Evil. The results of either speak for themselves. But we must resist the urge to demonize all opposition to our ideas, lest we find ourselves in a new form of oligarchy that would make Third Reich envious.
MESA, October 22, 2020 4:21 PM
It's true that in 1871, it was Republicans who passed that law. At that time, the relatively new Republican party did these things while the Democrats protected the old prejudices. But in the early 20th century, thanks to Presidents Woodrow Wilson, Calvin Coolidge, and Franklin Roosevelt, the parties "changed sides." The Republicans became the party of less government involvement while the Democrats became the party of more involvement.
(1) Anonymous, October 22, 2020 1:36 PM
Keep up the good work, my Youtube channel is dedicated to your cause
My Youtube channel is dedicated to your cause. A couple months from now I will be doing a 3 part show on my channel on how to defeat some of the anti Semitism and permanently refuting over 100 anti Semitic allegations. I hope everyone can work with me.
Solving Politics on YouTube.