Neo-Nazis' Billboard Triggers
Showdown in Florida
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Reprinted from
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MIAMI, Fla. — The erection of a neo-Nazi billboard near Orlando
has triggered a showdown between a local business owner and a group
of self-described Jewish militants.
At issue is a billboard on Florida's Turnpike, which sports the
phrase "WHO RULE$ AMERIKA?" and contact information for
the National Alliance, a neo-Nazi group that the Anti-Defamation
League has described as the most dangerous extremist organization
in the United States. As part of a series of moves dubbed "Operation
Nazi Kicker," the militant New York-based Jewish Defense Organization
is organizing protests against the Florida-based Sunshine Outdoor
Inc. and its owner, Jerry Sullivan, for renting the billboard to
the National Alliance.
Leaders of JDO, known for their small but aggressive protests,
are calling for a boycott of Sunshine Outdoor and urging activists
to inundate the company with angry telephone calls. The group has
posted Sullivan's phone number and address on its Web site.
The executive director of the Jewish Federation of Greater Orlando,
Eric Geboff, has been attempting to broker an agreement between
the two sides. The JDO says it will not call off its campaign until
the New Alliance billboard is removed. Meanwhile, Sullivan has said
that the sign, located in Sumter County just north of Okahumpka,
is staying up until the JDO publishes an apology to him on the group's
Web site and stops any protest actions.
Federation leaders sent a letter to the company last week, identifying
what they described as the billboard's offensive message and requesting
that it be removed.
Neither Sullivan nor his associate Dennis O'Neil were available
for comment. In an article published January 5, the Orlando Sentinel
quoted Sullivan as saying: "It's free speech. ... There's no
law against it."
As long as the billboard was paid for, Sullivan reportedly told
the newspaper, he would not take it down.
According to Geboff, the National Alliance pays $300 per month
to rent the billboard as part of a one-year deal that expires in
May. Geboff told the Forward that he has been in contact with Sunshine
Outdoor, and that O'Neil "has been extremely reasonable and
upset that anyone has inferred that they are associated with Nazis."
The head of the JDO, Mordechai Levy, dismissed Sullivan's comments
about free speech.
"There's no free speech for psychotic Nazis," Levy said.
Art Teitelbaum, the Miami-based director of the ADL's southern
region, characterized the National Alliance's ideology as a "poisonous
brew of antisemitic, racist and anti- immigrant ideas framed by
a hostility towards government and democracy." Though the name
of the alliance is not specifically mentioned on the billboard,
it does include a plug for the group's Web site. The billboard,
Teitelbaum said, is "a cost-effective way to trap unknowing
persons into viewing their Web site since they don't identify themselves
on the billboard as the National Alliance."
According to Teitelbaum, the ADL is "exploring every avenue
consistent with the First Amendment to determine if the billboard
message can be removed." But Teitelbaum argued against the
JDO-organized boycott, warning that it could end up hurting innocent
people.
The National Alliance has chapters in Tampa and Orlando, yet Geboff
and Teitelbaum both insisted that Central Florida is no more receptive
to the group's antisemitic messages than other areas of the country.
"Florida has the toughest hate [crimes] laws in the United
States," said Teitelbaum. "They were written by the ADL
and passed by Florida legislation in 1989."
Rabbi Daniel Wolpe, religious leader of The Southwest Orlando Jewish
Congregation-Temple Ohalei Rivka, said that the billboard had virtually
no impact on his congregants because it stands in a rural location
on the side of the highway. "My congregants tend not to drive
by it and see it," Wolpe said.
Daniel Coultoff of the Orlando Federation's community-relations
council, described the billboard as offensive, but said it was not
erected in an area with a high Jewish population. "It's not
like it's sitting in the middle of Orlando — it's an outlying
county," Coutloff said. "People whiz by it at 85 miles
per hour. I don't even know if you could read the Web site going
past."
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Sara Liss is the co-founder
of Petakim and a freelance writer living in Miami.
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