Earlier this week, an antifascist group out of New York distributed flyers identifying a local resident as a participant in the “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville this past weekend.
The flyers distributed around the town of Honeoye Falls read, “No Nazis in our neighborhood,” and featured an image of a man identified as Jerrod Kuhn carrying a torch amongst a throng of white nationalist marchers on August 11. The flyers also allege that Kuhn is a “leading figure” connected to the neo-Nazi website “The Daily Stormer.” Speaking to the Livingston County News on Wednesday, Kuhn denied any links to white supremacist groups and claimed to be only a “moderate Republican” who traveled to Charlottesville to protest the removal of a Confederate monument.
“I’m not a neo-Nazi,” Kuhn said. “I don’t belong to a German workers’ party from 1933.”
According to Kuhn, the statue of Robert E. Lee is a piece of history and should remain. “It’s important to me that we preserve American history no matter how ugly the past is it’s associated with.”
From the Livingston County News:
The flier, an image of which was posted to the antifascist group’s Facebook page, has been shared and commented on widely on social media. The flier also gives Kuhn’s approximate address in Honeoye Falls, which the Livingston County News is withholding.
The fliers were printed and distributed by volunteers with Eastside Antifascists, a group that was formed “in the wake of violence from the far right that erupted during and immediately after the Trump election.”
In a piece by the Democrat & Chronicle, Kuhn confirmed he had attended the march but claimed to have left after things turned violent, adding that the flyers have caused him to receive death threats.
“I can’t live in this community anymore. I’m in the process of figuring out what I’m going to do,” he said. “I’m 21 years old and now my life is over in this area.”
But according to Peter Berkman, who helped distribute the flyers, participating in a public march organized by white supremacists comes with consequences.
“These folks don’t just get to be weekend neo-Nazis and then come home and live comfortably without having people around them knowing who they are,” Berkman said. “It’s important that people know who he is and that this person is in their community and to proceed with caution.”
Featured image via the Livingston County News
