Joe Scheidler interview at Aurora PP protest
by guest poster Fran Eaton, editor of Illinois Review
At the Planned Parenthood protest in Aurora today, I had a chance to ask Pro-Life Action League’s founder Joe Scheidler if what the president of Illinois NOW told me was true – had he indeed been arrested 40 times, some for assault and battery?
[JLS note: Besides viewing a great interview with Joe, you can get a sense by this video of the energy of the protest today. You can see the picket at the main road in the background, and hear some of the chanting and car honks in support.]
Aug.25, 2007 5:29 pm |
Industry watch |
Jill Stanek is a nurse turned speaker, columnist and blogger, a national figure in the effort to protect both preborn and postborn innocent human life.
I really admire Joe Scheidler for what has done.
…I signed up Massachusetts citizens for life
My wife and I were there and it was incredible. There was a whole slew of people. The only thing that completely irritated me is I didn’t see any news camera’s from any major media. What? 1500 people picketing a company who wants to bring up an office in Aurora is not news worthy? ABC, NBC, CBS would have been all over this if it were a hundred queers protesting a Hooters.
And liberals say the media isn’t biased…. Ha!
“The only thing that completely irritated me is I didn’t see any news camera’s from any major media. What? 1500 people picketing a company who wants to bring up an office in Aurora is not news worthy?”
Joe, this doesn’t surprise me, the MSM are co-conspirators in the evil abortion business. They are not on our side.
The Daily Herald did a story on the protest.
http://www.dailyherald.com/story/?id=25600
My favorite quote from it: [Jim Murphy, who moved to the same ward as the clinic a year ago. “Aurora does not need to be known as the Auschwitz of America.”]
I read it Joe, that was pretty fair article.
Even though I KNOW this will be deleted, Joe, what have you got against homosexuals? What have they done to you?
Please email me; I would like to discuss this with you. You seem to be a fairly intelligent man, and seeing you talking about “queers” and whatnot just doesn’t seem to be in character for you.
Danny
Just to point something out….while I doubt Joe was using it in such a way, it is perfectly fine to refer to someone as “queer” (or “gender-queer”). A lot of people prefer to not identify as gay or straight, and instead prefer to establish their own identity.
And are you straight edge? I saw the “Death Before Dishonor” on your MySpace…..so either edge, or FSU?
Jill – thanks for posting the video. Of all the pro-life leaders I’ve ever met, Joe Schiedler has been one of the most plain-spoken, easy going ones! He is extremely humble, and has such a great attitude about the personal hell that NOW dragged him through in their ridiculous (and largely disproven) case.
Phil,
I can see where you’re coming from, and it seems that yes, I may have been hasty. It didn’t seem to be very in character for Joe, so that’s why I questioned it.
As for Death Before Dishonor, I’m not straight-edge. I smoke, drink, and have pre-marital sex. I did drugs at a point in my life, but don’t touch them anymore just because of personal preference. I was offered to join FSU, and I’m still debating it. However, Death Before Dishonor is something I carry for my old SHARP crew, and for my brothers from military school.
Hope that cleared things up for you ^_^V
Thanks Danny, it did. If I was you, I would turn down ANY offer to join FSU. At this point, FSU is known solely for its violent nature (beyond what even run-of-the-mill militant hxc crews stand for). Now with people talking about the Rolling Stone mag article (I haven’t read it yet), and the fact that almost anyone who knows of FSU has ill feelings towards them, I think you can find a better group of people to roll with.
If you were straight edge (and pro-life, and vegan), I’d suggest you try to revive the Love is Conflict crew. The tenet was the basic hardline (pro-life/vegan/straightedge), and the focus was heavy on education, tabling, and activism.
And now some of the crew is working full-time in the pro-life movement :)
Phil, keep in mind that you are talking to a retired SHARP skinhead. I didn’t get the moniker of Skinhead Dan because I found it cute. I know what FSU is about, and the reason I haven’t given them an answer is due to two reasons. One, I left the Chicago Boot Crew because I wanted to get somewhere in life, and running and fighting wasn’t going to get me any closer to my goal. Two, FSU has lost what glory it used to have. They were founded to drive racists, fascists, and Neo-Nazis out of the East Coast hardcore scene. I can dig that. However, they’ve taken their vows of fraternity and brotherhood to a dangerous level of seriousness, so bad that they act like the Nazis they formed to eradicate and demand respect from the community because of who they are.
No, I’m not joining the FSU. I’m not reviving the LICC. I’m in a crew now, but it’s a crew that doesn’t require constant bloodshed as a membership fee. Jill and MK met two of my fellow crew members today [We’re at the end of the slideshow].
Out of curiosity, Phil, what’s your background like? Are you affiliated with any crews? Straight-edge? Just curious, friend.
“The only thing that completely irritated me is I didn’t see any news camera’s from any major media. What? 1500 people picketing a company who wants to bring up an office in Aurora is not news worthy?”
Joe, this doesn’t surprise me, the MSM are co-conspirators in the evil abortion business. They are not on our side.
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Uh, people…
I don’t suppose you’ve noticed that hundreds of people in the great state of Illinois lost their homes, their livlihoods, and their very lives this week?
You’re shooting for media coverage, you can’t even produce a D-list celebrity spokesman or “pro-life” presidential candidate, and you were HARDLY the biggest breaking story. What did you expect?
Phil and Danny,
This is all Greek to me. What are all these initials you are talking about?
Hey Danny. That’s good to hear. I am pro-life/vegan/edge.
FSU changing was (somewhat) like ARA. They formed to combat racism with direct action. Now, half the ARA actions are against pro-life actions (they did have strong anti-pro-life sentiments from the getgo, but the focus is greater now). I was in NYC for the Republican Convention protests, and hung out with the ARA group (there was maybe 10) who were planning on attacking the pro-lifers who were shadowing the NARAL/PP/NOW march across the Brooklyn Bridge. All the kids did was steal signs, and pretend they made some revolutionary difference.
The only crew membership I’ve claimed recently was the Button Crew (at a show, me and some friends passed out some large pins with a smiling baby that said “Thanks for choosing life!” with the intent of just raising awareness with them….we got probably 1/4 of the people there to “join”…then we ran out of pins) and the Crotchety Crew – me and a few friends who feel old when we go to shows. We ask for senior discounts at shows, and call the little kids “whippersnappers”….and we all stay out of the pit because we don’t have health insurance and can’t afford any injuries.
At this point, I’m just in it for fun..
Mary, I feel the same way. There is like a whole side of society I know literally NOTHING about.
SHARP – Skinhead Against Racial Prejudice
FSU – Friends Stand United
LICC – Love Is Conflict Crew
Ok, so what are these “crews” of which you speak. Phil’s seem like pretty tounge in cheek “gangs” made up of his buddies.
The others sound like actual gangs? I keep imagining a clockwork orange.
Rmember Danny, you’re talking to a suburban housewife.
Go Joe!!!
Phil, so you’re edge. Are you a punk, skin, neutral? I’m trying to figure out who you are, ya know?
Lauren,
Friends Stand United was a group started with the explicit purpose of getting the Neo-Nazis out of the East Coast hardcore scene back in the 80s. However, it’s turned into a bunch of street thugs since then.
Love Is Conflict I’m not too familiar with, but I can explain the idea behind a crew, or at least how I understand it.
Example: The Exiles from Bartlett, Illinois. Now disbanded, they were formed by a group of friends [punks, skins, psychobillies, etc] in order to act as a family for two friends of theirs who’d recently been orphaned. They served as a family for their friends, and were always there for each other, no matter what.
Example: The Chicago Boot Crew from Clark & Belmont, in Chicago. We were founded to fight against the rising population of Neo-Nazis that were making attacks on Boystown and minority groups on the Northside. We believed in unity, peace, and brotherhood, and are still going strong today. I retired, but the new generation still upholds the values that were set down in the early 90s.
Crews start to support a cause, or for a group of friends to be able to have someone to call on in a time of need. The crew I run with now, the SCUDs, don’t tolerate racism, bigotry, anti-semitism, homophobia, or fascism, and choose to passively resist it. I’m the only skinhead of the crew, but I’m not the only one that will fight for what I believe in. We’ve all earned our scars and we all will fight if it’s necessary. Otherwise, we don’t fight at all.
It’s really hard to explain to someone who has never experienced it.
So are there like “gang wars”? I mean, how are you resisting these things? I assume you don’t mean writing letters to your congressmen.
A crew is essentially a gang, but rooted within the hardcore music subculture. Some crews are well organized, have a specific mission, and act on it. Many are for a good purpose (like promoting a certain message, promoting inclusion, etc), but others are just a band of (mostly) guys who act like apes and fight people.
I would suggest going to http://www.urbandictionary.com and http://www.wikipedia.org. Type in something like “hardcore” or “crew” and then just surf through the writeups. It really is an interesting subculture.
OK wait, is this just like a band’s street crew?
No, this isn’t like a band’s street crew. Most crews have their roots in music or in a certain subculture [mainly true punks and skinheads are the ones that form crews that have a mission]. The hardcore scene, and I mean original Minor Threat/Black Flag hardcore, started a lot of crews as well.
As for how we resist what we’re against… Well, I won’t go into detail, but let’s say that we weren’t gentle. Writing letters to a government official isn’t going to accomplish jack squat. Like I’ve said before, soldiers of the street…
There are wars, yes, but mostly between opposing factions. SHARPS and Neo-Nazis get into it all the time. Crews don’t really fight with each other unless they have opposing viewpoints or unless they have a dispute, but most regions set up an alliance so these disputes can be settled diplomatically. For example, I’m the SCUD ambassador whenever theres a meeting for the NWSPS [Northwest Suburbs Punks and Skins], and all the leaders/ambassadors will sit down and talk things out before there’s any fighting. It used to be that we’d just fight and whoever won got what they’d set out to achieve. Unfortunately, because of cops and the public opinion of us, we’ve been forced to take a diplomatic approach to things before we fight at all.
It’s a change of pace, but I’m happy for it. It’s nice to be a part of something that doesn’t require constant bloodshed.
So what are you fighting for? I mean, what do you control in terms of the neighborhood ect?
I mean, if you say “we fight racism”, what does that mean practically?
We. Fight. Racism.
We don’t tolerate it within our crew. We talk to people who are racist and try to get them to see the truth. We defend someone who is being treated poorly just because they’re not white. I beat the hell out of a kid who called my friends who work at the Oasis “sand ni**ers.”
Back when I was a skin, it was a bit more than that. We fought Nazis and constantly tried to break up their different factions, and we constantly fought with racist people. It was a lot of fighting, and I don’t regret leaving that life because I couldn’t keep up with it.
Danny,
We defend someone who is being treated poorly just because they’re not white
How about we defend someone who is being treated poorly just because they are not born and live in a womb? Now there’s a worthy cause!
MK, you are just going to be my momma and a thorn in my side at the same time, aren’t you?
We all have causes we deem worthy. You have yours. I have mine. Can’t we just fight our own battles and not constantly try to recruit more soldiers?
As William Wallace said before the Battle of Falkirk, “I haf brocht ye to the ring, now see gif ye can dance.”
Well,
Canyou dance Danny? I have brought you to the ring! Time to reel…
And if you look the definition of mom up on dictionary.com you’ll see “thorn in ones side”…
“And gentlemen now aged in England who were not there, will think themselves accursed, and hold their manhood cheap, when any speaks who fought with us upon St. Crispin’s day.”
Have fun doing your little Irish reel. Watch a true Scotsman in action, lass, and see how to do it the right way.
Yeah, I looked up the definition. It also listed pain in my @$$ as an adjective. You make me smile and growl at the same time! I didn’t even think that was physically possible!
Hey, Joe, 8:57p, you’re right, that’s a profound quote. Just posted it as quote of day.
Jasper, 10:14p, I didn’t think the article was fair at all.