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'Mob Attack' Aftermath: Fundraising Emerges for Both Sides

Efforts to raise money are under way for two groups involved in a violent attack at the Ashford House in Tinley Park. Anti-racists are claiming responsibility for the brutality while officials have said white supremacists were the targets.

 

Radical solidarity, usually measured in bodies, bombs and bombast, is now being measured in dollars.

Donation pages have been established for people on both sides of a blitzkrieg inside the Ashford House Restaurant on Saturday.

Five Indiana men, along with 13 companions, connected with the Anti-Racist Action (ARA) movement are accused of targeting and beating an unsuspecting group of white nationalists. What supposedly began as the first meeting of the European Heritage Association (EHA)—which looks to provide resources for small business owners of their kind—ended in mob violence.

One page hoping to garner $250,000 for bail, “adequate legal representation” and the care of their families of the men arrested has reached $850 in a couple days.

Mark Potok, senior fellow with the Southern Poverty Law Center, said the ARA has a long-standing history of violence—one Tinley Park Patch will delve into more this Friday. Potok is also the editor in chief of the law center’s investigative magazine, The Intelligence Report.

“The ARA, you have to understand, they think they're heroes right now,” Potok said.

On Twitter, a feed dedicated to helping the “Tinley Park Five” was created. Its profile picture shows a spray-painted Pac-Man feeding on a swastika.

The author of another site is seeking donations for the men and women targeted in the attack, as well as “damages to the restaraunt (sic)” and “childrens (sic) charities.” As of Wednesday afternoon, it had raised nothing.

Damages

Bail for the Five totals $975,000, 10 percent of which must be posted for release.

The defendants, three of whom are brothers, were charged each Monday with one count of felony mob action, aggravated battery and criminal damage to property. Bail for Cody Sutherlin, 23, was set at $200,000 and $175,000 each for Dylan Sutherlin, 20, Alex Stuck, 22, and John Tucker, 26. The highest amount of $250,000 was pinned on Jason Sutherlin, 33.

Cook County Assistant State's Attorney Mike Deno said that’s because he was convicted of an Indiana burglary in 1998. He was sentenced to 10 years in prison but only served two. He successfully completed probation in 2008, Deno said.

The only other defendant with a criminal background is Cody Sutherlin, whom Deno said was convicted in 2002 of a misdemeanor operating while intoxicated charge.

Assistant Public Defender David Colaris argued for a reasonable bail, given that only one in the group had a felony conviction and even he didn’t have a history of neglecting court appearances. He also noted that the Five didn’t “have any money.”

Those raising money on the other side allege that $300,000 is needed. Damages to the restaurant, according to Ashford House owner Mike Winston, total around $15,000.

The coordinator of the victim’s fund did not immediately return requests seeking comment on the disparity between the two values.

READ: 'We're Not Skinheads,' Says Man Hurt in Ashford House Beating

Hate Crime?

Brandon Spiller, who spoke Tuesday with Patch about the stapled hole in his head, is the only Ashford House victim named in police complaints, though two others were reportedly hospitalized and several others targeted.

He denied the label of white nationalist, but dodged questions about which ethnic clubs—in addition to EHA—he might belong to. On the Internet, however, members of ARA allege that he is affiliated with the Council of Conservative Citizens, which describes cohabitation in black and white terms:

We also oppose all efforts to mix the races of mankind, to promote non-white races over the European-American people through so-called “affirmative action” and similar measures, to destroy or denigrate the European-American heritage, including the heritage of the Southern people, and to force the integration of the races.

The Illinois Hate Crime statute is written in a way that relies not just on the “actual” sex, color or creed of the victim but the “perceived” sex, color or creed of the victim. In other words, it doesn’t necessarily matter to the court whether Spiller is a fascist. It matters whether his attackers thought he was.

According to the website of ARA, the network that has taken credit for the attack and for fundraising efforts, “The White Nationalists were targeted inside the restaurant and physically attacked, causing several injuries and completely shutting down their meeting … Anti-fascists oppose any organizing by racists and fascist in their communities.”

A spokesman from the Illinois affiliate of the American Civil Liberties Union shied away from questions Wednesday relating to Saturday's attack, saying the nonprofit organization doesn't track data about hate groups. The union also stands by the tenent that such groups have a right to exist, representatives said.

A spokeswoman for the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office said the matter is still under investigation, noting that more charges, including those that may be hate-crime related, could be forthcoming. A grand jury is scheduled to convene before the next pretrial court hearing on June 12.

It also remains to be seen whether the U.S. Department of Justice will get involved, because the Five are accused of crossing state lines with the purpose of committing mob violence, and what that will mean for the pockets of the Five.

 

Keep up with us by subscribing to Tinley Park Patch breaking news alerts and perusing our coverage so far on the Ashford House attack.

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Related Topics: Anti-Racist Action, Ashford House, Ashford House Attack, and white supremacists

Moonglow

7:56 am on Thursday, May 24, 2012

Yeah right they aren't "skinheads"! How about raising money to repair the damage the morons did to a business they destroyed?!! I suppose the "groups" weren't smart enough to "take it outside" if they had a beef with the group inside or better yet, NOT CAUSE ANY PROBLEMS AT ALL?? I bet their parents are really proud of the idiots they raised!

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4th wright

8:59 am on Thursday, May 24, 2012

If the offenders are convicted, they should be required to pay for all damages (including any loss of revenue) to the restaurant, and any medical bills accrued by the "victims". They have managed to make martyrs out of race mongers, which I did not think possible. This is what happens when tiny minds clash.

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White Irish Heritages

4:28 pm on Thursday, May 24, 2012

Sorry, why did you put "victims" in quotes? Mike Winston is not a victim?

I think you are irrational and blind to the facts.

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Dave W.

12:50 am on Friday, May 25, 2012

WIH, 4th wright (good name...) is not speaking about Mike Winston. Nobody thinks Mr. Winston deserved any of this. He should be properly compensated for his damages, both physical and to his building.
Matyrs out of race mongers is right, 4th, and when tiny minds clash indeed.

Jim Vondracek

10:06 am on Thursday, May 24, 2012

An alternate course (and a better strategy) to combat white racist hate groups like the one that was attacked is to publicize them - I didn't know about the EHA at all and am appalled that some of our neighbors are a part of it. The anti-racists/anti-facists could have written up articles and sent them to the Patch and other local media, organized a picket line at the restaurant, etc. Exposing the racist hate groups is one of the best ways of combating them.

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White Irish Heritages

4:54 pm on Thursday, May 24, 2012

If you don't know anything about EHA, how can you be appalled?

Jim wanted to say: "I didn't know about the EHA at all and am appalled that some of our neighbors are a part of it."

I think you are therefore prejudiced. That's your American civil right, it does make you a bigot, however.

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Dave W.

12:57 am on Friday, May 25, 2012

Again WIH, you need everything spoon fed to you...I believe that what Mr. Vondracek was going for here is that he didn't know but NOW DOES, because he has a computer (obviously) and the Google machine. EHA is a bad front for a racist organization. People call them euphemisms. It takes about ten second if you take your time to find out who they are connected with. Just come out and admit you are sympathetic to them already (if not a member). It isn't like you are fooling people who can read. Doth protesteth too much, you know? That and you couldn't resist naming yourself WHITE Irish Heritage. Bet a whole lot of NON-white Irish people are annoyed with you now...actually, any right thinking white Irish people probably are too.

Jim Vondracek

10:07 am on Thursday, May 24, 2012

The ARA will be tried for their crimes, probably convicted and pay the price. Not much else to say about them, really.

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White Irish Heritages

4:56 pm on Thursday, May 24, 2012

The ARA leader Jacob Domke lists his gender as "other" on his public website. That would make this a possible Homosexual attack on Heterosexuals, which brings Federal Hate Crime charges as the crime was committed on perceived {Heterosexual} sexual orientation. How do you feel about that, Jim?

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Dave W.

1:00 am on Friday, May 25, 2012

Actually, boy wonder, hate charges can be brought just because they 'hate' the fascists they attacked. You really aren't good with the law...or facts.
So only you get something extra out of that guy being gay...how do you feel about THAT, WIH?

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Jim Vondracek

2:55 pm on Thursday, May 24, 2012

Thanks for the interesting article, Roseann. Who knew that white racist hate/fascist groups were meeting in our neighborhoods. We need to loudly and plainly say how wrong these groups are and that they are not welcome here.

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White Irish Heritages

3:41 pm on Thursday, May 24, 2012

Jim, I'm not sure everybody at The Ashford meeting was of the same group, they seemed to have some diversity to them. For one, several had Irish heritage, Irish-Americans so to speak. So does it really serve American interests to stereotype and be prejudiced against Whites who meet to discuss general White values and economic interests? The Blacks meet in the NAACP.

the Jews meet in the American Jewish Congress AJC.

www.ajcongress.org/

"The American Jewish Congress describes itself as an association of Jewish Americans organized to defend Jewish interests"

Looking out for a group's interests is not hate.

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Dave W.

1:07 am on Friday, May 25, 2012

AGAIN, WIH, if you are going to stay on script, get a better script. It takes NNO time at all to find out who these people are associated with, and it isn't a quilting club. THEY ARE A HATE GROUP. Does it mean they should be attacked? Not in a civilized society, no. Does it mean that good, honest, rational people with good in their heart want vile white supremacists in a restaurant where they go to eat? That they want the brainwashed kids of those monsters talking to THIER kids at the playground? That their town will get painted as a backwoods, redneck Klan town? Nobody wants that. Not the people of Tinley, not the Ashford House, not the Irish-Americans (so to speak). Not anybody in the towns around Tinley...think it was worth it to Ashford House to have them there? Was it their fault?

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Carrie Frillman

2:58 pm on Thursday, May 24, 2012

Yes, Roseann. We're elaborating on that tomorrow. We've talked to the editor in chief of The Intelligence Report. He's been following these groups' activities for a long time.

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White Irish Heritages

3:42 pm on Thursday, May 24, 2012

Carrie Frillman,
The AJC, American Jewish Congress looks out for Jewish interests.
www.ajcongress.org/

Why is it that an American White Congress looking out for White interests is a bad thing?

White Irish Heritages

3:36 pm on Thursday, May 24, 2012

The thing is Jim, if the White pride groups are given publicity, then the lies against them are exposed and the truth about Anti-White agendas is brought to light.

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Shannon_Friend

7:08 pm on Thursday, May 24, 2012

The people who were attacked may very well have been people with an odious ideology. If so, they deserve to be criticized and argued with. However, the people who attacked them are vicious thugs who deserve 10 years in the big house to contemplate their actions, and to send a message to these other "antifa" fascists (how ironic--people who act precisely like Nazi brownshirts and declare themselves "antifascist"). People in the US have the right to speak their mind and to meet with people unless and until they engage in criminal conspiracies or attack others. In this case, the people in the restaurant did neither of these things--the people who attacked did both.

Why is it taking so long to round up the other 13 scumbags?

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Dave W.

1:12 am on Friday, May 25, 2012

The people arrested probably lawyered up pretty quickly. All these even semi-organized groups are probably given strict orders WAY ahead of time what to do in certain scenarios...arrest, somebody gets hurt, group gets split up...etc.
You are absolutely right on all your other points too. Protest against them, debate them and their hateful ideology, ask that they not be served, even, but respect the laws and allow them to be hateful racist in private, so long as they cause no immediate harm.

Dave W.

1:22 am on Friday, May 25, 2012

I do have one, maybe rhetorical, maybe not question/thought/point. Some are continuing to make note of how this unfolded; that the hate group was really innocent. Here is the thing about that...I agree...and I think most people do too.
The thing is, though...the group that was the victim this time...if not they, certainly predecessor groups to them and their 'cause' did exactly the same if not FAR worse (and we KNOW it was worse) to the same people they now meet to complain about.
I think that is the key component to the way people are reacting. The irony is not lost on anybody BUT the victims...well, and White Irish Heritage, of course.
The victims also seem befuddled at how little support they are getting from their 'fellow whites', as if with this blow it was like somebody sank the Lusitania all over again, and there would be some great uprising to protect 'whitehood'.
As Mr. Vondracek said, they aren't welcome in Tinley Park. The question is to that is who DOES want to welcome them?

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Whites Irish Heritage

2:59 pm on Friday, May 25, 2012

A White Heritage group is not a hate group.

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Whites Irish Heritage

3:10 pm on Friday, May 25, 2012

Denise Du Vernay said that it was Stalin, not Lenin who was responsible. That was not true. Lenin set up the GULAG camp system, not Stalin. Former Soviet general and historian had access to the Soviet archives. It changed his mind. He wrote about what he learned.

"The idea of the concentration camp system — the State Camp Administration, or GULAG — and the appalling purges of the 1930s are commonly associated with Stalin, but the true father of the Bolshevik concentration camps, the executions, the mass terror and the ‘organs’ which stood above the state, was Lenin. Against the background of Lenin’s terror, it becomes easier to understand the methods of Stalin’s inquisition, which was capable of executing someone solely on the grounds of suspicion.

Page 235

"[e]ven when he was seriously ill, Lenin never lost sight of his obsession with ‘cleansing Russia for all time’, and he continued to give Stalin instructions to carry out his punitive orders through the Cheka. Stalin was still following Lenin’s advice in the 1930s… "

Page 269

Dimitri Volkogonov Lenin: A New Biography, Free Press 1994
529 pages
Free Press; 1St Edition edition (October 12, 1994)
ISBN-10: 0029334357

Dmitri Volkogonov, an historian and former general in the Soviet Army.
http://www.amazon.com/Lenin-New-Biography-Dmitri-Volkogonov/dp/0029334357
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/obituary-general-dmitri-volkogonov-1524500.html

Whitehood has been unter attack since 1917.

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Whites Irish Heritage

3:50 pm on Friday, May 25, 2012

You can't go around denying White people the right to congregate. That is just Marxist and it leads, history has proven, to genocide.

Lenin, a Marxist, was Mixed-Race (part Jewish, Mongol, White) he hated the concept of Race. He made the 1918 Soviet Constitution which was the world's first Anti-Race constitution. He set up the Gulag concentration camps which killed millions.

1918 the Communist Marxist USSR Racial Equality Constitution:
Constitution (Fundamental Law) of the RSFSR
Adopted by the Fifth All-Russia Congress of Soviets
10 July 1918

Part Two: General Provisions of the Constitution of the RSFSR

CHAPTER FIVE

Article 22. The Russian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic, recognizing the equality of rights of all citizens, irrespective of their race or nationality, declares the establishment or toleration on this basis of any privileges or advantages, or any oppression of national minorities or restriction of their equality, to be contraventions of the fundamental laws of the Republic."

http://www.departments.bucknell.edu/russian/const/18cons01.html

We cannot, in good conscience, allow any such Anti-Race ideology to take root in our communities, for it leads to genocide.

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Dave W.

12:38 am on Saturday, May 26, 2012

So when the Nazis deprived the Jews, along with MILLIONS of other 'white' people, Polish, Czech, Slovak, French, etc., even Austrians..anyone that didn't agree with them, they would make them criminals if they met in groups bigger than two. Southerners controlled every facet of the lives of their slaves until the Civil War, depriving them of a lot more than the ability to congregate. In fact, even today, in many urban settings, groups of minorities more than two are deemed a threat and can be pulled over with no other basis of 'probable cause'. What say you to that? Is it not always terrible to restrict anybody's liberties?
You know who REALLY hated the commies? The fascist. It was one of the reasons Hitler made his likely biggest blunder (of many, luckily) of the war, going into Russia. People always worry about the 'socialist' or the 'communist'...there is no chance of this country going that way, we like money and consumption WAY TOO much as a society. It is WHY we have so much debt. We elect people like us; spendthrifts. The way more insideous threat is fascism. Because we know what social programs look like. Fascism is sneaky...fascist scream about liberty alll the while taking it away in the name of security. 'Patriot Act', anyone? EVERY single email sent gets decifered by somebody or thing. Key words are looked at. Eavesdropping on regular citizens phone calls...yes, even the white people's. '1984' is the snowflake on the tip of the iceberg.

Whites Irish Heritage

4:28 am on Saturday, May 26, 2012

So when the Jew Marxists [Marx and Lenin were Jews] deprived the Christians, along with MILLIONS of other 'white' people, Polish, Czech, Slovak, French, etc., even Austrians..anyone that didn't agree with them, they would make them criminals if they met in groups bigger than two. In fact, even today, in many urban settings, groups of minorities such as Whites [White babies are a minority now in the US] are deemed a threat and can be denied scholarships for school and employment.
You know who REALLY hated the Nazis? The Marxists. It was one of the reasons Lenin made his likely biggest blunder of the early years, going into Poland in 1920. People always worry about the 'Fascist' or the 'Nazi'...there is no chance of this country going that way, we like money and lazy consumption WAY TOO much as a society. It is WHY we have so much debt. The way more insidious threat is Marxism. Because we know what those social programs look like. Marxism is sneaky...Marxists scream about liberty all the while taking it away in the name of security. 'Patriot Act', anyone? EVERY single email sent gets read by somebody or thing. Key words are looked at. Eavesdropping on regular citizens phone calls...yes, even the white people's. '1984' is the snowflake on the tip of the iceberg.

The Marxists kept Eastern Europe in a concentration camp until 1991. Over 400 Gulag camps were in E. Europe alone. People trying to escape were shot on the barbed wire fence of the Iron Curtain.

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Jim Vondracek

7:34 am on Saturday, May 26, 2012

These folks aren't promoting white heritage - they're promoting white supremacy, which is hate. And they have a history of violence and gun charges. They're fascists and they're a hate group. Read the article that Rosanne linked to above, very informative. Its our duty in a democracy to strongly and clearly call out evil, and white supremacy and hate is evil.

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Whites Irish Heritage

9:20 am on Saturday, May 26, 2012

These ARA folks aren't promoting defending human rights - they're promoting Jew supremacy - Marxism, which is hate. And they have a history of violence and burglary. They're marxists and they're a hate group. Read the article that White Irish Heritage linked to above, very informative. Its our duty in a democracy to strongly and clearly call out evil, and ARA and jew supremacy and hate is evil.

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Dave W.

5:15 pm on Sunday, May 27, 2012

Well, WIH, at least you finally came out of the closet and showed your anti-Semitic face. Not sure how you can prove the Marxist and Judiaism are linked, but not sure how anybody retional would ever put 99.98% of what you have said together, so what is the difference, really?
You misquote, pull out of context, and generally just make things up and misinform on purpose. You must be a disciple of Goebbels.
(Nazi propaganda chief Joseph Goebbels, for those who don't quite remember, was the master of the “big lie” tactic in which a lie, no matter how outrageous, is repeated often enough that it will eventually be accepted as truth.)
Nobody is saying the ARA are good people, either. People like you, though, only build sympathy for them with your repeated, off topic rambles of lies and slander.
If we didn't know better, we would think you were FOR the ARA, since you are drumming up such goodwill toward them.

White Irish Heritages3

5:38 am on Thursday, May 31, 2012

Dave W.
Marx was a Jew. Thus Marxism represents the Jew race, just as Hitler and Nazism represnts the White race. Marx is considered by several Jewish scholars, such as Shlomo Avineri to have been strongly for Jewish civil rights, which is Judaism, in fact. The academic field is that of Jewish Emancipation in Europe. You should study it in context with Karl Marx.

You can't expect people to back you when you cite the fact that Hitler and his Nazism was White race, but deny it that Marx and his Marxism were of the Jew race. It is academic dishonesty to not apply the same standards to the study of ideology.

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White Irish Heritages3

5:40 am on Thursday, May 31, 2012

Dave W,
Guess what, the man arrested on the warrant for child pornography, Steven Speers was ARA, an Anarchist in fact it has now been learned.

Steven Speers was not a White Nationalist, but a member of the Red Anarchists who attacked the WNs.

Inmate Release Information Detail

DC Number: Q07978
Name: SPEERS, STEVEN E
Race: WHITE
Sex: MALE
Hair Color: BROWN
Eye Color: BROWN
Height: 5'09''
Weight: 192 lbs.
Birth Date: 09/02/1978
Release Facility: NWFRC ANNEX.
Custody: MEDIUM
Release Date: 04/14/2009

Scars, Marks, and Tattoos:
Type Location Description
TATTOO LEFT ARM A WITH CIRCLE
TATTOO NECK WHOS NEXT
TATTOO RIGHT CHEST ANARCHY

Current Prison Sentence History:
Offense Date Offense Sentence Date County Case No. Prison Sentence Length
10/17/2004 FELONY BATTERY 04/02/2007 BAY 0404272 2Y 6M 0D
07/24/2005 FELONY BATTERY 04/02/2007 BAY 0502554 2Y 6M 0D

His red-anarchy chest tattoo can be seen also in this video.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zIf4zyRwqwg&feature=youtu.be

Steven Speers, the one arrested on a warrant for child pronography was an Anarchist, with several Anarchist tattoos. He was one of the Reds, not one of the WN's.

The Speers arrested child pornographer was an Anarchist not a White Nationalist.

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thomas bottger

11:57 am on Saturday, June 16, 2012

Carrie, Need your help. I just posted an article @ Blogster (Follow-up Report: Tinley Park Attack). Now I'm afraid that due to the sparse and confusing reporting on the case I may have misinformed my readers. Which side is being represented by SPLC? What role, if any, is being played by the ACLU?
I would be eternally grateful if you would visit Blogster, check out my post and comment on or correct its content.
Nobullthinker

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Mimereader2

12:51 pm on Monday, October 1, 2012

This is the world since federal civil rights legislation went to a lunatic extreme and penetrated only the White community's social compact; leaving Chinatowns, gay communities, and Indian reservations to their free and self-determining ways.

Now those who meet even quietly over lunch to discuss this less than democratic disparity are physically attacked, and see themselves denounced in the media as something called "supremacist," when they actually have no influence.

No, Influence is dependent upon actually having a conscious community, and it's the reason why the root to the modern word POLITICS is the ancient Greek word for COMMUNITY, the "polis."

Then the powerless victims find out that a flood of free legal services is being made available to the attackers. But just as the owner of the resturant and the wedding party discovered, first they'll came for some Whites, then they will come for the rest.

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