Capitol Hill’s Lincoln Park. Photo by gc-dc

When the Aryan Nations gathers in Capitol Hill’s Lincoln Park on September 22 to protest what they call the “genocide” of white farmers in South Africa, the group’s supporters won’t be alone.

Virginia Spatz, a longtime Capitol Hill resident, is organizing a counter-protest for the same day, saying that residents should “not allow hate-filled ugliness to go unchallenged.” As part of the counter-protest, Spatz is encouraging residents to use the park in the spirit of friendship and wear gold and silver as a sign of unity.

“The idea is to, basically, ignore the hate group but ask people to enjoy the park as usual, or maybe more than usual, largely so that no one who usually does enjoy Lincoln Park will feel afraid in their own space,” said Spatz in an email.

The Aryan Nations, a white supremacist group, has said that it will gather in the park and march to Union Square on the west side of the U.S. Capitol, where its supporters will demand that politicians and the media do something to stop the alleged genocide of South Africa’s white farmers. The last time such a protest took place in the city, in 2008, it ended with the arrest of three counter-protesters.

I asked Spatz whether she thought that her counter-protest would simply give the group the attention it craves. Maybe, she said, but that’s the point. “People in and outside Germany thought Hitler was a joke at the start; evil triumphs when good folk do nothing; and we know from all the research on bullying, etc. that there is a tremendous cost to individuals and our society when people treat hate and bigotry as par for the course,” she wrote.

Spatz also said that September 22 is the Shabbat Shuva, a day set aside in the Jewish calendar to help prepare for the upcoming Day of Atonement. “All interested in this observance are invited to pray and learn—in the park or elsewhere—with special attention to combating bigotry and hatred,” she said.

Other ideas for possible counter-protests—including one by an anarchist group—have been floating around, though nothing has yet been finalized. (Spatz stresses that she’s not affiliated with any of those.) The Metropolitan Police Department has said that it will work to ensure that any protests and counter-protests can happen in peace.