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White separatist protests adoption fundraiser
White separatist protests adoption fundraiser
A Christian group that helps local families adopt overseas orphans held a fundraising walk through Bozeman on Saturday, raising more than $26,000 from community supporters, but also prompting a one-man protest by white separatist Kevin McGuire.
McGuire, 25, stood on street corners facing the walkers and held up a handmade cardboard sign with the message: “Stop immigration, Keep America white."�
More than 60 mothers, fathers and children participated in the walk to support Sacred Portion Children's Outreach. They walked from Bogert Park up to Joe's Parkway on College Street, then returned to the park for a picnic.
This summer, the nonprofit group plans to bring seven children from the Philippines to Bozeman, four to Billings and four to Boise, for what it calls Summer of Hope events. The group specializes in finding homes for older children who often face greater difficulty finding adoptive parents.
Jan Druckenmiller, Sacred Portion administrative director and mother of five daughters adopted from overseas, said she tried to speak with McGuire.
“He's a little scary,"� she said. “He's got the skinhead. I invited him to come join us for lunch, to meet the families who have adopted kids who don't have homes. He wouldn't even give me eye contact. He just stared straight ahead.
“I wanted to say, 'How would you feel if you grew up in Kazakhstan in an orphanage in dire conditions, without a family, and you had a chance to come to America and have a family?'"�
In May 2005, McGuire got his name on the ballot for the Bozeman School Board, then revealed he was a member of the National Alliance white-separatist group. Twice as many Bozeman voters went to the polls as in the previous school election, many saying they wanted to send a message and see McGuire “trounced as badly as possible."� He received 157 votes out of 4,039 cast.
“Immigration is absolutely a racial issue,"� McGuire said Saturday. “Within 30 years, whites will be a minority in our own country. And in our democratically controlled system, we'll lose control of our own government to alien invaders."�
Asked why he didn't accept Druckenmiller's offer to talk over lunch, McGuire said, “I've nothing to talk about with them."
One of the marchers was Paul Thomas, founder of the HIS Soup mission, which feeds Bozeman's homeless. Thomas and his wife are planning to adopt a boy from the Philippines.
“I don't think he reads the Bible,"� Thomas said of McGuire. “But he's one of God's children, too."�
Asked whether they thought McGuire's protest would intimidate families considering adoption, Druckenmiller and her husband, Craig, Sacred Portion president, said no.
Last year the group raised $55,000 from local businesses, individuals and host families, Craig Druckenmiller said.
“If you look at that kind of support and one person standing on the street, which speaks louder - a sign scrawled on cardboard, or loving families?"� he asked.
Tina Wambeke said she and her husband just adopted three siblings from the Philippines. When she broke the news of the adoption to Anna, 15, the oldest, over the phone, there were “a lot of cries of joy,"� Wambeke said.
“They begged to see snow,"� Wambeke said.
Wambeke said last summer she and her husband got to spend time with the children through Sacred Portion, which let them decide whether they could be parents in their mid-40s and whether the children would like their home.
“We just fell in love,"� she said.
As to McGuire's sign, Wambeke said she had hoped the children wouldn't face racial issues so soon. “In Three Forks, everybody has gone out of their way to make them feel welcome."�
White separatist protests adoption fundraiser
A Christian group that helps local families adopt overseas orphans held a fundraising walk through Bozeman on Saturday, raising more than $26,000 from community supporters, but also prompting a one-man protest by white separatist Kevin McGuire.
McGuire, 25, stood on street corners facing the walkers and held up a handmade cardboard sign with the message: “Stop immigration, Keep America white."�
More than 60 mothers, fathers and children participated in the walk to support Sacred Portion Children's Outreach. They walked from Bogert Park up to Joe's Parkway on College Street, then returned to the park for a picnic.
This summer, the nonprofit group plans to bring seven children from the Philippines to Bozeman, four to Billings and four to Boise, for what it calls Summer of Hope events. The group specializes in finding homes for older children who often face greater difficulty finding adoptive parents.
Jan Druckenmiller, Sacred Portion administrative director and mother of five daughters adopted from overseas, said she tried to speak with McGuire.
“He's a little scary,"� she said. “He's got the skinhead. I invited him to come join us for lunch, to meet the families who have adopted kids who don't have homes. He wouldn't even give me eye contact. He just stared straight ahead.
“I wanted to say, 'How would you feel if you grew up in Kazakhstan in an orphanage in dire conditions, without a family, and you had a chance to come to America and have a family?'"�
In May 2005, McGuire got his name on the ballot for the Bozeman School Board, then revealed he was a member of the National Alliance white-separatist group. Twice as many Bozeman voters went to the polls as in the previous school election, many saying they wanted to send a message and see McGuire “trounced as badly as possible."� He received 157 votes out of 4,039 cast.
“Immigration is absolutely a racial issue,"� McGuire said Saturday. “Within 30 years, whites will be a minority in our own country. And in our democratically controlled system, we'll lose control of our own government to alien invaders."�
Asked why he didn't accept Druckenmiller's offer to talk over lunch, McGuire said, “I've nothing to talk about with them."
One of the marchers was Paul Thomas, founder of the HIS Soup mission, which feeds Bozeman's homeless. Thomas and his wife are planning to adopt a boy from the Philippines.
“I don't think he reads the Bible,"� Thomas said of McGuire. “But he's one of God's children, too."�
Asked whether they thought McGuire's protest would intimidate families considering adoption, Druckenmiller and her husband, Craig, Sacred Portion president, said no.
Last year the group raised $55,000 from local businesses, individuals and host families, Craig Druckenmiller said.
“If you look at that kind of support and one person standing on the street, which speaks louder - a sign scrawled on cardboard, or loving families?"� he asked.
Tina Wambeke said she and her husband just adopted three siblings from the Philippines. When she broke the news of the adoption to Anna, 15, the oldest, over the phone, there were “a lot of cries of joy,"� Wambeke said.
“They begged to see snow,"� Wambeke said.
Wambeke said last summer she and her husband got to spend time with the children through Sacred Portion, which let them decide whether they could be parents in their mid-40s and whether the children would like their home.
“We just fell in love,"� she said.
As to McGuire's sign, Wambeke said she had hoped the children wouldn't face racial issues so soon. “In Three Forks, everybody has gone out of their way to make them feel welcome."�