news-record.com

Some people believe the best way to deal with fringe groups such as the National Socialist Movement is to suffocate them with indifference. If a neo-Nazi screams in the middle of a forest, they figure, he doesn't make a sound.

And, by and large, that's what happened Saturday. Aside from approximately 200 people who gathered to rally against the NSM, the community went about its weekend routines.

In addition, a group of clergy had met last week and asked residents to wear multicolored ribbons in support of what the NSM opposes: respect for and appreciation of other cultures.

When the NSM, whose core tenets include racism and segregation, confirmed plans to hold its conference at a local hotel, city leaders understandably were nervous. Thankfully, the Nazis met in a hotel, the protesters miles away at McGee and South Elm streets.

Aside from a minor scuffle at the downtown protest rally, tension eventually gave way to relief. No one was hurt.

The News & Record played a role as well. At the request of police, the paper refrained from mentioning the site of the conference, an unusual but prudent move that may have helped avert a violent confrontation. The Nazi meeting wasn't open to the public, so the public neither stood to benefit from knowing where it was, nor to be done a disservice by not knowing.

In the end, the only incident of note involved some anti-Nazi protesters downtown arguing with two Nazi sympathizers, then chasing their car as it drove off.

The image was, for a moment, eerily reminiscent of the caravan of Klansmen and neo-Nazis that showed up at an anti-Klan rally in Greensboro's Morningside Homes nearly 30 years ago, on Nov. 3, 1979. Five people died and 10 were wounded in the clash that followed. Police didn't arrive until after the fact.

The city has since committed, in spirit and in practice, never to let that happen again.

There is no other way to handle such potentially explosive incidents except to expect the very worst -- and make sure it doesn't happen.