Not out of affection or sympathy, but rather as part of a longstanding interest in political extremism, I recently borrowed Hate: George Lincoln Rockwell & The American Nazi Party, by William H. Schmaltz, from the local library, better known here as the Free Library of Philadelphia.

While reading the book earlier today I was struck by an aside in Chapter 8 in which Schmaltz was discussing the American Nazi Party’s demonstration against the 1963 March on Washington. The Nazis, expressing their opposition to “race-mixing” and their support of segregation, carried, among other placards, one that read:

They Don’t Want Civil Rights; They Want Special Rights

Now, far be it from me, as a former editor, to express shock, let alone appreciation, for the American Nazis’ surprisingly appropriate and correct deployment of the semicolon in this particular sign, but . . . Doesn’t that placard have a certain, well, “ring of familiarity” to it? You know, like in the present day, what will all “the homos” allegedly demanding “special rights” and all?

[Ed.: I was going to phrase that differently, but in its current construction, including the word “homos,” that particular sentence is guaranteed to draw a rash of knuckle-dragging traffic.]

Gee whiz, this was 40 years ago!

I guess the lesson to be learned is that if anyone tries to feed you that “special rights” garbage about gays and lesbians, just ask `em if they’re Nazis. American Nazis.