White supremacists run Tacoma tattoo parlor protesters claim
A group called Tacoma Against Nazis protested Friday outside a tattoo shop on East 72nd Street. The group contends the shop’s owners are affiliated with white supremacy groups, an accusation the shop’s co-owner denies. David Montesino [email protected] LOCAL White supremacists run Tacoma tattoo parlor, protesters claim
NEWS from Tacoma Washington
NOTE: An earlier version of this story incorrectly stated that Nazi flags had flown outside the tattoo shop. They were instead flying outside an employee’s home.
About three dozen members of Tacoma Against Nazis protested Friday outside a Tacoma tattoo parlor, carrying signs that read, “Tacoma is for lovers not haters” and “I thought we were done with Nazis tattooing people in 1945.”
Several politicians were part of the protest, including state Rep. Laurie Jinkins, D-Tacoma, and Tacoma City Council members Catherine Ushka and Justin Camarata.
We want to make sure they know they’re not welcomed,” Jinkins said. “Their beliefs aren’t welcomed.”
On Thursday, one of the co-owners of the shop in the 1100 block of East 72nd Street told The News Tribune he is not a racist.
“I’m not a Nazi,” the man said.
He urged the newspaper to interview people associated with the Black Lives Matter movement instead.
“That’s OK, right?” he said. “But if you’re white and you have any kind of pride it’s a big deal.”
He declined further comment.
Tacoma Against Nazis member Chuck Knigge said the group has multiple pieces of evidence and documentation that show the shop’s owners and staff are affiliated with hate groups.
“What sold me was the plethora of pictures, the tattoos they’ve done on people,” Knigge said.
On occasion, flags associated with white supremacy have flown outside the home of a shop employee, members of the group said.
The group said they were under no illusion that the protest would shut the business down. Awareness was its No. 1 goal, spokeswoman Amanda Westbrooke said.
“It’s awareness for the people of Tacoma that a neo-Nazi hate group has opened up a business in the most diverse neighborhood in Tacoma,” Westbrooke said.
In February, the website for Puget Sound Anarchists posted a story alleging that the owner and associates of the tattoo shop were members of the Northwest Hammerskins.
The Southern Poverty Law Center, an organization that tracks hate groups and hate crimes, lists the Hammerskins as a “Racist Skinhead” hate group.