Parents of alt-right leader say they've been targeted

The national spotlight that continues to illuminate white nationalist leader Richard Spencer and his alt-right movement also has put Whitefish in the limelight in ways that are uncomfortable not only for the town’s residents but also Spencer’s own parents.

Spencer is at the helm of the National Policy Institute, a white nationalist nonprofit think-tank and publishing firm. For years Spencer, 38, has been a part-time Whitefish resident, though he spends most of his time now on the East Coast. His parents, Rand and Sherry Spencer, continue to spend time in Whitefish and Sherry owns a commercial building in the city’s historic Railway District.

Spencer’s parents wrote a letter to the Whitefish community that is published in the Pilot’s opinion section. They say Sherry’s mixed-use building at 22 Lupfer Ave., and its retail tenants have been targeted because of their son’s white nationalist viewpoints.

“Our tenants are innocent victims and their businesses are threatened with boycotts for something over which they have no control. There is no justification for their sustaining collateral damage,” they stated in their letter. “We, too, are victims, having no role in any of the events that have unfolded recently.”

Sherry ultimately has decided to sell the building in response to the threats, according to an email from Rand on Saturday.

The Spencers further stressed that their son and the National Policy Institute he heads “have never had, do not have and will not in the future have any office or professional activities at 22 Lupfer.” They also do not endorse the idea of white nationalism, they said.

Richard Spencer told the Inter Lake on Friday he has spoken to his parents about the threats against them and the 22 Lupfer tenants.

“I don’t feel personal responsibility” about what has happened, he said in a phone interview. “We live in a country based on free expression. The people responsible are the ones chasing them down.

“I have never instigated violence and never have been accused of instigating violence,” he continued. “I would disapprove of any death threat.”

However, he added, “people do have the right to express themselves.”

The National Policy Institute, of which he is president, supports the heritage, identity and future of European people in the United States and around the world.

His beliefs flew well under the radar of most local residents for years. When he began garnering national attention two years ago, the Love Lives Here organization, a group of local residents who promote tolerance and peace, urged the Whitefish City Council to pass an ordinance prohibiting “hate” organizations from doing business or having offices in the city of Whitefish. The council instead passed a resolution “honoring the inherent worth of all people regardless of race, creed, national origin, sex or sexual orientation.”

In a November 2014 press release, Love Lives Here said the National Policy Institute fits the FBI’s definition of a hate group as “an organization whose primary purpose is to promote animosity, hostility and malice against persons belonging to race, religion, disability, sexual orientation, or ethnicity/national origin which differs from that of the members of the organization.”

Love Lives Here reiterated its position this month at the Dec. 6 Whitefish City Council meeting, filling the council chambers to support Mayor John Muhlfeld’s reading of the council’s newly approved proclamation in which the city “repudiates the ideas and ideology of the founder of the so-called alt-right as a direct affront to the community’s core values.”

In light of the national attention Spencer has been getting and his ties to Whitefish, organizations such as the Whitefish Convention and Visitors Bureau have stepped up their social-media messaging “to get the message out that everyone is welcome in Whitefish.”

Spencer on Friday reiterated that his views are not hateful.

“When people call you a hate group, it means they hate you,” he told the Daily Inter Lake in an earlier interview. “They’re looking at a mirror reflection ... I don’t harm anyone; I haven’t challenged or provoked them.”

The tension over Spencer’s continued ties to Whitefish escalated in late November when a group of protesters reportedly planned to picket Sherry Spencer’s building at 22 Lupfer Ave.

A Whitefish real-estate agent, who happens to be a member of the Jewish community, talked to Sherry Spencer about selling the business and donating a portion of the profit to the Montana Human Rights Network.

The agent told the Inter Lake on Nov. 22, that a message posted on Facebook indicating Sherry was planning to sell the business was an attempt to call off any protest that might be planned.

The upper floors of the three-story building are upscale vacation rentals.

What has resulted is a backlash against the efforts of both the real estate agent and Love Lives Here.

Sherry Spencer last week wrote an article posted on medium.com titled “Does Love Really Live Here?”

In her article she notes how her building at 22 Lupfer Ave. opened in late 2015 “and received wide acclaim from the local press.

“It was built, not just with my capital, but with my ideas and sensibility. The apartments even include my original artwork, and the rooftop garden features my ceramic mural ... In other words, I poured my heart and soul into this project,” she wrote.

Sherry emphasized that her building “has nothing to do with politics — and it has everything to do with tourism and local businesses.

“I had no intention of selling ... until I started receiving terrible threats in the last couple of weeks,” she wrote.

“[The real-estate agent] relayed to me that if I did not sell my building, 200 protesters and national media would show up outside — which would drive down the property value — until I complied.”

The agent posted on Facebook that Sherry was going to sell the building and donate some money to human-rights networks. “Richard is moving to D.C. and will be done with Whitefish,” the post said but that was apparently wishful thinking.

The Spencers, in fact, continue to spend time in Whitefish. Richard told the Inter Lake he will be in Whitefish over the Christmas holiday season, adding “I’m fairly reclusive.” He has a wife, Nina Kouprianova, and a 2-year-old daughter.

Richard reiterated his ties to Whitefish in announcing Friday that he is considering a run for Montana’s lone congressional seat if Rep. Ryan Zinke becomes secretary of the interior.

“I pay taxes there and I have a Montana driver’s license,” Richard said. “I’m a resident.”

Rand said he and Richard have an estranged relationship.

“He and I have had disagreement over his polemics, societal desires and his extreme political views,” Rand told the Inter Lake.

Rand said that the National Policy Institute moved its official headquarters to an address in Arlington, Virginia in 2013, and said that his son no longer holds a stake in the 22 Lupfer building.

“Richard’s only tie to our personal home in Whitefish is that of being a family member,” Rand said.

In her article, Sherry wrote that she never wanted to go public with her story, but because so many news outlets have reported on it, “it forces my hand.

“Whatever you think about my son’s ideas, they are, after all, ideas,” she stated. “In what moral universe is it right for the ‘sins’ of the son to be visited upon the mother?”

Richard Spencer posted his mother’s account on his Twitter feed, calling it “heartbreaking testimony.”

The incident drew the ire of many of Spencer’s Twitter followers.

One of the founders of Love Lives Here, also has been drawn into the Spencer controversy. The founder’s involvement has prompted opponents of Love Lives Here to leave threatening phone messages that were reported to the Whitefish Police Department on Wednesday.

Recently, a white nationalist website called for the targeting of Jewish people in Whitefish, urging a “troll storm” against them. The site posted the names of a few individuals, some of whom are involved in Love Lives Here, including their photos, phone numbers and email addresses, along with a number of ethnic slurs.

It encouraged followers to spam Love Lives Here, an affiliate of the Montana Human Rights Network.

Some Whitefish businesses were also impacted by the online trolling.

The Buffalo Café received a “handful of hate filled reviews” on Google, the popular restaurant posted on its Facebook page, but those were “thoroughly drowned out by the counter efforts of our community.”

“Although your kind words in the counter-reviews were nice, it is the act itself that speaks the loudest about what our town in all about,” they wrote on Facebook. “The Buffalo is humbled by your support and thankful to have so many have our backs.”

The Whitefish Convention and Visitor Bureau Tuesday continued to reiterate its position that the community is open to everyone.

“Everyone is welcome in Whitefish,” Bureau spokeswoman Lisa Jones said. “We stand with our city’s recent proclamation recognizing and celebrating the dignity, diversity, and inclusion of all of its inhabitants and visitors. And we hope everyone will support our local businesses and neighbors with personal reviews, notes of kindness, and frequent their establishments. We want the world to know we are a friendly and welcoming place, always have been, and always will be.”

The Whitefish Pilot contributed to this story.