{"id":110496,"date":"2016-12-21T06:46:41","date_gmt":"2016-12-21T14:46:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/?p=110496"},"modified":"2023-08-28T04:17:53","modified_gmt":"2023-08-28T12:17:53","slug":"richard-spencer-the-attacks-on-my-mother","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/?p=110496","title":{"rendered":"Richard Spencer: The Attacks on My Mother"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sherry Spencer writes<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\nMy name is Sherry Spencer, and I am Richard Spencer\u2019s mom. I\u2019m a resident of Whitefish, Montana, and am the proud owner of a beautiful mixed-use facility in town.
\nIt was years ago now that I first broke ground on the building, which features vacation-rental apartments and office spaces. I hired a local architect and builder to bring my ideas to life\u200a\u2014\u200aand both exceeded my expectations.
\nI am the sole owner of the facility. 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, which celebrates the Whitefish Winter Carnival.
\nIn other words, I poured my heart and soul into this project.
\nThe building opened in late 2015, and received wide acclaim from the local press. And the vacation apartments have been enjoyed by people from around the world.
\nRichard does not own the building, nor has he ever used it for his writing or publishing. Put simply, the building has nothing to do with politics\u200a\u2014\u200aand it has everything to do with tourism and local businesses.
\nI had no intention of selling . . . until I started receiving terrible threats in the last couple of weeks.
\nThese threats came from Tanya Gersh, a local realtor with links to \u201chuman rights\u201d organizations Love Lives Here and the Montana Human Rights Network.
\nOn November 22, Gersh and I spoke on the phone. She relayed to me that if I did not sell my building, 200 protesters and national media would show up outside\u200a\u2014\u200awhich would drive down the property value\u200a\u2014\u200auntil I complied. Gersh\u2019s other conditions included that I make a public denunciation of my son in a statement written by the Montana Human Rights Network and that I make a donation to this organization from the sale of the property. As Gersh announced on Facebook, she was \u201cspear heading\u201d the campaign.
\nGersh followed up on her conditions in a number of emails, which I\u2019ve just made public. She even shamelessly suggested that she act as my realtor! In other words, she and the local \u201chuman rights\u201d organizations appeared to seek financial benefit from threats of protests and reputation damage. The same day Gersh first contacted me, I received a sales offer, even though I had not expressed any intention to sell, nor had anything been publicized.
\nOne renter reported to me that Gersh threatened her business with boycotts unless she moved. This renter also alleged that Gersh called her \u201ccollateral damage.\u201d As the manager of the property, I employ a number of local maids and other maintenance personnel, who would lose their jobs if I were to sell. More \u201ccollateral damage,\u201d I guess.
\nI never wanted to go public with this story. However, the fact that so many news outlets have reported on it forces my hand.
\nWhatever you think about my son\u2019s ideas\u200a\u2014\u200athey are, after all, ideas\u200a\u2014\u200ain what moral universe is it right for the \u201csins\u201d of the son to be visited upon the mother?
\nAll I wanted to do with the building was help Whitefish.
\nThe people attacking me claim that \u201cloves lives here.\u201d Now it\u2019s time for them to show it.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

According to her official bio<\/a>: “For 18 years, Tanya Gersh, our PureWest Resort & Second Home Property Specialist, ran a luxury wedding and event planning company. She gained national attention for magazine publications, as a presenter at leading National Conventions, and for consulting with architects, builders and design teams on event venue design. In this time Tanya built her own real estate portfolio, investing in dozens of local commercial and residential properties. Working as a team with her husband Judah Gersh (local Real Estate attorney), Tanya has made the professional switch to Real Estate full time and is proud to be on the PureWest team. Tanya is a past Whitefish Chamber of Commerce VP and is currently active in the Glacier Jewish Community, CASA for Kids, Whitefish PTA and Stumptown Ice Den.”<\/p>\n

Here is some news coverage:<\/p>\n

Slate: Neo-Nazi Website Calls for “Action” Against Jews in Richard Spencer’s Hometown<\/a><\/p>\n

Washington Post: Jewish leaders in Richard Spencer\u2019s home town targeted in posting on neo-Nazi website<\/a><\/p>\n

IBT: Anti-Semitism In The US 2016: White Supremacists Urge ‘Action’ Against Jews Over ‘Alt-Right’ Leader Richard Spencer<\/a><\/p>\n

NYDN: Richard Spencer’s parents selling Montana property<\/a><\/p>\n

Forward: Is Richard Spencer\u2019s Mom Paying Price for Sins of Her Racist Son?<\/a><\/p>\n

Forward: Neo-Nazis Target Jews in White Supremacist Richard Spencer\u2019s Montana Town<\/a><\/p>\n

The Verge: Neo-Nazis are targeting Jewish people in small-town Montana<\/a><\/p>\n

Daily Inter Lake: Alt-right shadow hangs over Whitefish<\/a><\/p>\n

Yahoo: \u2018Troll storm\u2019 goes after Jewish residents of Richard Spencer\u2019s Montana hometown<\/a><\/p>\n

The Inquisitr: Richard Spencer: White Supremacists Threaten Jewish Residents Of Alt-Right Leader’s Hometown<\/a><\/p>\n

Jewish Business News: Montana Jews Threatened Again \u2014 This Time By Richard Spencer Supporters<\/a><\/p>\n

The Daily Dot: Neo-Nazis target Jews in town of leading alt-right figure<\/a><\/p>\n

Haaretz: Neo-Nazis and White Supremacists Launch Online Attack Against Montana Jews<\/a><\/p>\n

Snopes: Hate Screech: A call to action by the anti-Semitic ‘The Daily Stormer’ revealed the names and personal contact information of Jewish people they claimed had ‘harassed and extorted’ the parents of white supremacist Richard Spencer.<\/a><\/p>\n

IBT: White supremacist website urges ‘action’ against Jews for ‘harassing Richard Spencer’s mother’<\/a><\/p>\n

Newser: Neo-Nazi Site: ‘Take Action’ Against Jews in Mont. Town<\/a><\/p>\n

Couldn’t you just as easily have framed this story as Jewish activists take action against family of white nationalist? <\/p>\n

A Jewish friend says: “Whitefish is a small touristy faux western town \u2013 not dissimilar from Jackson, Wyoming. It is north of Kalispell (which has an airport served by national airlines) and is the gateway to Glacier National Park. It has a large lake (Whitefish Lake) and attracts many wealthy millionaires (including Phil Jackson.) No one visiting the town would be aware that it has any Jewish presence at all. Of course what the Gersh\u2019s don\u2019t say is that they moved to Kalispell because it is a whiteopia, but that is most likely the reason. Spencer\u2019s mother is right. Frankly I don\u2019t see the residents of Whitefish getting all riled up by Gersh since Montana (although I don\u2019t know about Whitefish) overwhelmingly supported Trump, and any number of militia type movements and Christian conservative movements have set up shop in the Flathead region (just south of Kalispell.)”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Sherry Spencer writes: My name is Sherry Spencer, and I am Richard Spencer\u2019s mom. I\u2019m a resident of Whitefish, Montana, and am the proud owner of a beautiful mixed-use facility in town. It was years ago now that I first … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[29,29673],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-110496","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-jews","category-richard-spencer"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/110496","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=110496"}],"version-history":[{"count":20,"href":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/110496\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":150576,"href":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/110496\/revisions\/150576"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=110496"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=110496"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=110496"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}