QUEENS, N.Y. - The Southern Poverty Law Center said it obtained a video of a book burning in Fishkill, New York from an informant and that it shows Eric Striker, a prominent figure in the white supremacist alt-right movement.
The non-profit watchdog group, which also tracks hate groups, says Eric Striker was also participating in the infamous Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Virginia two summers ago.
"This guy has done over 50 radio shows with David Duke," Southern Poverty Law Center investigative reporter Michael Edison Hayden said. "A big slogan they use is, 'they must go back,' in reference to immigrants."
Hayden said Eric Striker has become one of the biggest content creators on the alt-right while keeping his identity a secret. Hayden says Eric Striker actually is Joseph Jordan, a 30-year-old Queens College graduate who lives in Flushing.
"That is very shocking," one local resident said. "All of Queens is a melting pot. I'm surprised he's in Queens at all."
"It's incredible," another said. "I don't know how he manages to live here, in a place where there are so many Latinos, Asians, so many people from different ethnic backgrounds."
In a detailed account that the watchdog group published, Hayden said the Queens man has posted 700 times on a neo-Nazi website and recorded hundreds of hours of a podcast that he co-hosts, spewing hate against Jewish people and gay people and spreading conspiracy theories.
"So whenever black on black crime happens, it doesn't even make the news. Of course the media also doesn't really care, because the whole point of exploiting this stuff is to demonize whites, not even to protect blacks," Jordan said in one audio recording.
Hayden said it's not unusual for alt-right leaders to have fake names, and that Jordan might be trying to conceal his activities from his family or hide his own lineage. Hayden said Jordan's mother immigrated from South America.
We tried to talk to Jordan by phone, but the number wasn't working. And no one appeared home at his apartment.
An NYPD official said he could not comment on whether the police might be keeping tabs on the Queens man.
"But we do have active investigations where we are looking at people inside New York City," NYPD Chief of Intelligence Thomas Galati said.
"He's only one of the few isolationists. He's only one of the few," Queens Councilman Peter Koo said. "So we just ignore him, but at the same time, we hope the police and the FBI will monitor him."
Hayden agrees that New Yorkers should not be in fear. But he says his expose is a reminder that people like Jordan are operating everywhere, even in a diverse city like New York.
------
Image above courtesy of the Southern Poverty Law Center.