CHANGING THE MESSAGE—A group gathers on the Borchard Road overpass April 16 with signs reading “One Love,”“No Hate” and “Say No To Racism.” The demonstrators said they were claiming the spot where neo-Nazis have hung banners the past two months. RICHARD GILLARD/Acorn Newspapers
On Saturday morning, motorists on the 101 Freeway at Borchard Road saw a message about love.
Retired Amgen scientist Andrew Goetze suspended a series of large canvas banners on the inside of the overpass’ chain-link fence before 9 a.m. April 16.
The banners spelled out “one love.” He also posted a large red heart and a swastika with a red line through it.
The Newbury Park father of two got to the overpass early that day to preempt a planned demonstration by a white supremacist group that had hung racist and anti-Semitic messages from the overpass on Saturdays in February and March. According to information posted in the group’s private social media chats, another so-called banner drop was set for April 16.
Goetze and others planned to be there when the group arrived. They never showed.
“I hated what they were doing the last couple of months,” Goetze told the Acorn while holding an anti Nazi sign. “It set a bad precedent. I wanted to show there are people who feel a different way.”
POSITIVE MESSAGE—Banners promoting love and saying no to fascism are hung on the freeway overpass on Borchard Road on April 16. A group gathered there to prevent a neo-Nazi group from posting banners, as it had the previous two months. RICHARD GILLARD/Acorn Newspapers
Many people felt as Goetze did. Motorists honked, waved and gave thumbs up in support of the banners, though one passerby displayed an obscene hand gesture and another used a bullhorn as he drove by multiple times to tell the group to take down their signs.
In all, around 20 people gathered on the overpass to demonstrate for around five hours April 16. Most had been planning to do since seven members of a Southern California-based white supremacist group appeared on the overpass March 12, their second demonstration in two months. The group did not make a public appearance in the Conejo Valley on Saturday, though in private chats they took credit for distributing anti-Semitic literature in Westwood on Friday as the Jewish community prepared for Passover.
Joyce Alessandrino, who attended the demonstration with a Jewish friend, said she was deeply traumatized learning of the horrors of the Holocaust as a child.
“I always said if I ever got the chance to fight Nazis, I would. If you come to my hometown, you’re going to have a problem. Hate doesn’t have a home here,” she said.
Aleesandrino said she felt qualified to confront white supremacists if they showed because she is a retired probation officer.
“I’ve dealt with broken people my entire life. This is my wheelhouse,” she said.
Goetze’s ex-wife, Westlake Village resident Andrea Friedman, said Goetze takes “never again,” a slogan referring to never allowing another Holocaust, very seriously.
“We can’t keep silent,” she said. “Who wants to leave a world filled with hate to their children?”
When the white supremacist group was on the overpass last month, local resident David Albert confronted the masked men and filmed the exchange, which he posted on social media. Anti-fascist activists used the footage to identify two of the men as hailing from Springville and San Diego.
When Albert arrived at the Borchard Road overpass on Saturday, he said it was heartening to see the community come out against the hateful message.
“I was going to come out regardless,” he said. “At least this time I’m not alone.”
This story was updated at 7:33 p.m. April 21, 2022.