Regardless of how different people feel about the variety of responses made by members of the Olympia community to the NSM rally, we still have a common problem and we should work on a common solution. The National Socialist Movement has apparently identified Olympia as a community in which to engage in recruitment efforts. On their website, they admit to leafletting in Olympia. Leafletting alone is not a big deal, but this particular group uses the insidious tactic of reaching out to high school and middle school students to spread their message of hate around among young minds. Youth are particularly vulnerable to hate-group recruitment efforts because they don't always have clearly formed views and opinions about the world and their place in it, and are often searching for belonging in a group or movement. This statement is not meant to disparage youth, its just a fact of nature and human development. Youth recruiting by hate groups tends to lead to racial violence and divisiveness inside and outside of schools. Our community, including our youth and their parents, has a responsibility to be vigilant and to thwart hate-group organizing in our schools.

I would like to see some discussion about how we can make a measured, effective community response to hate-group organizing in schools and among youth. Because the NSM waving their flags around outside the Olympian is not really the problem; the problem is what that indicates in terms of their recruitment intentions towards our community.