No Fear Says: 'No Racism'
Dateline: 06/21/00By David Emery
No Fear, Inc., the California-based manufacturer of sporting gear whose ubiquitous logo has become synonymous with extreme sports, is fighting to protect its trademark from association with another sort of extremism, that of white supremacist David Duke.
The connection is asserted in an email rumor that began circulating earlier this month:
|
Subject: NO FEAR
I just picked up some interesting information regarding "No Fear". Perhaps you have seen this decal on automobile windows, etc. Well, here in the Old Dominion, specifically in Chesterfield County, the administrators have designated April as Confederate Month. To make a long story short, David Duke, former grand wizard for the KKK, was in town to speak at a shopping mall. David Duke is the head of a group calling itself NO FEAR; it stands for: "National Organization For European-American Rights." All this time I thought No Fear was just something young white people placed onto their vehicles, meaning they fear nothing because of their youth. How wrong I was, so please pass this on so that more of our people know what No Fear really means. |
Facts misrepresented
It should come as no surprise that this rumor, like most, boasts a grain or two of truth while misrepresenting the main facts. It's quite misleading. The "No Fear" logo owned by the 10-year-old company of the same name and gracing bumper stickers and t-shirts everywhere does not and has never stood for racism.Unfortunately, any dimwit can make a bumper sticker – and so we find that David Duke, who is indeed a former Grand Wizard of the KKK and currently the leader of the crypto-racist National Organization for European American Rights, has fashioned one bearing the acronym "N.O.F.E.A.R." to spread his message of racial discord.
The upshot is that there are two different stickers in circulation – one with the familiar "No Fear" company logo and the other sporting the abbreviated name of Duke's political organization. The email rumor falsely speaks of them as if they're the same.
Next page > Lawsuit filed > Page 1, 2
