By Donald Gilpin

Town officials have condemned the white nationalist stickers that appeared on lamp posts downtown last Thursday, posted by supporters of a group known as the New Jersey European Heritage Association (NJEHA) and declaring “Reclaim Your Nation. Reclaim Your Heritage.”

“Mayor and Council join our residents in condemning the racist materials spread by white supremacists in our central business district,” Mayor Liz Lempert and Princeton Council wrote in a joint statement. “We know Princeton’s longtime strength is its diversity. We know that what unites us as a community is far stronger than the twisted rhetoric of those who would divide us.”

The stickers, seen on the corner of Nassau and Harrison streets and on Washington Road near the Woodrow Wilson School, were quickly removed, as were similar flyers that appeared in Princeton in March and at Princeton University twice in the past year.

Several demonstrators at the August 12 Unite the Right 2 Rally in Washington, D.C. wore helmets bearing similar stickers promoting the NJEHA, which claims that the white race is an endangered species. “Our European race is in a struggle for survival,” its website proclaims. “Don’t sit idly by as we fight for existence.”

Lance Liverman, Princeton Council member and acting mayor this week in Lempert’s absence, expressed his disapproval. “We simply don’t believe in this,” he said. “We are not a community that divides. These were probably posted by folks who don’t live here. People I know don’t buy into that stuff.”

Emphasizing the need “to speak up and let folks know where we stand,” Liverman suggested that the charged political atmosphere in the country at large has been problematic. “People say that Trump may have refueled the hate that’s out there, but don’t be intimidated. Don’t be fearful. This is not something we’re going to tolerate. We’re more about love than hatred.”