White supremacists run Tacoma tattoo parlor, protesters claim

About three dozen members of Tacoma Against Nazis protested Friday outside a Tacoma tattoo parlor, carrying signs that read, “Tacoma is for lovers not haters” and “I thought we were done with Nazis tattooing people in 1945.”

Several politicians were part of the protest, including state Rep. Laurie Jinkins, D-Tacoma, and Tacoma City Council members Catherine Ushka and Justin Camarata.

“We want to make sure they know they’re not welcomed,” Jinkins said. “Their beliefs aren’t welcomed.”

On Thursday, one of the co-owners of the shop in the 1100 block of East 72nd Street told The News Tribune he is not a racist.

“I’m not a Nazi,” the man said.

He urged the newspaper to interview people associated with the Black Lives Matter movement instead.

“That’s OK, right?” he said. “But if you’re white and you have any kind of pride it’s a big deal.”

He declined further comment.

Tacoma Against Nazis member Chuck Knigge said the group has multiple pieces of evidence and documentation that show the shop’s owners and staff are affiliated with hate groups.

“What sold me was the plethora of pictures, the tattoos they’ve done on people,” Knigge said.

On occasion, flags associated with white supremacy have flown outside the home of a shop employee, members of the group said.

The group said they were under no illusion that the protest would shut the business down. Awareness was its No. 1 goal, spokeswoman Amanda Westbrooke said.

“It’s awareness for the people of Tacoma that a neo-Nazi hate group has opened up a business in the most diverse neighborhood in Tacoma,” Westbrooke said.

In February, the website for Puget Sound Anarchists posted a story alleging that the owner and associates of the tattoo shop were members of the Northwest Hammerskins.

The Southern Poverty Law Center, an organization that tracks hate groups and hate crimes, lists the Hammerskins as a “Racist Skinhead” hate group.

“Racist Skinheads form a particularly violent element of the white supremacist movement,” the center writes.

The anarchists’ website has a photo of one of the shop’s co-owners and two people wearing T-shirts with “88” and “Crew 38 logos.” Crew 38 is a subset of the Hammerskins.

The Anti-defamation League lists the 88 symbol as a white supremacist numerical code for “Heil Hitler.” It is widely used across the white supremacist movement and not just neo-Nazis, according to the League.

Last fall, a series of short-lived white nationalist protests took place in Washington, including in Tacoma. A small group hung a “White Lives Matter” banner from the Delin Street overpass over Interstate 5 for a few minutes in November.

The anarchists website alleges the shop’s co-owner and his associates were responsible for that incident.

On Friday, some passersby honked their car horns and gave thumbs-up to the protesters.

Camarata said he attended the protest to show citywide support for the protesters and their goals as well as the East Side neighborhood.

“They have a First Amendment right, but it doesn’t mean they’re morally right,” he said. “Likewise, we have a right to stand up and drown that out.”

The shop’s co-owner on Friday again refused an interview request from The News Tribune and asked reporters to leave the shop.

The protest group was challenged by some people, including a woman from a house next door. She was seen going in and out of the tattoo parlor and photographing the protesters.

“I’m (expletive) Mexican,” she shouted. “They’re not racist.”

Another man asked the protesters how they knew the tattoo parlor owner/employees were white supremacists. He then raised an American flag and a Trump flag in the bed of his truck and drove away.

The protesters were silent during the hour-long picketing — until the end.

“We’ll be back,” they chanted.

This story was originally published June 22, 2018 at 7:44 PM with the headline "White supremacists run Tacoma tattoo parlor, protesters claim."