WITH SUMMER APPROACHING, YOU MAY START TO NOTICE WHERE THE "WHAT'S ON" LISTINGS IN LOCAL AMUSEMENTS GUIDES ... the community bulletin boards of local supermarkets and convenience stores ... the announcements on local TV and radio stations ... even barroom gossip will make mention of something promoted as "European-American Cultural and Heritage Festivals."

The which are best avoided like the pox, reader, and for good reason:

Evidence from the Anti-Defamation League and the Southern Poverty Law Centre, both of whom monitor racist, white-supremacist and other bigot groups, hath it that such "European-American Cultural and Heritage Festivals" are really sponsored by fronts for known and notorious racist and white-supremacist elements.

Worse yet, the racist message as underlies such "festivals" is kept discreet and subtle, usually by way of the literature tables selling racist and white-supremacist books, pamphlets, tracts and videos in rather discreet locations throughout the grounds.

And the various ethnic performance groups "invited" to appear are more than likely to have been tricked into appearing, unconscious of the real intent of such "festivals" being promotion of racism and bigotry or the real sponsors being racists and white-supremacists taking aims to avoid attracting unwelcome attention from especially "meddling bloggers" and the consumer-protection agencies.

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WITH THAT IN MIND, YOUR CORRESPONDENT WOULD LIKE TO ASK COMMUNITY-SERVICE DIRECTORS FOR RADIO AND TV STATIONS, and also such editing "what's on" listings for local newspapers and entertainment guides, to use caution when they receive listings requests for said "European-American Cultural and Heritage Festivals" throughout the coming summer season.

If need be, such may want to be declined in view of their being disguises for promoting sugar-coated racism and bigotry, and the involvement of weird and/or unwholesome elements of the community in sponsoring same.

Store managers may likewise want to use caution in posting flyers or posters for same on community message boards they may have; on the other hand, if consumers spot flyers for this class of propaganda stunt, such should be reported to management in view of their questionable nature and their potential for deception.

Local tourism-promotion agencies may also want to approach such with care, especially because such "festivals" could attract the wrong sort of tourists (as in neo-Nazi skinheads, "citizen militia" sympathisers and the seedier types of "white trash" as are all the more vulnerable to "patriotic" hatemongering messages).

Consumer-protection agencies may likewise want to be put on watch for the potential of deceptive or misleading advertising in furtherance of their promotion.

In any case, avoid these sham "European-American Cultural and Heritage Festivals" like the pox. They're really nothing more than subtle promotion of a racist agenda which could cause harm in especially the vulnerable, and then some.

Especially when the literature tables also have petition campaigns promoting racist or white-supremacist causes, the names so collected winding up on racist/white-supremacist mailing lists--and, in time, your winding up getting quasi-pornographic material which is best consigned to the recycle bin.