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February 1999 Volume 8, Number 1
This Month's Articles (click a title to jump to that article): Explosion of Hate: the growing danger of the National Alliance Fact and fiction about bias crimes or hate crimes
Explosion of Hate:
The growing danger of the National Alliance The following is an excerpt from Explosion of Hate a recent publication of the Anti-Defamation League. The Most Dangerous Organized Hate Group A new ADL investigation identifies the neo-Nazi National Alliance (NA) as the single most dangerous organized hate group in the United States today. In the last several years, dozens of violent crimes, including murders, bombings, and robberies, have been traced to NA members or appear to have been inspired by the group’s propaganda. At the same time, the National Alliance’s membership base has experienced dramatic growth, with its numbers more than doubling since 1992. The group, headquartered near Hillsboro, West Virginia, is led by former Oregon State University physics professor and veteran anti-Semite William L. Pierce. Pierce's Violent Writings Using the pseudonym Andrew Macdonald, Pierce wrote the novel The Turner Diaries, which details a successful world revolution by an all-white army, and the systematic extermination of Blacks, Jews, and other minorities. Many extremists regard The Turner Diaries as an explicit terrorism manual, and the novel is thought to have inspired several major acts of violence, including the April 1995 Oklahoma City bombing. The book was also the blueprint for The Order, a revolutionary terrorist group that robbed and murdered its way to fame in the early 1980s. The ringleader for The Order was an organizer for the NA. Active Cells from Coast to Coast With 16 active cells from coast to coast, an estimated membership of 1,000, and several thousand additional Americans listening to its radio broadcasts and browsing its Internet site, the National Alliance is the largest and most active neo-Nazi organization in the nation. In the last three years, there has been evidence of NA activity in no fewer than 26 states nationwide. The organization has been most active in Ohio, Florida, Michigan, New York, Maryland, North Carolina, Virginia, and New Mexico. The group has also developed significant political connections abroad. Thriving on Hate In 11 states around the country, NA members operate as part of official "local units," which are headed by "unit coordinators." Members of these units generally meet regularly, in secret. The discussions vary, but common themes include white supremacy and The Turner Diaries. Twice each year, Pierce selects about 50 NA members with "leadership potential" to attend a private, national "Leadership Conference" at the organization’s headquarters. Convinced that the government will one day confiscate the weapons of all citizens as it does in The Diaries, some NA leaders have instructed members to keep guns and ammunition hidden on their property. Some coordinators have further advised followers to acquire M-16s and other weapons used by the US Army, so that in the event the government does disarm its citizens, NA members will be able to raid military bases and steal ammunition for their hidden guns. Using Technology The National Alliance maintains one of the most technically sophisticated hate sites on the World Wide Web. Pierce's weekly half-hour radio broadcasts, transmitted over nine AM or FM radio stations and on short-wave radio via WRNO, appear as text on the NA Web site on the day of the broadcast. NA members and sympathizers have used the Internet to disrupt newsgroup and chat room exchanges ¾ particularly those dealing with Jewish themes ¾ and to send thousands of unsolicited E-mails espousing the group's racist, anti-Semitic views. NA propagandists have also used public Internet forums as a low-cost, convenient recruitment tool. Around the country, NA operates 21 telephone hot-lines, which serve as regional propaganda centers. The hot-lines feature a standard message of introduction to the NA’s ideology, followed by an invitation for callers to leave their name and phone number. Some NA members have programmed computers to place random calls to area beepers and leave the NA hot-line as the number to call back. Ideology of Hate The NA is determined to secure "a racially clear area of the earth … no non-whites in our living space … a thorough rooting out of Semitic and other non-Aryan values and customs everywhere … We must have new societies throughout the White world which are based on Aryan values and are compatible with this White living space and to keep it White. We will not be deterred by the difficulty or temporary unpleasantness involved, because we realize that it is absolutely necessary for our racial survival." Fundamental to the organization’s doctrine is the belief that "our world is hierarchical" and that the Aryan race is endowed by nature with superior qualities. The National Alliance laments that "nature" is currently unable to take its course, because "the sickness of multiculturalism is destroying America, Britain, and every other Aryan nation in which it is being promoted." Rejecting Democracy The group’s racist vision extends to its view on government. The National Alliance decries "the growth of mass democracy," including "the enfranchisement of women and non-whites," and favors a government that will "reverse the racially devolutionary course of the last few millennia and keep it reversed." NA activists are also eager to erase the social progress made by women in the last century, and believe that "feminism is a threat to our race." "A woman’s battlefield is the maternity ward," they say. The NA also rails against Christianity. "We are obliged to oppose the Christian churches and to speak out against their doctrines," read the group’s tenets. "It is not an Aryan religion … like the other Semitic religions [it] is irredeemably primitive." Jews as the Threat Jews are considered an immediate menace to white survival. In his infamous essay, "Who Rules America?" Pierce wrote, "The Jewish control of the mass media is the single most important fact of life, not just in America, but in the world today. There is nothing ¾ plague, famine, economic collapse, even nuclear war ¾ more dangerous to the future of our people." Fort Bragg Murders On the East Coast, the NA has attempted to attract members among US Army personnel at Fort Bragg, in Fayetteville, North Carolina. A member of the elite 82nd Airborne Division, Robert Hunt, reportedly worked as a recruiter for the National Alliance while stationed at Fort Bragg. In April 1995, according to the NA, Hunt rented a billboard outside Fort Bragg and used it to post an advertisement and local phone number for the group. In December 1995, a Black couple was gunned down near the Army base in what prosecutors called a racially motivated killing. James Burmeister and Malcolm Wright, members of the 82nd Airborne Division, were ultimately convicted of the murders and sentenced to life in prison. Burmeister and Wright were active neo-Nazi Skinheads, and reportedly read National Alliance propaganda. Racist Shooting in Mississippi In April 1996, Larry Wayne Shoemake killed one African American and injured seven others in Jackson, Mississippi. Police say Shoemake piled a small arsenal of weapons into an abandoned restaurant in a predominantly Black neighborhood, and from his hideout began shooting wildly into the street in a murderous rampage. Shoemake ultimately took his own life In a police search of Shoemake’s home, authorities found a Nazi flag draped over his bed, a copy of Adolf Hitler’s Mein Kampf, and literature from the National Alliance. According to his ex-wife, Shoemake first encountered NA propaganda in the mid-1980s, when be borrowed The Turner Diaries from a friend. Links to other extremist and white supremacist groups One of the most notorious groups connected to the NA was The Order, formed by the late Robert Mathews and other NA members. Mathews reportedly addressed the 1983 NA Convention not long before he and other members of The Order went on their violent crime spree, which included bank robberies and a synagogue bombing. Before he was killed in a shoot-out with the FBI in 1984, Mathews had purchased a $50,000 life insurance policy naming William Pierce and another NA "official" as his beneficiaries. In the 1980s, Pierce also developed a bond with Ben Klassen, the late founder of the racist, anti-Semitic, anti-Christian Church of the Creator (COTC). In a May 1992 letter to Klassen's publication, Racial Loyalty, Pierce wrote, "I have always appreciated your work ... because you have helped to move a substantial portion of the White resistance movement away from Christianity." The tie between the two men was further strengthened when Pierce purchased Klassen's 21-acre compound in Macon County, North Carolina, in 1992. Most recently, the NA provided a speaking venue for David Duke, a former Klan leader and founder of the National Association for the Advancement of White People (NAAWP). Duke is currently chairman of the Republican Party's Executive Committee in St. Tammany Parish, Louisiana. In 1988 and again in 1992, he made unsuccessful bids for the Presidency. Looking Ahead The National Alliance's dramatic growth is significant because it comes at a time when other neo-Nazi organizations, as well as groups like the Ku Klux Klan, are becoming weaker and more fragmented. Moreover, the NA does not appear to be siphoning members from these declining groups, but actually recruiting a fresh cast of educated, middle-class bigots. These new followers appear to be attracted to the National Alliance's dedicated membership, its commanding presence on the Internet, its emphasis on maintaining a "sophisticated" image, and its powerful leadership. As the National Alliance continues to gather momentum and strength, its threat of violence grows. Crimes being plotted or committed by NA members or Turner Diaries devotees have been mounting. By publishing this report, ADL seeks to increase public awareness of the dangers posed by these individuals, as well as to encourage stepped-up vigilance by law enforcement officials at all levels. Fact and fiction about
bias crimes or hate crimes The current debate over the Hate Crimes Bill in the Colorado legislature warrants an examination of the misconceptions and facts regarding the definition of a bias or hate crime and the need for legislation addressing these crimes. Fiction: All crimes involve hate; hate crime laws are redundant and unnecessary. Fact: The crimes in question are more accurately identified as "bias crimes"; the term "hate crimes" is misleading unless it is used with a clarifying addition ¾ "hate crimes motivated by bias." A bias crime is an act that is motivated by the perpetrator’s bias against the group to which the victim belongs. Obviously, not all crimes that involve hate are included in this definition of a bias crime. Fiction: Bias crime laws violate free speech rights by criminalizing thoughts and beliefs. Fact: Bias crimes must first be crimes. The bias isolated from the criminal action is not illegal. The Supreme Court defined these parameters of bias crimes in relation to free speech issues in two separate decisions. Fiction: A murder committed out of bias is no different from other murders. Fact: Not all murders are treated equally in criminal law. For example, the difference between first and second degree murder, is the intent of the perpetrator. Bias crimes tend to be more violent. The attack is aimed at the identity of a person [causing on average two to three times more psychological trauma than non-biased crimes]. The effect of fear and intimidation is long lasting. Bias-crime victims frequently change their daily patterns of action and sometimes even their residence out of fear, which can affect the victim economically. Finally, a bias crime intimidates the whole community to which the victim belongs and can drive wedges between groups of people, causing serious societal impact. Fiction: Bias-crime laws grant special rights to certain people. Fact: Bias-crime laws identify certain categories, such as race, not specific communities of people such as Native American. The Bias Crime Law in Washington State identifies the categories of race, color, religion, ancestry, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, and physical, mental, or sensory disability. Indeed, bias crime charges have been filed in cases where the victim was targeted for being white. Bias-crime laws cannot stop all perpetrators, but neither do laws criminalizing robbery stop all robbers. We need inclusive bias-crime laws that are clearly understood and resolutely enforced. Bias-crime law convictions help the healing process for the survivors of the crime, including the community to which the victim belonged. CO Hate Crimes Bill update Soon after launching into this year’s legislative session, the Colorado legislature addressed the proposed Hate Crimes Bill for the fifth year in a row. On January 12 and 13, the State and House Judiciary Committees respectively considered a bill to expand the existing Ethnic Intimidation Act. The Hate Crimes Bill would amend the existing Act to require enhanced punishments for crimes motivated by physical or mental disability, age, or sexual orientation. The existing categories are race, color, ancestry, religion, or national origin. The bill would also change the name of the crime of ethnic intimidation to a hate crime. The Senate Judiciary Committee ended three hours of testimony in a tie vote, effectively killing the bill in the State Senate. The only local representative on this committee was Sen. Mary Ellen Epps, who voted against the Hate Crimes Bill despite her commitment to many disability issues. However, the House voted 9-4 to pass the bill to the House Appropriations Committee. Local House Judiciary Committee members are Lynn Hefley and Richard Decker, both of whom voted against the bill. In previous years, the bill has died in the House Appropriations Committee. Changes in the committee membership may affect the fate of the bill. To voice your concern to the committee call the Committee Chair, Rep. Steve Tool, at (303) 866-4569. CFV fails again ...
and again Colorado for Family Values’ recent failures - both this week and last month - to place divisive, discriminatory legislation on the city's April ballot are the right-wing organization's latest and most significant setbacks in a string of failed anti-gay initiatives that it has undertaken over the last several years. Earlier this week, Colorado Springs Councilman and CFV advocate Dawson Hubert proposed amending the city's charter to include wording similar to Colorado's infamous Amendment 2. Not surprisingly, Hubert failed to secure support from his peers on council just as he did last year when he proposed rewording the city's Zero Tolerance for Discrimination resolution which denounces "discrimination of a racial, ethnic, sexual or religious nature." In a similar defeat in December, CFV came up short of the 11,085 signatures required to sponsor a city ordinance attacking the same resolution. This tactical error points to CFV's diminished effectiveness and underscores the city's commitment to shed its undeserved reputation as an extreme and intolerant community. Colorado for Family Values mounted its two recent campaigns to legalize discrimination after the US Supreme Court failed to act on Cincinnati's Issue 3 (a CFV-backed initiative similar to Amendment 2). That decision, according to Hubert, "would allow us to do what the Supreme Court supported Cincinnati in doing: stating community values for a city." CFV Executive Director Paul Jessen made it clear that his organization was once again attacking homosexuality and claiming to speak for "the vast majority of people in this community." Citizens Project believes, however, that CFV is not the spokesperson for Colorado Springs and that its attempts to pass discriminatory legislation do not reflect the American values that our city upholds. Another indication of local residents' commitment to defending basic human rights is that the opposition to CFV's December campaign was mobilized, well funded, and staffed even before the divisive proposal was rejected for lack of public support. This enthusiastic response is further proof that Colorado Springs will no longer accept CFV’s pro-discrimination agenda. Citizens Project and, it would seem, the majority of Colorado Springs residents believe that discrimination of any kind is wrong, and that the city's Zero Tolerance for Discrimination resolution promotes equal rights and is an important step toward creating a healthy, productive environment for the residents and businesses of Colorado Springs. Yet, despite its recent defeats, you can be sure that Colorado for Family Values won’t just fade into obscurity. Rumor has it that CFV will campaign for a special election to bring this local version of Amendment 2 to a vote. CFV may also take its pro-discrimination agenda to other communities, as it did in Cincinnati. Citizen's Project will be monitoring CFV and other organizations which blur the lines that separate church and state, and undermine the benefits of a diverse and pluralistic society. We ask that you continue working with us to defeat (again) any future discriminatory legislation which these organizations may propose. Nineteen European countries violate religious freedom Nineteen European countries are violating religious rights, including some East European countries which place greater restrictions on religious liberty than their communist predecessors did, according to the International Helsinki Federation for Human Rights. The Federation’s annual report cited pressure on religious minorities in several predominantly Orthodox and Muslim countries. In Armenia, all minority faiths are restricted under a 1997 law, while in Montenegro authorities have treated the Serbian Orthodox Church as a state church, subordinating other religious groups to its control. In Kazakhstan, Christians face persecution due to the many governmental leaders’ belief that Christianity must not be practiced publicly in an "Islamic state." In Greece, Evangelicals were targeted with a law prohibiting "proselytism," and in Austria, a new law requires religions to register with the state after a waiting period of six months to obtain a legal status. Law suits filed against politicking churches Last year, Americans United for Separation of Church and State (AU) launched Project Fair Play to challenge the partisan politics of the Christian Coalition who vowed to draft 100,000 churches into its electioneering efforts and distribute 36 million voter guides. Americans United sent approximately 80,000 letters to churches across the nation outlining IRS and federal tax law regulations that bar non-profit groups from intervening in partisan politics, and warning of the highly partisan nature of the Christian Coalition voter guides. The voter guides have been widely criticized for distorting candidates’ views. For example, Sen. Dave Herbert filed a libel lawsuit against the Oklahoma Christian Coalition for stating he voted to decriminalize sodomy and bestiality when he actually opposed the measure. The guide also claimed he supported minors’ access to pornography when he co-authored a resolution ordering libraries to block access to pornography on the Internet. In an effort to spark a test case that will lead the federal tax agency to declare the Coalition’s guides partisan, AU has challenged five churches for violating election law by distributing the partisan guide. The group has also challenged other forms of electioneering by non-profit religious groups. They include an alliance of 175 Baptist churches that offered to aid in the reelection campaign of Maryland Gov. Parris Glendening (D) in exchange for state money to pay for various church-sponsored projects. A second complaint involves a Baltimore Baptist congregation that hosted a Democratic Party rally the Sunday before the election, where President Clinton spoke from the pulpit endorsing several Democratic candidates. AU was successful in an earlier case involving a church in radical abortion protester Randall Terry’s home town, Vestal New, York. The IRS revoked the church’s tax-exempt status because they placed full page ads in USA Today and The Washington Times urging people not to vote for Clinton. The ads also included an appeal for tax-deductible donations to defray the cost of placing the ads. Pat Robertson’s American Center for Law and Justice is representing the church in court. Polling prejudice Many students feel uncomfortable around members of racial and ethnic minorities, according to a recent study of 3,100 high-achieving high school students. Fifteen percent of the students polled said they are prejudiced against African Americans and Hispanics, an eight-percentage-point increase from the previous year. Forty-eight percent said they are prejudiced against homosexuals, an increase of nineteen percentage points from last year’s survey. The poll, conducted by Educational Communications Inc., documents trends among high school students who earn A’s and B’s and who are recognized for leadership and service. A separate poll recently released by the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) indicated that the number of Americans who hold strongly anti-Semitic views has dropped from 20 percent to 12 percent since 1992. Despite the drop, the poll found that 20 to 25 million Americans ¾ slightly more than one in eight ¾ embrace a wide range of stereotypes about Jews, including that "Jews have too much power" and "Jews are more loyal to Israel than to America." Those who are the most anti-Semitic are older ¾ over 65 years of age, and have a high school education or less. The most disturbing finding of the survey is the percentage of African Americans who fall into the most anti-Semitic category is now almost four times that of whites (although the percentage of anti-Semitic African Americans also declined slightly since 1992). Concerning these findings, ADL National Director Abraham Foxman said, "We do not pretend to fully understand why the discrepancy between white and Black attitudes exists, but it clearly underscores a problem that we as a society cannot afford to ignore." Colorado Civil Rights Division threatened Colorado’s primary civil rights enforcement body is facing extinction at the hand of the newly elected legislature. The Civil Rights Division, a state agency established in 1957 to enforce Colorado's civil rights laws in employment, housing and public accommodations, is up for its "sunset review" this year. Given the tenor of the current Colorado legislature, the division and its funding could be eliminated. Colorado's civil rights laws prohibit discrimination in employment, housing, and public accommodations on the basis of race, sex, national origin, ancestry, physical or mental disability, religion, color, and marital status (housing and public accommodations only). Discrimination in employment based on age and marriage to a co-worker is also prohibited. To support the continuation of the Colorado Civil Rights Commission and Division, enforcement of civil rights legislation, and research and education on human rights issues contact Citizens Project at 520-9899. |
