Post by twayne on Feb 11, 2005 12:57:42 GMT -5
Alabama law center tracks hate groups in America
SPLC says Mississippi governors, court justices, legislators tied to white supremacist group
by Peter Cleary
February 10, 2005
Dozens of Mississippi lawmakers — from governors and congressmen to state legislators and Supreme Court justices — are in bed with a known white supremacist group, according to one Alabama-based civil rights organization.
Officials at the Southern Poverty Law Center in Montgomery contend it’s just more evidence that hate groups continue to fester in America some 40 years after the Civil Rights Movement.
“Hate groups are alive and well in America,” said SPLC’s Mark Potock. “They continue to grow at a slow place.”
Potock works for the Center’s Intelligence Project, which monitors hate group activity around the county.
“We’re now monitoring over 750 hate groups in the country,” he said. “Many of these are tiny, some of them are quite large (having) 15,000-20,000 members.”
The group started off keeping tabs on the Ku Klux Klan. “Klanwatch,” as it was then called, was started in 1981 primarily as a response to the resurgence of the Klan engineered by David Duke, according to Potock.
“I think what really happened in the last 10 to 15 years, we’ve seen a resurgence of the radical right.”
But the face of hate is changing: no longer are overtly white supremacist organizations the only hate groups active in the South. They are joined by separatist, militant and black-supremacist organizations.
Black or white, Potock said, “What we’re seeing is a lot of extremist influence in the mainstream.”
Most of the hate groups monitored by the Intelligence Project are white supremacist, neo-confederate or Aryan Nation groups. However, they track the activities of some black-supremacist groups like the New Black Panther Party and the Nation of Islam.
“The South of today is not the south of 40 years ago,” Potock said, “But the state of race relations in the South is pretty poor and in many ways getting worse.”
The most recent numbers available from the Intelligence Project are from 2003 when 27 hate groups were active in Mississippi alone, according to the Center. Several of them are active in North Mississippi.
The Mississippi White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan operate a chapter in Robinsonville. The Bayou Knights of the Ku Klux Klan operate a chapter in Fulton. The group lists a chapter of the Nation of Islam as being active in Holly Springs.
Far and away, though, the most active hate group in Mississippi, according to the Intelligence Project, is the Council of Conservative Citizens.
It was added to the list of hate groups in the late 1990s. The organization lists active chapters of the CCC in North Mississippi in Calhoun City and Holly Springs.
“I think it’s extremely intellectually dishonest to look at the Council and say that it’s not white supremacist,” Potock said.
Susan Glisson, director of the William Winter Institute for Racial Reconciliation at Ole Miss, echoed Potock’s sentiment. She said it’s especially disturbing because of the CCC’s history.
“The fact is that the group grew out of the ashes of the White Citizens’ Council,” she said.
According to the CCC Web site, two Mississippi state senators attended a meeting of the Great Southern Chapter of the CCC on January 27 in the Jackson area.
One state lawmaker, Rep. John Moore, R-Brandon, who had planned to meet with the organization, opted not to, according to the Associated Press.
But for years, politicians have chosen to affiliate with the CCC.
Glisson said that’s because the organization has worked to make their message more palatable.
“In a post civil rights period, groups that support white supremacy have been able to encode their messages; they’ve learned a language of political correctness,” she said. “They’ve learned how to discuss their true intentions.”
Despite what she sees as elected leaders courting a group that some consider a white supremacist group, Glisson is optimistic.
“There are hopeful signs,” Glisson said. “Since the inception of our country, freedom and bondage have been at war. Quite frankly, the nation at large is still grappling with the institution of racism.”
SPLC says Mississippi governors, court justices, legislators tied to white supremacist group
by Peter Cleary
February 10, 2005
Dozens of Mississippi lawmakers — from governors and congressmen to state legislators and Supreme Court justices — are in bed with a known white supremacist group, according to one Alabama-based civil rights organization.
Officials at the Southern Poverty Law Center in Montgomery contend it’s just more evidence that hate groups continue to fester in America some 40 years after the Civil Rights Movement.
“Hate groups are alive and well in America,” said SPLC’s Mark Potock. “They continue to grow at a slow place.”
Potock works for the Center’s Intelligence Project, which monitors hate group activity around the county.
“We’re now monitoring over 750 hate groups in the country,” he said. “Many of these are tiny, some of them are quite large (having) 15,000-20,000 members.”
The group started off keeping tabs on the Ku Klux Klan. “Klanwatch,” as it was then called, was started in 1981 primarily as a response to the resurgence of the Klan engineered by David Duke, according to Potock.
“I think what really happened in the last 10 to 15 years, we’ve seen a resurgence of the radical right.”
But the face of hate is changing: no longer are overtly white supremacist organizations the only hate groups active in the South. They are joined by separatist, militant and black-supremacist organizations.
Black or white, Potock said, “What we’re seeing is a lot of extremist influence in the mainstream.”
Most of the hate groups monitored by the Intelligence Project are white supremacist, neo-confederate or Aryan Nation groups. However, they track the activities of some black-supremacist groups like the New Black Panther Party and the Nation of Islam.
“The South of today is not the south of 40 years ago,” Potock said, “But the state of race relations in the South is pretty poor and in many ways getting worse.”
The most recent numbers available from the Intelligence Project are from 2003 when 27 hate groups were active in Mississippi alone, according to the Center. Several of them are active in North Mississippi.
The Mississippi White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan operate a chapter in Robinsonville. The Bayou Knights of the Ku Klux Klan operate a chapter in Fulton. The group lists a chapter of the Nation of Islam as being active in Holly Springs.
Far and away, though, the most active hate group in Mississippi, according to the Intelligence Project, is the Council of Conservative Citizens.
It was added to the list of hate groups in the late 1990s. The organization lists active chapters of the CCC in North Mississippi in Calhoun City and Holly Springs.
“I think it’s extremely intellectually dishonest to look at the Council and say that it’s not white supremacist,” Potock said.
Susan Glisson, director of the William Winter Institute for Racial Reconciliation at Ole Miss, echoed Potock’s sentiment. She said it’s especially disturbing because of the CCC’s history.
“The fact is that the group grew out of the ashes of the White Citizens’ Council,” she said.
According to the CCC Web site, two Mississippi state senators attended a meeting of the Great Southern Chapter of the CCC on January 27 in the Jackson area.
One state lawmaker, Rep. John Moore, R-Brandon, who had planned to meet with the organization, opted not to, according to the Associated Press.
But for years, politicians have chosen to affiliate with the CCC.
Glisson said that’s because the organization has worked to make their message more palatable.
“In a post civil rights period, groups that support white supremacy have been able to encode their messages; they’ve learned a language of political correctness,” she said. “They’ve learned how to discuss their true intentions.”
Despite what she sees as elected leaders courting a group that some consider a white supremacist group, Glisson is optimistic.
“There are hopeful signs,” Glisson said. “Since the inception of our country, freedom and bondage have been at war. Quite frankly, the nation at large is still grappling with the institution of racism.”
