Neo-Nazi Named Jeffrey Harbin Was End Birthright Citizenship
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SPECIAL ISSUE IntelligencePUBLISHED BY SPRING 2011 | ISSUE 141 THE SOUTHERN POVERTY LAW CENTERReport THE YEAR IN HATE & EXTREMISM HATE GROUPS TOP 1000 Led by antigovernment ‘Patriot’ groups, the radical right expands dramatically for the second year in a row EDITORIAL The Arizonification of America BY MARK POTOK, EDITOR when even leading conser- As we explain in this issue, this dramatic growth of the rad- vatives worry out loud about the ical right for the second consecutive year is related to anger right-wing vitriol and demoniz- over the changing racial make-up of the country, the ailing ing propaganda so commonplace in economy and the spreading of demonizing propaganda and contemporary America, you’ve got other kinds of hate speech in the political mainstream. to be concerned about where our The white-hot political atmosphere is not limited to hard- country is headed. line nativist politicians, conspiracy-mongering cable news This January, former President hosts, or even openly radical hate groups. During the same George W. Bush, speaking in a month when most of these conservative commentaries were question-and-answer session written, the nation witnessed an extraordinary series of at Texas’ Southern Methodist events that highlighted the atmosphere of political extremism. University, warned that the nation seemed to be reliving its On Jan. 8, a Tucson man opened fire in a parking lot on worst anti-immigrant moments. “My point is, we’ve been U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, Democrat of Arizona, killing six through this kind of period of isolationism, protectionism, people, critically wounding the congresswoman and badly nativism” before, he said. “I’m a little concerned that we may injuring another 12 people. Giffords’ assailant appeared to be be going through the same period” again. severely mentally ill, but he also seemed to have absorbed cer- In a column around the same time, conservative commen- tain ideas from the radical right, including the notion that the tator Linda Chavez, a Fox News analyst and former Reagan federal government is evil. White House official, warned against new nativist efforts to Six days later, a neo-Nazi named Jeffrey Harbin was end birthright citizenship. “Now, egged on by radical popula- arrested in Arizona for possessing 12 grenade-like devices tion control groups, some Republicans want to reinterpret the packed with ball bearings — “to maximize human carnage,” Constitution and 11 decades of jurisprudence to subvert the as a federal prosecutor put it. A member of the National 14th Amendment,” she wrote. “They are on a fool’s errand that Socialist Movement, Harbin was heading for the border when will do great damage to the Republican Party.” he was arrested. Roll Call executive editor Morton Kondracke wrote Three days after that, on Jan. 17, police in Spokane, Wash., the same month that we are seeing “the Arizonification of found and defused a sophisticated anti-personnel bomb that America,” a reference to the state that last year passed the had been hidden along the route of a Martin Luther King Jr. harshest anti-immigrant law in memory. “It has become a Day parade. Officials said they were looking into local hate state of Minuteman vigilantism, death threats against poli- groups as part of their search for the would-be mass murderer. ticians and judges, talk-radio demagoguery, and bullying of And on Jan. 24, police in Michigan arrested a man in a Latinos and rival politicians,” he said. car loaded with M-80s and other explosives in a parking lot And neoconservative Bill Kristol, writing this February, outside one of the nation’s largest mosques, packed at the worried about the “hysteria” in contemporary conservativism time with 500 mourners at a funeral. He was charged with that he sees exemplified in a particularly voluble Fox News making a terroristic threat and possessing explosives with host. “When Glenn Beck rants about the caliphate taking unlawful intent. over the Middle East from Morocco to the Philippines, and We are living in a deeply polarized and dangerous lists (invents?) the connections between caliphate-promot- moment, and that may be nowhere more obvious than in the ers and the American left, he brings to mind no one so much state of Arizona, as Mort Kondracke pointed out. Perhaps no as Robert Welch and the John Birch Society,” Kristol wrote. one captured that better than Pima County Sheriff Clarence “He’s marginalizing himself, just as his predecessors did back Dupnik, speaking at a press conference after the Tucson in the early 1960s.” assassination attempt. Given these warnings from leading conservatives, it is not “[L]ook at unbalanced people, how they respond to the surprising that the Southern Poverty Law Center’s latest count vitriol that comes out of certain mouths about tearing down found that the number of hate groups operating in America last the government,” the sheriff said. “The anger, the hatred, year had risen to 1,002 from 932 in 2009. The number of nativ- the bigotry that goes on in this country is getting to be ist vigilante groups was up, too, from 309 in 2009 to 319 in 2010. outrageous and, unfortunately, Arizona has become sort And there was truly explosive growth in the antigovernment of the capital. We have become the mecca for prejudice “Patriot” movement, which added 312 new groups last year, and bigotry.” skyrocketing 61% from 512 in 2009 to 824 last year. Sadly, much of the country is following Arizona’s lead. L Intelligence Report SPRING 2011 | ISSUE 141 SPECIAL Hate Groups Map • Hate Groups Listing • Hate Websites • ‘Patriot’ Groups ‘Patriot’ Websites STARTING ON PAGE 43 ON THE COVER 40 The Year in Hate and Extremism Driven by anger over the country’s changing racial demographics, the continu- ing harsh economy and demonizing propaganda found increasingly in the political mainstream, the number of radical-right groups has expanded dramatically. For the second year in a row, the growth was led by the antigovernment “Patriot” move- ment, which saw more than 300 new organizations appear over a 12-month period. 21 Over the Cliff 32 Shariah Shock 35 The Year in Nativism Cliff Kincaid has spent more than 30 Virtually all constitutional scholars and The anti-immigration movement years at Accuracy in Media, a far-right other legal experts agree that Shariah savored a major victory last year with organization that tirelessly attacks law — Muslim religious law — could the adoption of Arizona’s controver- the “liberal” media. In that time, he’s never be imposed on Americans. But a sial S.B. 1070, the harshest nativist law cranked out reams of material savaging measure banning the use of Shariah law in memory. But as their issues were global institutions, political liber- passed overwhelmingly in Oklahoma increasingly adopted by the more main- als, global warming theorists and the after sponsor Rex Duncan claimed stream political right, the rate of growth Catholic Church. But he reserves a spe- Americans were “in a war for the sur- of hard-line nativist and vigilante COVER ART BY SEAN MCCABE cial loathing for gay people. vival of our country.” groups slowed to a trickle. Intelligence Report EDITOR/INTELLIGENCE PROJECT DIRECTOR Mark Potok DIRECTOR OF RESEARCH Heidi Beirich DEPUTY EDITOR Robert Steinback 12 Behind the Academies STAFF WRITERS Two private academies in Mississippi, set up in 1968 for Ryan Lenz, Leah Nelson, Evelyn Schlatter white children fleeing public school integration, are still CHIEF INVESTIGATOR being partly funded by a racist hate group. Joseph Roy Sr. SENIOR INTELLIGENCE ANALYST Laurie Wood 14 Taking Aim In a self-published novel, an Ohio law INFORMATION MANAGER Michelle Bramblett school student targets the Southern RESEARCH ANALYSTS Poverty Law Center for an imaginary Anthony Griggs, Janet Smith assassination and dreams up a fanciful past PROGRAM ASSOCIATE for white people. Karla Griffin RESEARCHERS 17 Making Myths Angela Freeman, Karmetriya Jackson The extreme-right version of American his- DESIGN DIRECTOR Russell Estes tory pushed by the National Center for Constitutional Studies is gaining adherents. DESIGNERS Valerie Downes, Michelle Leland, Scott Phillips One of them is Fox’s Glenn Beck. DESIGN PRODUCTION ASSISTANT Sunny Paulk 24 Electoral Extremism WEB PRODUCTION DIRECTOR Over 20 candidates with extreme right-wing Ryan King ideas ran for a variety of political offices WEB PRODUCTION around America last year. Five of them Chris Pow managed to win. MEDIA AND GENERAL INQUIRIES Mark Potok 30 Tainted Thule LAW ENFORCEMENT INQUIRIES Joseph Roy Sr. A leading member of the now-defunct White Order of SUBSCRIPTION REQUESTS Karla Griffin Southern Poverty Law Center Thule describes the strange ideas of his “esoteric Nazi” 400 Washington Ave. • Montgomery, AL 36104 group and explains how he came to leave it. (334) 956-8200 • www.intelligencereport.org PUBLISHED BY THE SOUTHERN POVERTY LAW CENTER’S INTELLIGENCE PROJECT DEPARTMENTS 3 Intelligence Briefs A would-be clinic bomber calls himself a “Christian Osama”; a neo-Nazi is again convicted for threats; bank bombers get death; SOUTHERN POVERTY LAW CENTER PRESIDENT and other glimpses of extremism. J. Richard Cohen SOUTHERN POVERTY LAW CENTER FOUNDERS Morris Dees 68 For the Record Joseph J. Levin Jr. A sampling of hate crimes and LAW ENFORCEMENT SOUTHERN POVERTY LAW CENTER BOARD OF DIRECTORS hate group activities from the INQUIRIES WELCOMED Howard Mandell, Chair fourth quarter of 2010 is summa- Julian Bond, Andrew Fredman, The Intelligence Project of Lloyd “Vic” Hackley, Alan Howard, Marsha Levick, rized in state-by-state listings. the Southern Poverty Law James McElroy, Vanzetta McPherson, Center (SPLC) welcomes James Rucker, Ellen Sudow, David Wang 69 The Last Word law enforcement inquiries “Radical traditionalist” Catholics, regarding right-wing extrem- The Intelligence Report is published quarterly by the staff of the Intelligence ists and hate groups.