News Briefs

Taliban Slammed by Russia over bin Laden Appointment as Commander-in-Chief 8/30/01

Osama bin Laden, leader of an international Islamic terrorist organization, has been named commander-in-chief of the armed forces of Afghanistan's Taliban regime.  Bin Laden has been linked to bombings or attempted bombings of U.S. Embassies in the United States and other countries, including Kenya and Tanzania.The Russia's Foreign Ministry condemned the appointment, according to the official RIA Novosti news agency reported.


Bin Laden's appointment confirmed that a center of international terrorism is being set up in Taliban-controlled territory, the ministry said in a statement.

"Pseudo-religious values are being used as a cover to prepare a bridgehead for expansion of militant extremism and separatism far beyond the region's borders," added the statement, according to UPI..

This month, Russian media quoted Pakistan's Nation daily as saying that the Taliban had named bin Laden commander of their troops. Afghanistan's civil war concerns the Kremlin as hundreds of Russian border guards monitor the Afghan-Tajik border and a potential spill of violence could plunge the whole region into chaos. 

Moreover, the Taliban's aim to build an orthodox Islamic state has given rise to many Islamic extremist movements in the former Soviet republics in Central Asia. In recent years, Islamic insurgents from Afghanistan launched raids on Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan.

The Taliban's ongoing clashes with the Northern Alliance movement backing ousted President Burhanuddin Rabbani -- the leader of the government general recognized by international organizations -- have alerted Russia and its partners as arms smuggling, drug trafficking, kidnapping and other crimes have flourished along the Afghan-Tajikborder.

On Thursday, Moscow also condemned the appointment of JumaNamangani as bin Laden's deputy. Namangani, an ethnic Uzbek, was linked to a number of raids on Kyrgyzstan's Batken district over the last three years. 

Namangani advocates the creation of an Islamic state run by a regime similar to the Taliban's and spreading over Central Asia. "Incorporation of the international terrorists' leaders into the ruling structures of the Taliban shows the need to take decisive measures to collectively counter global challenges that are put forward from the Taliban-controlled territory," said the statement.

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Milosevic to be Indicted for Genocide in the Balkans 8/30/01

In his second appearance before the the U.N. war crimes tribunal in the Hague, former Yugoslav president Slobodan Milosevic today demonstrated his continued capacity for showmanship, criticizing "discrimination" in his treatment by his jailers and criticizing prosecutors for not having completed assembling their case against him more than two years after he was indicted.

After the court session,  war crimes prosecutor Carla Del Ponte announced she would sign a new indictment on October 1 against Milosevic for his role in wars in Croatia and Bosnia in the early 1990s.

Today's court session lasted just 40 minutes, and the last 10 were spent with Milosevic verbally sparring with presiding judge Richard May of Britain. It began with May warning Milosevic that he would allow "no speeches at this stage," and Milosevic, in heavily accented English, asking sarcastically whether his microphone would be cut off like it was during his first court appearance July 3, according to the Washington Post.

In the end, May did cut off Milosevic's microphone, and abruptly adjourned the session as Milosevic waved his arm and launched into a harangue on the U.N. tribunal as "not a juridical institution. You are a political tool."

For the 10 minutes he held the floor, Milosevic chided the prosecutors' delay and demanded to know why he was being held "in isolation" in the U.N. detention center, with only restricted access to his family and others he needed to consult with to plan his defense.

"Why am I isolated from my family?" Milosevic demanded. "Why my family cannot visit me? Why the visit of my family is monitored? Why you monitor the visit of my grandson, who is 2 1/2 years old? Why am I isolated from the persons with whom I need to talk, to discuss different aspects of my illegal detention?   

"The system of U.N. is based on non-discrimination," Milosevic said. "And I am discriminated against all the time, from the first day I got in."

Tribunal officials rejected Milosevic's argument that he faces discrimination, saying he has had two visits from his wife, Mira Markovic, totaling 45 hours, and another 20 hours of meetings with other family members,  spokesman Jim Landale said.  Milosevic's grandson Marko visited Aug. 20 for Milosevic 60th birthday.  During his two months in detention, Milosevic has been visited by several lawyers, including former U.S. attorney Ramsey Clark.  Landale also said Milosevic had met with six separate lawyers. "We would reject these allegations completely,"

In recent weeks, Milosevic was allowed to mingle with other war crimes suspects at the U.N. detention unit after more than a month of isolation. He is said to play cards with fellow inmates and spend much of his time reading.

Milosevic also demanded to know why he was not allowed to speak to the news media while "every single day there is something printed or broadcast against me which is a pure lie." 

Milosevic last week received a warning from the detention facility officials for telephoning the Fox television network to give an interview, which is against the jail's rules.

Despite the grandstanding, the tribunal made several key decisions today in the case against Milosevic, who now faces charges of mass murder, deportation and the "ethnic cleansing" of ethnic Albanians from Kosovo, a province of the Yugoslav republic Serbia, in 1998 and 1999.    In the former Yugoslavia this week, forensic investigators continued to exhume bodies from mass graves, gruesome evidence they say will help convict Milosevic of crimes against humanity.

Investigators revealed at least four common burial sites across Serbia - graves that contain the tangled remains of at least 800 victims of a brutal 1998-99 crackdown on ethnic Albanians in Kosovo.

The court ordered the prosecutors to hasten the preparation of their case, even though the current charges against Milosevic will be expanded because of additional mass graves being exhumed inside Serbia, Yugoslavia's main republic, and with the new genocide indictment coming in October.

May set Oct. 29 for the next hearing and said he wants to fix a trial date sometime in the first two months of next year, with a view to a speedy trial. "The indictment was issued over two years ago, the accused has been in custody for two months," May said. "This matter must be ready for trial."

May also announced that the court would appoint an attorney as "friend of the court," whose job will be to file pretrial motions, object to evidence, cross-examine witnesses and draw attention to any evidence that could absolve Milosevic of guilt. This appointment was seen by legal analysts as a way around the fact that Milosevic continues to insist on acting as his own lawyer.

May said the court-appointed lawyer will not be assisting Milosevic, but helping the court "insure that the trial is fair.

"The prosecution team asked the court to appoint a lawyer to represent Milosevic. But the three-judge panel ruled against that request, saying that Milosevic had a right to act as his own lawyer if he wanted. The prosecutors also suffered another small defeat when the judges turned down Del Ponte's request to have the indictment against Milosevic read out in open court. Del Ponte argued that this step, which would have resulted in dramatic television images of Milosevic hearing details of the prosecutors' claims, was necessary because Milosevic refused to accept the indictment, and would not look at it after it was delivered to him in prison.

Richard Dicker of Human Rights Watch accused Milosevic of "trying to have it both ways," on the one hand refusing to recognize the tribunal, but at the same time trying to "avail himself of all the protections and guarantees entitled to him." Dicker said, "He's speaking out of both sides of his mouth."

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Durban Racism Conference Rife With Issues 8/30/01


The day before the start of a U.N. conference against racism, angry Arab activists broke up a news conference by Jewish groups, and the Rev. Jesse Jackson warned that the Middle East conflict should not overshadow other key issues. 

U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan, meanwhile, was pelted by complaints by leaders of ethnic minorities worried their causes will be ignored at the gathering that begins tomorrow. 

During a question-and-answer session at a civil rights forum, he was challenged to defend the conference's draft final document by representatives of Latinos, indigenous people, Caribbean citizens and Dalits, known as the untouchable caste in India.   The groups felt their cause was not being emphasized enough, if at all.  Twice the secretary-general was interrupted by shouts from the crowd, once by Palestinians and once by a Dalit representative. 

``Let's have a dialogue. Let's have a serious dialogue,'' Annan admonished the Dalit representative, according to the Associated Press.

Just after his arrival in Durban, Jackson said efforts to label Israel a racist state threaten to overshadow other issues at the conference, which runs until Sept. 7. 

``The issue of racism is too big to reduce it to the controversy about the Middle East,'' said Jackson. ``One can be against the settlements, against the assassination of leaders and not have to label Israel as a racist state. If one goes into labeling, there are a lot of labels to go around.'' 

Representatives from more than a hundred countries were expected to attend the gathering. About 15 heads of state, many from Africa, were expected to lead their delegations. 

The United States announced Wednesday it was sending only a midlevel delegation in response to language it considers anti-Semitic in the draft resolution. U. S. Secretary of State Colin Powell will not attend the meeting.  Canada's Foreign Affairs Minister John Manley said Thursday he too would stay home - and for the same reason. 

The Bush administration is sending a small team headed by a mid-level diplomat to the U.N. conference on racism opening tomorrow in Durban, South Africa, but has not decided whether it will officially participate, State Department spokesman Richard A. Boucher said yesterday.

The State Department has instructed Michael E. Southwick, deputy assistant secretary of state for international organizations, to head to Durban in an effort to persuade other delegations to eliminate "offensive language" in the draft declaration concerning Israel.

"We'll have representatives on the scene . . . and I suppose they'll have to have some sort of accreditation badges to work the hallways," Boucher said. "The extent and nature of our participation are not fully decided."

"We felt that at this point, as the conference is about to begin with all the players in Durban, South Africa, that it was necessary for us to have representatives out there to do what the president asked us to do, and that's to work to eliminate this language," Boucher said.

Though top U.N. officials have called on the United States to attend the conference, President Bush said last week there would be no U.S. representation "so long as they pick on Israel."

Boucher left open the possibility that the United States might send other officials, in addition to Southwick, if he makes progress in removing the anti-Israel clauses, or that it might withdraw him before the end of the conference if he fails.

The draft U.N. race declaration does not link Zionism with racism, but it says: "Foreign occupation founded on settlements...(is) a new kind of apartheid, a crime against humanity." 

The draft document also expresses "deep concern about practices of racial discrimination against the Palestinians as well as other inhabitants of the Arab occupied territories." 

The document also refers to "ethnic cleansing of the Arab population in historic Palestine." 

``What is important is what we do after the conference. Not the declaration and the papers adopted,'' Annan said. 

Earlier, Jewish groups at the civil rights forum told a press conference they had been harassed and discriminated against during preparatory meetings. Before the groups could complete their presentation, Arab activists began shouting, singing and pushing in front of the speakers, prompting organizers to cut short their briefing. 

According to Reuters, pro-Palestinian activists disrupted a press conference by more than 20 Jewish groups at a United Nations-backed non-governmental world racism conference on Thursday. 

Plans by international Jewish groups to highlight what they said was "intimidation against Jews and Israelis" unraveled as activists from Arab and Islamic states and Palestinians tried to break up the event which came ahead of the start of the official U.N. conference on Friday. 

The build-up to the conference, which was expected to address a range of human rights issues ranging from the rights of indigenous people to reparations for slavery, has been dominated by a threatened U.S. boycott if Israel was singled out as a "racist" state. 

Several protesters shouted "Zionism is racism, Israel is apartheid," and "You have Palestinian blood on your hands" to Jewish representatives who voiced concern at what they said was "anti-Semitism" at the Durban meeting. 

"We're feeling intimidated, unable to communicate and shut down on the grounds of being Jewish. It's a new type of anti-Semitism," said Anne Bayefsky, a professor at New York's Columbia Law School. 

Abraham H. Foxman, director of the Anti-Defamation League, who had urged Powell to stay away from the conference, welcomed the decision to dispatch Southwick in an effort to delete the clauses, including language that compares Zionism to racism.

"I have no problem with the United States trying to the last minute to do the right thing," Foxman said. "If they can't, at least they will monitor or observe."

Rana Nashashibi, a Palestinian living in Jerusalem, heckled the delegates, accusing Israel of killing innocent Palestinians and Arabs and of supporting South Africa's former white-minority regime. 

"What about the tanks, what about the shootings?" Nashashibi said, surrounded and supported by Iranian women wearing the hejab, the Islamic head cover. 

Palestinian and Jewish groups also held peaceful demonstrations in the non-governmental racism forum, but they were separated by a small contingent of police. 

``This is typical of how we have been treated during this conference,'' said Rabbi Abraham Cooper, an associate dean at the Simon Wiesenthal Center. 

Pro-Palestinian groups have staged daily anti-Israel demonstrations since the forum began Tuesday, equating Zionism - the movement that supported the founding and continued existence of the Jewish state - with racism. 

The American Jewish Committee condemned the distribution by an official Arab group of vile anti-Semitic literature at the non-governmental forum of the UN World Conference against Racism.

"The distribution of blatant, despicable hate material at an international conference designed to combat racism and promote tolerance is an outrage that should not be tolerated for one moment," said David A. Harris, executive director of the American Jewish Committee. 

"We call upon the organizers of the both the world conference and of the non-governmental forum to immediately revoke the credentials of the Arab Lawyers Union for distributing this literature, whose sole intent is to inspire hatred towards Jews," said Mr. Harris. 

One pamphlet, published by the Egypt-based Arab Lawyers Union, includes a collection of more than 80 anti-Semitic cartoons. On the cover of a companion pamphlet, also published by the Arab Lawyers Union, is a Nazi swastika, superimposed over the Jewish Star of David, the ancient symbol of the Jewish people and the symbol of the modern state of Israel. 

"This kind of obscene image, and many others in the Arab Lawyers Union publication, are quite familiar to readers of the Arab press, from Egypt to Iraq to Syria to the Palestinian Authority, and across the Arab world," said Mr. Harris, who has testified before the U.S. Congress on anti-Semitism in the Arab and Muslim world. 

"Tolerating the willful introduction of hate literature into the UN conference setting is but another example of why this well-intentioned international conference designed originally to promote tolerance will instead be remembered for giving the imprimatur to the spread of bigotry and of defamation of the Jewish people," Harris said.

Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat told reporters on his arrival Thursday that the Palestinian issue should be treated as a global issue. 

``No doubt it's one of the most serious problems now, which not only Palestinians are facing, (but) the whole world is facing,'' he said. 

Mary Robinson, the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights and the secretary-general of the conference, said she was very concerned about the acrimony leading up to the conference and hoped it could be resolved. 

``This is a conference about victims of racial discrimination, a conference to move us forward toward reconciliation,'' Robinson said. ``This conference cannot solve the Middle East problem.'' 

She also sympathized with groups who felt they were being marginalized in the draft document. 

``Of course when you have a global conference that has to reach consensus there is going to be criticism of the text,'' she said. 

Anne Bayefsky, a law professor representing the International Association of Jewish Lawyers and Jurists, said the forum had degenerated from being an anti-racism forum into an anti-Semitic movement, and the U.N. conference was heading in the same direction. 

``Things look pretty grim,'' Bayefsky said. 

Jackson deplored the U.S. government for not sending Secretary of State Colin Powell to lead its delegation, adding that the United States was abdicating its position as a world leader. He said America's history of slavery, racism and civil rights made the country an important example to the rest of the world. 

``The U.S. has a need to be here, in part because we have unfinished business, and yet we have a story to tell and we should not set preconditions so high that we opt out of the position of leadership,'' Jackson said.

Although the great civil rights battles of the 1960s ended segregation in the United States, the lot of black Americans is still a delicate and difficult issue.

The Rev. Joseph Lowery, who with the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. co-founded the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, denounced Washington's stance as "a shameful cop-out."

"The U.S. decision contains attitudes of arrogance and evasion of responsibility," said Lowery, whose Black Leadership Forum group has sent a delegation to the conference. "It says to the rest of the world that we're not committed to serious efforts to address the issue of racism."

Lowery said U.S. objections to anti-Israeli language and a possible call for reparations for slavery were excuses to avoid dialogue.  "I think it's a shameful cop-out," he said.

Martin Luther King III, the son of the assassinated civil rights leader, who is now president of the Atlanta-based SCLC, told Reuters the United States was missing an opportunity to show leadership on a hot-button issue and share what it has learned about race relations.

"Because of our diverse population, where you have almost every ethnic group on the planet, we ought to be able to bring the experience of how you begin to break down barriers," King said, adding that he did not believe the conference would focus on isolating Israel.

"There are many people who will be adamantly against bashing Israel, and the only way that the U.S. can make its position known is to be at the table sitting down."

King added: "That's one of the steps of nonviolence that Martin Luther King Jr. taught us, that sometimes you have to learn how to disagree without being disagreeable."

King and Lowery joined a chorus of other civil-rights personalities and groups in criticizing the U.S. position.

Singer and activist Harry Belafonte, speaking at the National Association of Black Journalists convention in Orlando, Florida, last week, took aim at Powell and national security adviser Condoleezza Rice, both of whom are black, for not pushing for a U.S. presence at the conference.

"I don't hear the voice of Colin Powell, I don't hear the voice of Condoleezza Rice," he said to cheers from the audience.

"The U.S. is much too bound in legally racist practices not to lead the world on this question," Jackson said. "We had to fight a war against slavery in our own country."

If America had not made racism illegal, Jackson said, Powell would not have been secretary of state, Rice would not have been national security adviser, Tiger Woods would not have become a golfing legend and sisters Venus and Serena Williams would not be tennis stars.

"America has a story to tell and unfortunately we choose to be isolated and disengage. That's really a kind of an international disgrace," said Jackson, who plans to lead his own delegation to the meeting.

In a statement issued on Tuesday, the New York-based National Urban League noted that the United States opted out of racism conferences in 1978 and 1983.

"America's absence establishes a pattern of deliberate isolation from the important global dialogue on the legacy of racism, colonialism and xenophobia," the statement said.

The organization said Bush should at the very least send a delegation of senior diplomats to Durban.

"As the country where black people enjoy the highest educational and economic status of people of African descent on earth, the United States has much to teach the rest of the world about racial healing and progress," the league added.

Other groups are critical of the Bush administration's decision not to send the Secretary of State.  "If the U.S. government doesn't send a delegation to participate at a high level, it is an abdication of responsibility," said Jill Savitt, communications director of the Lawyers Committee for Human Rights. "The U.S. has an opportunity to shape the tone of the conference, roll up its sleeves and fight against hatred."

While praising Southwick as a respected advocate of human rights, Alexandra Arriaga, government relations director of Amnesty International USA, said Powell would have been a more effective spokesman "especially given who he is." Powell is the highest-ranking African American ever to serve in the U.S. government. "Given the leadership the United States could be playing here, Secretary Powell would have been the right person," she said.

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Two Charged in Assault of Mixed-Race Child After St. Paul KKK Rally 8/30/01

A 16-year-old man and a 25-year-old man were charged with harassing and hitting a mixed-race 4-year-old boy after the KKK rally in St. Paul MN on August 25.

Michael J. Pigg, 16, met another man Saturday at the rally initiated by the Ku Klux Klan at the State Capitol in St. Paul, authorities said. Pigg, who is in custody, and Jarod L. Sparks, 25, who surrendered to law enforcement  three days after the incident, had been drinking together before witnesses saw them picking on the child shortly before 8 p.m., according to the criminal complaint.  Both are residents of the Minneapolis-St. Paul area.

Sparks, 25, was being held in the Dakota County jail in lieu of $25,000 bail, officials said. He and Pigg, were charged with harassment and aiding each other in fourth-degree assault of the child Saturday, several hours after the two attended the KKK rally.  The boy, whose ancestry is African American and white, didn't suffer serious physical injuries.  According to the criminal complaint, witnesses saw Pigg and Sparks push the child off his bicycle and said that Pigg asked the child to punch him. Both men used racial epithets in talking to the child. Pigg punched the child in the side of his head.  

The boy's mother, Carrie Summitt, who is Sparks' girlfriend, spoke favorably about him at his bail hearing, said prosecutor Larry Clark . He said Summitt told the judge that Sparks had been helpful in raising her son by teaching him to brush his teeth and in supporting her as a mother.

Judge Martha Simonett said that if Sparks posts bail he must not contact the boy, must stay away from his home, and must not use alcohol, Clark said.

Pigg, of St. Paul, was being held in the jail in lieu of $50,000 bail. He is accused of hitting the child. 

"The Ku Klux Klan stands for a message of hate and violence," Dakota County Attorney James Backstrom said Tuesday. "And it is not surprising for me to see people who share these beliefs acting out in this way." Prosecutors said today that they don't know whether the men are members of the Klan.  

Backstrom said he didn't know of any other Klan-related crimes since the rally. 

Pigg and Sparks are each charged with two counts of harassment and a count of fourth-degree assault. Pigg is also charged with one count of property damage related to a piece of squad car seat that was bitten off. Bail was set at $50,000 for Pigg, who had been in Arizona with his father but is staying with his mother in St. Paul, his public defender said.

"A racist-related attack upon a little boy is unconscionable. I intend to prosecute these men to the fullest extent of the law," Backstrom said.   

The head of the Minnesota Black Republican Coalition said he would ask the state Republican Party, DFL party and elected officials to "follow this case step-by-step" to see whether the state's hate crime laws are adequate.

"We'll make sure there is no plea bargaining," Lucky Rosenbloom said

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Southern Poverty Law Center Calls on the Justice Department to Investigate Foreign Extremist Mark Cotterill 8/30/01

A British expatriate who has been raising funds for a British neo-Nazi party in apparent violation of U.S. law resigned Tuesday night after the Southern Poverty Law Center exposed his activities in a special report.

For two years, Mark Cotterill, a key official of the British National Party (BNP), orchestrated a major fundraising effort in the United States for the BNP ­ a far-right party that has been blamed by British authorities for instigating race riots in several English towns this summer, according to a press release from the SPLC.

Cotterill, co-founder and chairman of the American Friends of the British National Party (AFBNP), raised at least $85,000, according to a special issue of the Center¹s Intelligence Report. Cotterill resigned from the BNP and the AFBNP after reporters questioned him about the Center¹s report.

According to the SPLC report, Cotterill told a recent AFBNP meeting,."Although we are all nationalists, here today we are only one nationality:  white," reported in the AFBNP  Internet newsletter. "It is not an American fight or a British fight or a German fight. It is a white fight, and we have got to win it."  

To pave the path to victory, Cotterill has managed to bring in racists of  almost every stripe, clearly helped by the primordial attraction to American white supremacists of his British background. Besides the National Alliance and the League of the South, afbnp meetings have featured Steven Barry, editor of the neo-Nazi Resister magazine; and white supremacist lawyer and and neo-Confederate enthusiast Kirk Lyons. Speakers have been as varied as Internet hate guru and former Klansman Don Black of Stormfront and Richard Kelly Hoskins, a long-time ideologue of the anti-Semitic Christian Identity theology.

Meetings of the afbnp also have drawn race-obsessed American Renaissance
Editor Jared Taylor and various activists of the racist,  but supposedly "mainstream," Council of Conservative Citizens. Cotterill is especially close to  Klansman-turned-politican-turned-expatriate David Duke and his racist European-American Rights Organization. In all, Cotterill claims to have 100 dues-paying members in 40 states, with 1,000 people receiving his e-mail newsletter--people who are among the most active on the American white supremacist right.  

afbnp meetings are a far cry from backwoods Klan cross burnings. They¹re held in ordinary-looking meeting rooms and restaurants in cities like Arlington, Va., West Palm Beach, Fla., and Fort Lee, N.J. On the inside, though, racist rhetoric and ritual make the meetings feel like a world apart, according to the SPLC Intelligence Repor.  With walls draped in elaborate displays of the Union Jack and white power flags, tables are loaded with neo-Nazi paraphernalia like National Alliance leader William Pierce¹s racist novel, The Turner Diaries, and, in at least one case, a popular condiment for the hungry anti-Semite "Holocaust Hot Sauce: Six Million Served." 

Although they typically begin with a tepid rendition of "God Save the Queen," one recent meeting opened instead with a moment of silence, not for prayer, but for remembrance of Byron de la Beckwith, convicted murderer of civil rights leader Medgar Evers.  A February 2001 gathering closed with a particularly strange and solemn ceremony. Illuminated by torchlight, Cotterill stood next to a portrait of Confederate leader Robert E. Lee. With Scottish bagpipes playing low, according to the afbnp newsletter, Cotterill "read out the names of martyrs who had died for Britain, the Confederacy and the Racial Nationalist Cause.". 

Coterill's networking in the United  States began in 1993, when he visited neo-Nazi William Pierce at his National Alliance headquarters in West Virginia. "I managed to talk to Dr. Pierce in depth," Cotterill wrote later. "I had 3 of the most interesting and enjoyable days of my life there, and I hope to make a return visit in the near future."

In 1995, Cotterill moved to the United States. He was the U.S. distributor for the British far right publication Right Now! and corresponded with future bnp leader Nick Griffin.  Using the pseudonym Mark Cerr, Cotterill served as the youth organizer for the Council of Conservative Citizens until he resigned following the December 1998 exposure of his identity in the Intelligence Report. 

Because of Coterill's activities with the AFBNP, the SPLC has asked U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft to investigate the activities of Cotterill and the AFBNP for possible violations of the Foreign Agents Registration Act.

The Center¹s exposé, in the Fall 2001 issue of the Intelligence Report, documents the growing connections between U.S. and European neo-Nazi groups. "Hate knows no borders,"  said Mark Potok, editor of the Center¹s Intelligence Report. "The globalization of the neo-Nazi movement is being fueled not only by the Internet, but also by ultra-violent white power music and almost nonstop shortwave radio programming."  Cotterill, who has also used the alias Mark Cerr, has been at the center of this transatlantic nexus.

In the letter to Ashcroft, Center officials said that Cotterill and the AFBNP had apparently violated the Foreign Agents Registration Act, which requires individuals or organizations to register with the Justice Department if they are an agent of a foreign principal. Violations are punishable by up to five years in prison, a $10,000 fine, and deportation. 

Accordint to the SPLC, the activities of the AFBNP and Cotterill appear to be exactly the kind that Congress had in mind when it enacted the Foreign Agents Registration Act, wrote Richard Cohen, the Center¹s general counsel. Passed in 1938 in response to the large number of German Nazi party officials operating in this country, the Act requires that any agent or representative of a foreign political party "who solicits . . . money" for that party in the U.S. must register with and provide certain information to the Department of Justice.

The Center¹s 64-page report, entitled Dangerous Liaisons: From Los Angeles to Moscow, Extremism Goes Global, follows almost unprecedented rioting and racial violence in northern England this summer. British authorities have blamed the BNP for helping to stir up the unrest and prohibited BNP leader Nick Griffin from speaking in the city of Oldham, where some of the worst rioting took place. (see Hatemonitor.org June News Briefs)


LETTER TO THE ATTORNEY GENERAL:

                        August 29, 2001

By Fax and Federal Express
U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft
U.S. Department of Justice
Room 1248
950 Pennsylvania Ave. NW
Washington, DC  20530

Dear General Ashcroft:

We have uncovered evidence that the American Friends of the British National Party, an organization operating out of Falls Church, Virginia, under the leadership of Mark Cotterill, has been raising funds in this country for the British National Party, a white supremacist organization linked to serious incidents of racial violence in England.  Because these fundraising efforts appear to violate the Foreign Agents Registration Act, 22 U.S.C. §§ 611-21, we ask that the Department of Justice launch an investigation.

The British National Party (BNP) is a political party in the United Kingdom.  It bars non-whites from membership, supports voluntary resettlement of non-white immigrants, distributes lists of people who are supposedly part of a Jewish conspiracy to control the British media, and runs candidates for public office.  This past summer, British authorities blamed BNP leaders for instigating racial violence that broke out in several cities in Northern England. The BNP¹s National Chairman, Nick Griffin, was prohibited from speaking in the city of Oldham, where some of the worst rioting occurred.

The American Friends of the British National Party (AFBNP) was set up in January 1999 to help the BNP reach its fundraising target.  See Ex. 1.

Until yesterday, Mark Cotterill, a British national living in Falls Church who has been identified by the BNP as a key party official, see Exs. 2 & 3, served as the AFBNP chairman.  Since its founding, the AFBNP has repeatedly acknowledged that it is raising funds for the BNP in this country, see Exs. 1, 4­11, and the BNP has acknowledged that the AFBNP has made a significant financial contribution to the BNP¹s General Election campaign.  See Ex. 12; see also Ex. 3 (AFBNP described by BNP as its American support group).

The activities of the AFBNP and Cotterill appear to be exactly the kind that Congress had in mind when it enacted the Foreign Agents Registration Act.  Passed in 1938 in response to the large number of German Nazi party officials operating in this country, the Act requires that any "agent" or "representative" of a "foreign political party" who "solicits . . . money" for that party in the U.S. must register with and provide certain information to the Department of Justice.  Every six months, the Attorney General is required to report to Congress about the administration of the Act, including registrations filed under it.  Penalties for violating the Act may include a fine, imprisonment, or deportation. 

Neither the AFBNP nor Cotterill has registered under the Act.  As a result, Congress and the public have been denied information about their activities.  Although Cotterill supposedly resigned yesterday from the AFBNP and BNP after being questioned by reporters who had received information from us, he has not dissolved the AFBNP.  Furthermore, Cotterill¹s resignation does "not relieve [him] from his obligation to file a registration statement for the period during which he was an agent of a foreign principal."  22 U.S.C.§ 612(a).  In light of the growing connections between neo-Nazis in this country and in Europe, we believe that it is important that the Department promptly launch an investigation of the AFBNP  and Cotterill.

The exhibits to this letter as well as a copy of our special report about the international neo-Nazi movement is being sent to you under separate cover.  The report includes additional information about Cotterill and the AFBNP.

                        Sincerely yours,


                        J. Richard Cohen
                        General Counsel

JRC/lgt
Enclosure

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Alleged Reno NV Cop Killer Has Ties to Christian Identity Group 8/30/01

A man with ties to Pete Peters' Scriptures for America made his initial appearance in a Washoe County, Nevada court, accused of killing Reno police officer John C. Bohach.  

Prosecutors said that they consider the case “a potential death-penalty case, and we will proceed accordingly,” Washoe County District Attorney Dick Gammick said in Reno Justice Court. The decision, which hinges on whether there were aggravating circumstances, won’t be made for about a month, he said, according to the Reno Gazette Journal.

Larry James Peck, 50, did not flinch at the announcement during his first court appearance since the fatal shooting Wednesday.  Peck was heavily shackled at his cout appearance.

Peck spoke quietly and politely during his brief hearing before Reno Justice of the Peace Hal Albright.   He answered “Yes, sir,” when the judge asked if he understood the charges of murder and obstructing a police officer that are pending against him.

Peck is accused of murdering Bohach with a single shot from a high-powered rifle during a five-hour standoff with police Wednesday at his Reno residence, which detectives described as a “compound.” 

A task force of nearly 50 detectives from the Washoe County Sheriff’s Office and Sparks Police Department spent three days combing the property for evidence.   Inside the 800-square-foot home, they found five firearms, several boxes of ammunition, body armor, surveillance equipment and nearly two dozen spent ammunition casings. They also found a plastic bag full of a green, leafy substance, possibly marijuana, according to search warrant records.

According to Investigators, Peck is described as having an anti-government philosophy with connections to several groups outside of Nevada, much of it through the Internet.

“He has some connections to several groups in different states. We know it was not a local endeavor for him,” Sparks Police Deputy Chief Bob Cowman said.  Cowman declined to identify the groups, except one, the “Scriptures for America,” which is based in Colorado.

Investigators also found conspiracy-theory and “governmental” video tapes inside Peck’s house, and a black travel bag filled with black clothing, including gloves and hoods. Detectives confiscated his computer hard drives and diskettes.

During his court appearance, Peck told the judge his family had retained Reno lawyer David Houston to represent him. Houston, however, was not present in court and could not be reached Monday. Albright appointed the Washoe County Public Defender’s Office to represent him.

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Anti-Klan Protesters Drown Out the Klan in St. Paul, Minnesota 8/26/01


Forty-six Ku Klux Klansmen and neo-Nazis, including some who brought children,  showed up for a white power rally at the Minnesota State Capitol in St. Paul on Saturday, but were outnumbered by  more than 1,200 counter-demonstrators who chanted and waved signs but were mostly nonviolent.

About half of the demonstrators claimed  to be from the Ku Klux Klan of Mercer, WI.    The rest were members of the National Socialist Movement of Minneapolis. Four people were dressed in KKK robes and a dozen wore Nazi uniforms.

Authorities said several people were arrested before, during and after the hour-long rally, which was held by the Klan, the Aryan Nation and the National Socialist Movement. 

At 1 p.m., the counter-demonstrators erupted in boos and jeers as white-robed Klan members and more than a dozen men in full Nazi uniform -- including jackboots, brown shirts and red Nazi armbands -- emerged from inside the building to the top of the stairs at the Capitol's main entrance.  One counter-demonstrator greeted the Klan by blowing on his out-of-tune trombone.  Others pounded on pots and pans to drown out the Klan.

The Klan and Socialist Movement members were kept to the top five or six steps of the Capitol. Troopers pushed them up the steps if they descended too far. No one, including media, was allowed to approach them.

Klan members and neo-Nazis waved Confederate flags, red-and-black Nazi flags and a black flag that bore the twin lightning strokes of the Nazi SS. The white supremacists yelled "White power" and held their arms aloft in Nazi salutes, the prelude to an array of speakers who espoused a message of hatred and exclusion sprinkled with the almost obligatory racial and ethnic epithets.  

The Klan and Socialist speakers smiled at the sight of so many protesters. Each of about a dozen who took the podium thanked everyone for coming before railing at them for their races and religions. Although it was hard to hear their names and exactly what they were saying, the racist words rose above all the shouting.

"I want to thank all you nonhuman beasts," said one man, who identified himself as a national knight of the Ku Klux Klan. "It was so nice of all you spics, kikes and niggers to welcome us."

The more the speakers talked about their hatred of African-Americans, immigrants, Jews and homosexuals, the angrier and louder protesters got. At one point, the protesters hurled eggs and bread toward the steps and burned a dummy of a robed Klansman.  The eggs fell far short of the speakers, spattering on the steps near where TV cameras were set up.

The crowd often responded with expletives. Steel barricades and a line of nearly 80 uniformed state troopers kept the crowd on the mall separated from the speakers by about 60 feet.  About two-thirds of the way through the one-hour rally, one man broke through the barricade and was immediately arrested.

Later in the rally, anti-Klan protesters tossed eggs at the white supremacists. Most fell far short of the speakers, spattering on the steps near where TV cameras were set up.

Only a handful of Klan sympathizers showed up: one with a sign that read "KKK -- I support" and another wearing a white T-shirt with a Confederate flag on it. The only place they could go to hear the Klan was with the hundreds of protesters, many of whom crowded them, getting into their faces and screaming at them to go away, according to the St. Paul MN Pioneer Press.

"I wanted to hear what the Klan had to say," said Roxanne Jungclaus, 46, of Maplewood, who said she is a member of the National Organization for the Advancement of White People. Her bag bore a sticker saying, "Never apologize for being white."

"Our motto is equal rights for all, special privileges for none," she said.

About 2:30, a faction of the protesters turned on several crowd members they believed to be Klan supporters. They hurled expletives and eggs at two men they thought were neo-Nazis. They kicked one man, spit on him and slapped him in the back of his head for wearing a T-shirt with the likeness of a Confederate flag, according to the Minneapolis Star-Tribune. After about 15 minutes, the man pushed the yellow metal barricades to the ground, bringing demands from state troopers for the crowd to back away. The man was escorted into the Capitol.  

Another man who had hoped to hear the Klan's message was disappointed when the group emerged from the Capitol building carrying banners with swastikas and yelling expletives.  "That's not a way to stir up support for a movement," said James Powell, who said he is pro-white, but not racist. "All that does is stir up hatred."

Toward the end of the rally, crowd members started a countdown, shouting "One more minute, one more minute." As members of the Klan and the National Socialist Movement were ushered off the steps by state troopers, the crowd cheered and erupted in a chorus of "Don't come back."

Before the Capitol rally, about 200 people met at the Fitzgerald Theatre in downtown St. Paul for an anti-Klan gathering sponsored by the state Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party, the Coalition of Black Churches and other civic groups. A parade of high-profile attendees -- including U.S. Sens. Paul Wellstone and Mark Dayton, Minneapolis Mayor Sharon Sayles Belton, several state legislators, as well as local officials from Minneapolis and St. Paul -- then marched to the Capitol. "We speak because we should speak out," said Senator Dayton, "So let them have their little moment and then slither off into their respective holes."

One of the marchers was Gail Cerridwen, a high school teacher from Anoka, who said that some of her friends had urged her to ignore the Klan and stay home.  "But I think silence means acceptance," she said. "People need to stand up and get moving again."

A group called Can the Klan had organized the major counter-rally on the Capitol mall, and some disagreements broke out over who controlled the podium set up on the mall.
One man tried to speak at the Can the Klan podium but was denied because he was not on the speaker list. Michael Simpson of St. Paul, who was kicked off the stage, yelled at the Can the Klan organizers, "No justice, no peace."   Michelle Gross, a Can the Klan organizer told Simpson, "We are not the enemies." 

A separate anti-Klan demonstration at St. Paul's Central High School sponsored by St. Paul Mayor Norm Coleman was more like a picnic than a protest.  More than 300 people ate hot dogs and chips while listening to music and speeches and watching dancers perform. The group also held a healing ceremony in which they used eagle feathers to envelop themselves in sage-and-cedar smoke. They then joined hands and prayed for peace.  Calling the Klan rally a "a bad thing, a horrific thing," Mayor Coleman urged crowd members to reflect on what they could do to combat racism beyond the Saturday event.  

Also on Saturday, the Minnesota Vikings rescheduled their annual family barbecue to coincide with the Klan rally. Players, coaches and front office executives gathered on a practice field at 1 p.m. for a Unity Day rally led by the Rev. Keith Johnson, the team's chaplain.  The Vikings are the only NFL team with a black head coach, two black coordinators and a black quarterback. None of them mentioned the Klan by name Saturday, but their message was clear.

"I just call it that other hate group," coach Dennis Green said. "The bottom line is that we stand for what's right in the world. We had a good time with this. We tied it together with what we normally do, and I thought it was very successful for us."

At 4 p.m. the Minnesota Black Republican Coalition and the Minnesota Republican Party held a Unity Day rally in the Capitol rotunda.  "For some reason the Klan thought they were going to have the final victory," said coalition chairman Lucky Rosenbloom. "I don't think so."

Two hours before the Klan rally, state troopers handcuffed a man with a swastika tattoo on his chest. He had been proclaiming himself a Nazi and yelling expletives at anti-Klan protesters and troopers.  Kevin Smith, spokesman for the state Public Safety  Department, said the man was put in a cruiser, where he threatened to kill an officer and President Bush. The man originally had been arrested for disorderly conduct, but he could face felony charges for the threat, Smith said.

Shortly after the supremacists ended their event, about two dozen people were reported throwing rocks at a car with two men, a woman and two children, said St. Paul police Cmdr. Mark Pearson.  Two women and two men from the group of rock throwers were arrested and booked into the Ramsey County jail. It was unclear whether the assault was related to Saturday's rally, according to the police.

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Alleged California Skinhead Murder Defendant Loses Mail, Phone Privileges 8/25/01


A Ventura County, California, judge denied mail and phone privileges from alleged skinhead murder defendant David Ziesmer on Friday after prosecutors presented evidence to show he violated an existing order on jail communications.

Ziesmer, 28, is facing first-degree murder charges in the 1998 beating death of Nichole Hendrix, 17, of Ventura, California.  The prosecutor is seeking the for Ziesmer and his co-defendant Michael Bridgeford in Hendrix's murder..

Prosecutors said Ziesmer intentionally killed Hendrix after mistakenly concluding she had reported him to police for selling stolen property. Ziesmer was indicted by a grand jury last summer and held without bail. Prosecutors later obtained a court order restricting mail, phone and visitation privileges after finding out Ziesmer had allegedly tried to harm witnesses from jail, according to the Los Angeles Times.

On Friday, prosecutors pushed to further tighten those restrictions after finding the names of witnesses from another gang-related murder case in Ziesmer's cell.

Judge Vincent J. O'Neill Jr. overruled objections from Ziesmer's defense lawyer, who argued that stripping all mail privileges from his client would be cruel. O'Neill said Ziesmer posed "an extreme danger" to the community.  Under the new order, Ziesmer will be allowed no jail visits. He is only allowed to call his lawyer and a defense investigator.

Ziesmer's trial is set for February 2, 2002.. 

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"Critic of Existing Government" Gets 10 Years in Federal Prison for Stalking Federal Agents 8/25/01

James Dalton Bell, a self-described "critic of all existing government." will spend 10 years in federal prison for stalking federal agents last year, a federal judge ruled Thursday in Tacoma, Washington.

U.S. District Judge Jack E. Tanner, sentenced James Dalton Bell, 43, on two counts of interstate stalking, and declared Bell a danger to the community.  Judge Tanner gave Dalton the maximum sentenced allowed, and fined Bell $10,000.

Bell, Vancouver, Wash., sat with arms crossed as Tanner sentenced him, said Robb London, the assistant U.S. attorney who prosecuted the case. Moments before, Bell read Tanner the oath he had taken when he became a judge, then declared the hearing illegal, a common law courts tactic.

London said Bell, who once wrote an essay proposing a computer-based system for murdering government officials, clearly has mental health issues. "He won't acknowledge that," London said, "and he crossed the line and committed crimes, and now he's been put in prison. It's kind of pathetic." 

Bell filed a civil rights and racketeering lawsuit last month in federal court in Portland against Tanner, the IRS, Portland and Vancouver police and federal courts in Oregon and Washington on behalf of himself and others involved in so-called common law courts, anti-government groups that attempt to sidestep taxes, property zoning and other government regulations. "The American federal government has seemingly never hesitated to secretly label dissatisfied citizens as criminals and to treat them as such," Bell wrote in a statement announcing the lawsuit. according to the Portland Oregonian.

A 12-member jury convicted Bell on the stalking charges April 10. Federal agents had arrested him five months earlier after U.S. Treasury agents raided his house looking for evidence that he had tried to intimidate agents. Found during the search was a spiral notebook containing lists of home addresses of several federal agents. The book included descriptions of the homes he had visited. 

In October, 2000, an Oregon City resident reported finding Bell in his back yard. Bell told the man he was looking for a Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms agent who once lived at the house, according to court records. 

Bell's 1997 essay, "Assassination Politics," was posted on the Internet and detailed a plan for a clandestine organization that would raise money to be passed as rewards to assassins who decided, on their own initiative, to kill government officials. That same year, Bell was sentenced to 11 months in federal prison for obstructing IRS officials and using false Social Security numbers to hide income. 

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Six Billings MT Skinheads Charged With Federal Civil Rights Crimes 8/25/01


Six members of a racist skinhead group from Billings, Montana, have been charged with violating federal civil rights laws.

A Montana grand jury this month indicted Sean Allen, Eric Dixon, Jeremiah Skidmore, Jason Potter, Ryan Flaherty and Michael Flom on four counts of civil rights violations, including conspiracy to injure, oppress, threaten and intimidate minorities. The men, are scheduled to appear Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Billings, according to the Billings Gazette..

According to the indictment, Allen, Dixon and Skidmore formed a group in March 2000, calling itself the Montana Front Working Class Skinheads. Its goal was to recruit other skinheads to threaten and harass minorities in Billings.

The skinhead group enlisted members last summer, offering rewards to those who would commit violence against racial or religious minorities. The rewards included red shoelaces or red suspenders, which were worn to show status within the skinhead group, according to federal prosecutors.

On July 29, 2000, the group sponsored a barbecue that included the three founding members, Allen, Dixon and Skidmore, along with and new members Potter, Flaherty and Flom. During the barbecue, Allen and Dixon encouraged the new members to participate in what they called “Park Patrol,” in which the skinheads would threaten and harass any minorities they found at Pioneer Park in Billings.

According to the indictment, urged by the skinhead leaders, Potter, Flaherty and Flom went to Pioneer Park armed with clubs, chains, bats and metal bars. The three skinheads found a black man, a Hispanic man and a Hispanic woman at the park and threatened them with the weapons..

The men yelled racial slurs at the three victims, and chased two from the park. The three skinhead recruits were chastised by the founding members when they returned to the barbecue because they failed to injure the victims, the indictment states.

A task force of federal and local police investigated the incident, which led to the indictments. Flaherty and Flom were arrested Aug. 17 by the FBI. Flaherty was arrested in Kalispell, and Flom was arrested in Portland, Ore. Potter was arrested Aug. 20 in Grove City, Minn. Allen, Dixon and Skidmore, all living in Billings, made their initial appearance Friday in U.S. District Court. 

  
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Offensive and Racist E-mail Anger North Carolina Legislators 8/24/01

 “Two things made this country great: White men & Christianity,” says an e-mailed letter that North Carolina state Rep. Don Davis of Harnett County forwarded by e-mail to every member of the state House and Senate.

Davis, a white Republican from Dunn NC, said he received the letter on Friday. He forwarded copies of it on Monday.  

The letter angered some who considered it offensive and racist, according to the Fayetteville NC Observer.

“That kind of thing certainly has no place in today’s society,” said Rep. Marvin Lucas, a black Democrat who represents Spring Lake and Fayetteville. Lucas described the letter as “vermin.”

According to the return address on the e-mail, the letter was sent to Davis from Stormfront, run by Don Black, the administrator of an Internet site that asserts that Christianity is a white religion and that the Western World is made up of Christian white nations. The author, Rick Savage, writes for melvig.org a site which features anti-semitic tracts, Holocaust deniers, links to Christian Identity sites, anti-semitic websites, and to neo-Nazi and white supremacist websites like Stormfront, headquartered in West Palm Beach, Florida.  Stormfront was the only white supremacist Website on the Internet before the bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, and is identified as "the trailblazer" and "the granddaddy of extremism" in on-line racism by staunch critics like the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) and the Simon Wiesenthal Center in Los Angeles.  Black spent three years in federal prison for plotting a coup on a mostly black Caribbean island of Dominica in the 1980's and is a former Ku Klux Klan leader.

The letter opens with a quotation from founding father Patrick Henry saying that the country was founded on the Gospel. From there, Savage says that the country was founded on the Christian Bible and the laws of the states are based on the Ten Commandments and these factors contributed to the nation’s early success. But now the nation is in decline, according to the e-mail.

“Two things made this country great: White men & Christianity,” the letter says. “The degree these two ingredients have diminished is in direct proportion to the corruption and fall of the nation. Every problem that has arrisen (sic) can be directly traced back to our departure from God’s Law and the disenfranchisement of White men.”

Davis, who sponsored legislation this year to have the Ten Commandments displayed in public schools, said he has never seen the author’s Web site and that he forwarded the e-mail because he thought the other lawmakers would be interested in it. “I just put it out for information. People can read into it whatever they want to,” he said.

He agrees with at least some of the letter. “There’s a lot of it that’s truth, the way I see it,” said Davis.

“Who came to this country first -- the white man, didn’t he?” he said.  “That’s who made this country great.”

What about the contributions of nonwhite and non-Christian immigrants? Davis answered, “I’m not saying that they don’t contribute when they come, but they (whites) were the first to come.”

Rep. William Wainwright, a Democrat from Havelock and the vice chairman of the Legislative Black Caucus, found the letter upsetting. “It absolutely destroys the racial harmony that we are trying to foster in this state and in this nation,” he said.

Rep. Ron Sutton of Robeson County, a Democrat and the only American Indian in the legislature, has clashed with Davis in the past. He had little use for the letter. “It just shows his white-supremacist, Gestapo mentality,” Sutton said.

Davis doesn’t consider the letter racist. “It’s certainly not,” he said. “Listen, there’s nothing racist about it. And don’t give me that mess.” He declined to discuss it further.

The following day, Davis publicly apologized for sending letter on the floor of the state assembly and put it into the House record.  After he finished, several other lawmakers chastised him for sending the e-mail and had their comments included in the record, as well.

“I humbly want to apologize if the e-mail forwarded from my office on Monday night was offensive or disrespectful to any one in this General Assembly, state or nation. That was certainly not my intention,” Davis’ letter says. “The only reason the document was forwarded to each of you was for information and to show the type of messages that come across the Internet.

”The e-mail “was not intended to be indicative of my personal views,” the letter says, contradicting statements he made on Tuesday that he agreed with portions of it.

Meanwhile, officials with the state and Harnett County Republican Party said they regret the mailing and said the statements in it do not reflect the position of the Republican Party.  Jason Lemons, the chairman of the county party, said he was surprised that Davis had sent out the e-mail and doesn’t believe that the statements in the letter reflect his opinions.

“Don is an upstanding guy,” Lemons said. “Don is an honest, Christian man, and this is not something that, generally speaking, a good Christian man would do.”

Savage said he did not specifically send the e-mail to Davis’ office, he said. It was sent to a private, members-only mailing list called “theseries,” a Stormfront mailing list.

According to the Yahoo Internet site, which houses the discussion forum, the group has 120 members and its content is available only to people who join. People can’t join without permission from the group’s moderator.

A description of the forum says it is “an information sharing group dedicated to the knowledge and understanding of the True history of America and of their status as free men and women, and dedicated to bringing about the changes necessary for personal freedom.”

Savage sent his e-mail on Friday, its return address indicates. Davis forwarded it to the lawmakers on Monday night without Savage’s knowledge.

“I have had no personal contact with Rep. Davis, nor did I send anything to him or his assistant directly,” Savage said Wednesday. “Neither contacted me about forwarding it, but I would have had no objection if they had asked.

”There was no indication whether Davis belongs to theseries discussion group, and Davis declined to be interviewed about the e-mail on Wednesday.

“He is going to let his press release be the last word,” said Ellen Picket, his legislative assistant.

“My heart is clean and clear of any animosity or bigotry toward any race, color, creed or gender,” Davis’ apology letter says. “I am not now nor have I ever been a racist or white supremacist. I have always shown respect for all individuals regardless of their background or position in society and would never purposefully be hurtful or insensitive to others. “This country is a great nation built upon the blood, sweat and tears of people of many ethnicities and beliefs. America is the great melting pot. I have always believed that men should be judged on their actions and not on their ideology or opinions. At the same time, I am a believer in an Almighty Sovereign God Who is the ruler and sustainer of us all. It is He Who will be our ultimate judge. If I have offended any, I ask God’s forgiveness and for your forgiveness also.”

After Davis read his apology, other members of the House criticized him for the e-mail.

“As a member of the Catholic faith in this body, it did offend Catholics,” said Rep. Joni Bowie of Greensboro.

DAVIS' PRESS RELEASE

August 22, 2001

Dear Colleagues of the General Assembly, I humbly want to apologize if the e-mail forwarded from my office on Monday night was offensive or disrespectful to any one in this General Assembly, state or nation. That was certainly not my intention.

The only reason the document was forwarded to each of you was for information and to show the type of messages that come across the Internet. My purpose in sending out the e-mail was for no other reason and was not intended to be indicative of my personal views. In fact I made no personal comment with the e-mail, it was simply forwarded as information only.

My heart is clean and clear of any animosity or bigotry toward any race, color, creed or gender. I am not now nor have I ever been a racist or white supremacist. I have always shown respect for all individuals regardless of their background or position in society and would never purposefully be hurtful or insensitive to others.

This country is a great nation built upon the blood, sweat and tears of people of many ethnicities and beliefs. America is the great melting pot. I have always believed that men should be judged on their actions and not on their ideology or opinions. At the same time, I am a believer in an Almighty Sovereign God Who is the ruler and sustainer of us all. It is He Who will be our ultimate judge. If I have offended any, I ask God's forgiveness and for your forgiveness also.

Sincerely,

Representative Donald S. Davis

NC House District 19DSD/egp

Complete text of the email

-----Original Message-----

From: Ellen Picket (Rep. Davis)

Sent: Monday, August 20, 2001 5:51 PM

To: @Senate/Democratic/Members; @Senate/Republican/Members; @House/Democratic/Members; @House/Republican/Members

Subject: FW: [theseries] Patrick Henry-His OTHER Speech!

Secret of America's Greatness

-----Original Message-----

From: rsavage@melvig.org [mailto:rsavage@melvig.org]

Sent: Friday, August 17, 2001 2:56 PM

To: Stormfront-Religion List

Subject: [theseries] Patrick Henry-His OTHER Speech!

Secret of America's Greatness

"It cannot be emphasized too strongly or too often that this great nation was founded, not by religionists, but by Christians; not on religions, but on the Gospel of Jesus Christ." ......................BY PATRICK HENRY

The "rest of the story" is it produced the most productive, free and powerful nation on earth.

They build this nation upon "The Book of the Law", aka the Bible. The laws of the states were based upon the 10 commandments and their statutes and judgments. This attributed to their early success, and built up so much spiritual equity it has taken 100s of years to wear it down to its present state.

Two things made this country great: White men & Christianity. The degree these two ingredients have diminished is in direct proportion to the corruption and fall of the nation. Every problem that has arrisen can be directly traced back to our departure from God's Law and the disenfranchisement of White men.

Catholicism and State Churches enslaved Europe with their compromise and perversion of "The Book of the Law".

It took a reformation to free white men to build God's true ecclesia kingdom "on earth as it is in heaven". This freedom was abused, however, and degenerated into liberalism when they sought freedom from God's Law. When reformation degenerates into revolution it produces an equally distasteful totalitarianism - from a top down tyranny (dictatorship) to a bottom up one (democracy).

The only lasting freedom has to be a rule by law - i.e. a Republic. There is no freedom without Law. The American "experiment" proved that "The Book of the Law" provides the best and most successful Law for such a Republic to be founded upon. If we hope to reform this nation we need to recall Patrich Henry's words...

We don't need a new religion or more religionists, but a return to the Book of the Law for instruction on how to reform and build a new Republic. This is the "Way" Christ came and died for - to establish a republic where every man is both priest and king, governing their lives upon the Book of the Law out of love for God and their neighbor.

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Hate Ministers and White Supremacists to Camp in Wisconsin over Labor Day 8/24/01

Some of the most infamous white supremacists in the United States plan to return to the Midwest Labor Day weekend, according to the Chicago-based Center for New Community. The LaPorte, Colorado-based Scriptures for America is scheduled to hold it's "Labor Day Bible Camp" at the Lion's Camp outside Rosholt, Wisconsin in central Wisconsin.  The Lion's Camp is a camp for disabled children.  Last year, Scriptures for America held their camp in Amherst, Wisconsin.

According to Devin Burghart, Director of the Center's Building Democracy Initiative, "Pete Peters is one of the nation's leading proponents of the racist and anti-Semitic beliefs associated with Christian Identity theology. His Labor Day camp is another attempt to mobilize Identity believers and establish a permanent base of bigotry in the region."

The event, which blends "fine dining and Christian fellowship" with hardcore racist strategizing, will feature speeches by leading preachers of hate, including Charles Weisman, Earl Jones and Peters.

Civil rights organizations, including the Center for the Study of Hate & Extremism, the Southern Poverty Law Center, the Anti-Defamation League and the Center for New Community, allege Peters is a leader in the Christian Identity movement, which preaches that white Christians are God's chosen people, and is linked to organizations such as
the Ku Klux Klan, the Aryan Nation and the Posse Comitatus.

During the group's encampment last year, Peters denied he is a part of the Christian Identity movement, according to the Appleton WI Post-Crescent.

The registration form for the upcoming retreat says, "Throughout history, the people of Israel have gathered from time to time with others of their faith, race and heritage to enjoy the company of their own kind." 

The organization registered with the Wisconsin Lions Camp as the LaPorte Church of Christ, which Peters also heads. 

"We've never had anything like this before. ... How this group found out about us, I don't know," said Gary Foote, who heads the camp's foundation.  

The Lion's Club camp near Rosholt is approximately 20 miles north of the Amherst campground..  Both campgrounds are within approximately 25 miles from the former Posse Comatitus compound at Tigerton, Wisc.

The camp is rented to other organizations, whose fees help support the camp for disabled children.  Foote said the Lions would review the contract and their options, and hoped to decide on Sunday whether to cancel Peters' group's contract.

"My concern is the reason he keeps returning to the northeast Wisconsin area
is that he has a large number of followers in this area," civil rights activist Kathy Fredericks told the Post--Crescent.  Fr*edericks is a member of Toward Community, a pro-diversity organization from the Fox Cities that helped organize last year's protest against Peters' group.  Toward Community began organizing a protest should the retreat proceed.

New Community has provided information on Weisman, Jones and Peters to the Center for the Study of Hate & Extremism:

CHARLES WEISMAN

Thanks to fiery sermons that never fail to tackle “controversial” issues like race and “the Jewish question”, Minnesota-based Identity preacher Charles Weisman has become a staple on the Identity and Christian Patriot circuits.

In October 1997, he shared the stage with Identity leaders Ted Weiland, James Bruggeman, and Everett Ramsey in Oklahoma City. He spoke at the annual Christian Identity “Super Conference” in April 1998. He returned to Oklahoma City in September 1998, to share the stage with Bob Godwin, James Bruggeman, Everett Ramsey, and Earl Jones.  Weisman also had his publishing company at the “American Heritage Festival” in July 1998, and the Kansas City “Preparedness Expo” in April 1999.

Weisman makes no attempt to disguise his hatred of Jews. He preaches that the genocide against Jews is Biblically warranted, and that their extermination is impending. In his 1991 book, Who is Esau-Edom? He writes: 

"Why is it no other group, nation or race or people is as worried and
concerned about the concept of genocide as the Jews are? It is because in
God’s Script for the world the Jews are scheduled to be exterminated, and
that impending reality is why they are so paranoid about 'genocide.' It
would seem the Jews are fearful of receiving the retribution they know they
deserve…

    The Jews cry 'never again' in reference to the Holocaust story, but the
fact is that it has not yet happened. This destruction will happen to the
Jews and at the hand of Israel, the white race…

    …[T]he white race, will someday kill off the entire house (family line) of
Esau, which includes the Edomite Jews." (pp. 117-119).

Weisman also attacks democracy and pluralism when he argues that the United States is meant to be an exclusively white nation in his book, America: Free, White, and Christian:

"The forefathers of this nation knew the foolishness and dangers of
integrating various races and religions into their societies and
governments. They knew that there has never existed a single nation based on
a pluralism of law, race, or religion which has ever prospered or survived
for very long."

In the same book he contends that people of color are not citizens, and thus
have no rights.

"Since the period of World War II, Americans have been conditioned to think
of such constitutional principles as being "un-American" or "racist". Are
Americans being taught to despise their own constitution? Are we being led
to believe that to say colored persons are not citizens is unconscionable,
but the fact of the matter is, to say colored persons are citizens is
unconstitutional.”

Weisman’s other racist works include, The Origin of Race and Civilization, and Discrimination:  The Key To Sanity. In addition to selling notorious anti-Semitic tracts like The International Jew, Weisman’s publishing company sells the works of numerous other Identity figures including Sheldon Emry, Ted Weiland, Richard Kelly Hoskins, and Pete Peters.

EARL JONES

Pastor Earl Jones is a prominent Identity preacher from New Mexico, who is another fixture on the Christian Identity lecture circuit.  From his headquarters in Deming, New Mexico, he runs the Christian Crusade For Truth and publishes the Intelligence Newsletter. Like many on the far-right Jones envisions an impending “Culture War.”

In an Intelligence Newsletter article republished by the “Jew Watch” website, entitled “A Culture War,” Jones begins with the culture warrior rhetoric of NRA leader Charlton Heston, then segues into his own anti-Semitic interpretation:

        Paul said in Ephesians 6:12: "For we wrestle not against flesh and
blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the
darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places." That
confirms that this cultural war was already in progress when Paul wrote
that. Paul was talking about the Talmudic Phariseeical Jews and their
cultural war on Christianity. That war has continued, unabated, since then.
        That cultural war, a "spiritual war," is between Christianity and
Talmudic Parseeism and it is a war unto the death of one or the other.!
(Part 6)

Other signs of the Culture War, according to Jones, “the busing of children from one ethic neighborhood to that of the white neighborhoods” and immigration.  Jones has spoken at events sponsored by many of today’s leading Christian Identity groups, and even signed-on to the 1988 Remnant Resolves.

PETE PETERS

Like a Johnny Appleseed of hate, Pete Peters has traversed the United States for more than two decades, planting the seeds of religious-based bigotry. He has been preaching his particular brand of racism, anti-Semitism and homophobia from his LaPorte, Colorado Church of Christ since 1977. Through his Scriptures for America “ministry,” he makes available audio and video recordings of his sermons, and numerous pamphlets. He also broadcasts on shortwave radio and hosts semi-annual retreats across the country. His efforts have given rise to a bitter harvest.

Peters has been able to create a national Identity infrastructure and inspire zealous devotion by presenting his white supremacist “ministry” as the ticket to salvation. His works, such as "Death Penalty for Homosexuals is Prescribed in the Bible" and "A Scriptural Understanding of the Race Issue" detail his hostility toward gays and lesbians, people of color, Jews, and democracy. Peters proclaims that northern European whites and their American descendants are the Biblical "chosen people"; that Jews pose a Satanic threat by conspiring to control America; that people of color are inferior
to whites; and that gays and lesbians should be executed.

"Once God’s laws are obeyed by His People, the body of the people shall be healed. Healthy bodies throw off parasites. When there is repentance and obedience to His laws, the porno shop will no longer be on Main Street, the Jewish Hollywood filth will no longer be tolerated, the prostitute-scribe reporter will no longer be allowed to lie, the homosexual and murderer will be removed, the Jewish bankers will no longer be allowed to charge interest…"

During the 1980’s, members of the neo-Nazi terror group, the Order, attended his church. They went on to counterfeit money, rob armored cars, and kill Alan Berg, a Jewish talk show host from Denver, and a  Missouri State Trooper.

Other followers of Pete Peters have committed recent acts of violence. On May 2, 1998, the peaceful farmlands of northeastern Ashtabula County, Ohio, were disturbed with the
sound of gunfire when a distributor of Scriptures for America literature shot two volunteer firefighters with his .45-caliber semiautomatic pistol.  One bullet hit one of the firefighters in the top of the head, exiting between his eyes. Two other bullets ripped through the buttocks of the other fire fighter.

Pete Peters has deep roots in the white supremacist movement. In 1988, Peters’ Bible camp gave birth to the Remnant Resolves, a document that laid out Identity positions on issues from economics and government to the family. Embedded in the Resolves were clear instances of racial and religious bigotry, including the position that “inter-racial marriage pollutes the integrity of the family” and that it is “blasphemous” to allow
Jews to “hold public office in a Christian Nation.” The document was signed by several leading Identity leaders, including Peters and Earl Jones, and was circulated amongst Identity followers around the country.

In 1992, Peters fertilized the seeds of the militia movement by holding the “Meeting of Christian Men” after the Weaver Siege. Peters was able to bring together neo-Nazis like Aryan Nations leaders Richard Butler with figures like Gun Owners of America head Larry Pratt, and Greg Dixon of the American Coalition of Unregistered Churches. Aryan Nations “Ambassador-at-Large,”Louis Beam used the event to promote the idea of “leaderless Resistance.” The gathering of 160 far-right activists from 30 states is credited with giving birth to the militia movement that expanded to virtually every state
within three years.

Over the years, the speakers list for Peters’ Family Bible Retreats have read like a who’s who of the white supremacist movement; Louis Beam, the Aryan Nations leader who developed the “leaderless resistance” strategy of racist organizing; Sandpoint, Idaho Identity preacher Dave Barley; Montana anti-Semite Martin “Red” Beckman; Willis Carto, head of the Liberty Lobby, the most important anti-Semitic organization in the United States; aging Aryan Nations patriarch Richard Butler; Identity preachers Richard Kelly Hoskins, Earl Jones  and many more.

Interestingly, Peters now claims that he is not an Identity preacher – not because he has abandoned his bigotry, but because he feels the term has received a bad reputation. Despite his denials, Pete Peters still holds the tile as one of America’s premier hate mongers.

The Rev. David Ostendorf, Executive Director of the Center, said, "Peters and his friends are circuit riding preachers of hate. While they claim that there will be no hate oriented activities at the camp, their theology is deeply grounded in racism and hatred of Jews."

All of them share the racist and anti-Semitic theology of Christian Identity. Also known as "Israel Identity," "Christian Israel," or "Racial Identity," the religion teaches that European whites and their American descendants are the Biblical "chosen people," while Jews are the literal descendants of Satan and people of color are subhuman. It is the theological
glue that binds neo-Nazis, Ku Klux Klan devotees, and militia members into the contemporary white supremacist movement.

After a significant public awareness campaign last year by local community and religious leaders, the campground near Waupaca, Wisc. that had hosted the event in the past vowed never to allow the group to meet there again.  

Burghart notes, "Identity is not merely an academic exercise - it has real consequences. The 1999 shootings in Los Angeles by an Identity believer and the killing of a gay couple and bombing of a Sacramento synagogue by another Identity adherent are reminders that people act these beliefs. We must not forget."

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Aryan Nations Leader Neuman Britton Buried with Military Honors at National Cemetry 8/24/01

Neuman Britton, hand-picked successor to Richard Butler, the leader of the Aryan Nations,  and one of the U.S's most notorious racists, was buried at Riverside (CA) National Cemetery on Thursday after a service that included a lone horn playing taps
and stiff-armed Nazi-style salutes.

Britton, 75, who became a disciple of white supremacy after serving in the Army in World War II, was entitled to free burial among other honorably discharged veterans because he did not have a serious criminal record, cemetery officials said. He died Saturday in San Diego of complications from melanoma (skin cancer).

"I don't know anything about what he did or didn't do in his life," said Stephen Jorgensen, the cemetery's director. "What I do know is this gentleman was a veteran and he was treated with respect and dignity."

Jorgensen said the cemetery would not take extra precautions to protect Britton's gravesite from either desecration or shrine worship, according to the Riverside (CA) Press Enterprise.

As leader of California's chapter of Aryan Nations and pastor of a Christian Identity Church in Escondido, where he lived, Britton preached that white people are the lost tribe of Israel, Jews are half-human, half-Satan, and non-whites or "mud people" have no souls.

One veteran said the man known for fiery racist rhetoric should not be buried alongside servicemen because his life's work betrayed the military and his country.

"He should not be allowed to contaminate our cemetery," said Charles Ledbetter, 79, a black aviator who said he flew 28 combat missions during the Korean War.

Britton's family, including 10 children, moved to San Bernardino CA in the early 1940s, according to a biography posted on the Aryan Nations Web site.  A San Bernardino drywall firm he founded with his father continues to be operated by one of Britton's nephews.

"Half his family liked what (Britton) pushed on them, and half didn't like it," said Diana Britton, an American Indian and the wife of Steve Britton, who now owns Britton Brothers Plastering. "My husband . . . hasn't seen his uncle in three years, and the business is not affiliated with that stuff."

Aryan Nations leader Richard Butler, 84, who named Britton as his successor in 1998, spoke to about 35 friends and family members at a private service on August 23.

"Pastor Britton was the representative of the white man of the 1940s and 1950s, when men were men," Butler said before the service. "But very few white men are men anymore. They are mentally castrated." 

Cemetery officials folded an American flag that had draped Britton's casket and presented it to mourners. Afterward, young men wearing white shirts and dark slacks helped slide the silver casket into a waiting hearse. Then, they snapped to attention, thumped their chests and extended their right arms. 

Nearby, Tom Wilson, 80, and Jack Emlay, 78, knelt at the flat metal headstones of their wives, Marie and Wanda. The men, who have been friends since grammar school, visit the cemetery weekly.

"A lot of people used to worship Hitler, and some still do," said Wilson, who enlisted and served in World War II with Emlay. "We fought for freedom, and that means freedom for those people too."

Britton was buried next to John Tirey, 83, who served in the U.S. Army Air Forces during World War II.  "He would have hated it," Rebecca Hansberger, Tirey's daughter, said. "I am definitely offended by it. I abhor that kind of thing. We are not racists."

Experts at the Center for the Study of Hate & Extremism, the Southern Poverty Law Center and the Anti-Defamation League of B'nai B'rith say Britton was one of the last icons of white supremacists opposed to Civil Rights in the 1960s.  He led Ku Klux Klansmen in driving black people from a court-ordered integrated beach in St. Augustine, Fla., in 1965. At various times, he worked for the American Nazi Party and associated himself with notorious racists, such as J.B. Stoner.

His influence ebbed in recent years, experts say, as has the reach of the Aryan Nations, which was bankrupted last year by a $6.3 million civil judgment after security guards who had assaulted an American Indian woman and her son outside the group's compound in Idaho.

"His loss is a significant blow to the white supremacy world because he was one of the last of the old-time fiery orators," said Brian Levin, director for the Center for the Study of Hate & Extremism.  

"Britton was one of the grand old men of the racist radical right," said Southern Poverty Law Center spokesman Mark Potok.

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WCOTC Matt Hale, Foes and Police on Collision Course in Schaumburg IL 8/24/01 

Schaumburg, Illinois, police aren't alone in gearing up for white supremacist Matt Hale's appearance Saturday at the village library.

As officers plot ways to prevent outbreaks of violence that have plagued Hale's appearances this year Downstate and in Connecticut, opponents are gearing up for possible confrontation.

"We will have sufficient people there to do what needs to be done," said Tzvi Ben Aaron, chairman of the Chicago chapter of the Jewish Defense League. "I will do anything I can legally to prevent him from speaking. Peacefully if we can, forcefully if we must."

Hale said,  "I am resolved that our great meeting in Schaumburg will go on  as planned regardless of any threats of violence from those desperate to stop our message of truth.  The men and women of the World Church of the Creator are ready to stand up for what is right and will fight with their fists and otherwise if necessary against any aggression.  As always, we want a peaceful meeting.  However, to have peace, one must often times prepare for war."

Fearing damage to the three-year-old library, board members initially rejected a Hoffman Estates woman's request for Hale to speak there. Hale sued, and the Library Board relented this month after a federal judge refused to dismiss Hale's claim.

Hale will be permitted to speak at 7:30 p.m., more than two hours after the library closes, in a second-floor room that can be accessed from outdoors by an emergency stairway.

Schaumburg police are tight-lipped about how they intend to keep the peace, according to the Chicago Tribune.

"We are taking the adequate measures necessary to ensure the public safety," Lt. Dennis Carroll said. "Do we have preparations? Yes. But we're not getting into it."

In March, three people were arrested in Peoria after a melee that included stink bombs and pepper spray broke out between Hale's supporters and counter-demonstrators in the public library's basement. Two weeks earlier, police in riot gear broke up a clash at a Hale appearance in Wallingford, Conn.

Hale, the Pontifex Maxiumus of East Peoria-based World Church of the Creator, gained notoriety two years ago when a follower, Benjamin Smith, went on a shooting spree across the Midwest that left two people dead, including former Northwestern basketball coach Ricky Byrdsong, and injured nine others.  

Hale's last major Chicago-area appearance was in January 2000 on Northwestern University's Evanston campus, where several hundred protesters pelted him with snowballs.  

Kathleen Robertazzo, who invited Hale to speak at the Schaumburg Township District Library, said she fears becoming the target of violence. A group called Anti-Racist Action, whose members clashed with Hale in Peoria, mailed fliers to Robertazzo's neighborhood in the past week with her address and telephone number in an attempt to intimidate her, she said.

"They have no right nor invitation to come out into my area and tell me what to do or say," Robertazzo said. "If I want to bring in Matt Hale to stir up things with our local politicians, it's none of their business."

Anti-Racist Action representatives could not be reached for comment.

Robertazzo has said she invited Hale because of concerns about the increasingly diverse population in the northwest suburbs. Recent census data show black, Hispanic and Asian populations are increasing in that area.


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Accused Cop Killer “Prepared To Go To War” Over Traffic Ticket in Reno 8/24/01
   
Investigators in Reno, Nevada said that suspect Larry James Peck’s intense paranoia and hatred of the U.S. government for the death of Officer John C. Bohach, 50, in a police shootout on August 22.

The mechanic had outfitted his small cottage with surveillance cameras and monitors, gas masks to protect him from tear gas and guns powerful enough to tear through armored automobiles, police said.

“This guy was prepared to go to war,” Deputy Chief Jim Weston said during a news conference. “We have yet to fully realize just how dangerous this guy was. He was equipped to have a long battle with whoever went in there to get him.

“He hated cops. He hated the government.

“He was deathly afraid someone would come and take his guns away,”