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March 2001 News Briefs
Calif. Atty. General To Issue Hate Crime Report Today, March 29
Report is available at: http://caag.state.ca.us/ Fugitive in Abortion Buffalo, NY Abortion Doctor Slaying Arrested in France, March 29
Details of his arrest are sketchy. The FBI is convening a press conference at 4PM EST. Accussed Terrorist Ringleader Allegedly In Custody in Algeria, March 28 Accussed terrorist Abdelmajid
Dahoumane is in custody in the North African
State Court Justice to Answer Racial Profiling Queries in NJ,
March 28
Mentally Ill Racist Sentenced to Life Imprisonment As Victims Tell
of Anguish, March 26 American Schools Report Increasing Diversity, Census Report States March 23 The Census Bureau reported that elementary and high school students in 1999 were more racially and ethnically diverse than were their counterparts at the height of the baby boom in 1972. For example, 63 percent were non-Hispanic Whites in 1999, compared with 79 percent in 1972. Approximately 16 percent were African Americans, compared with 14 percent in 1972. About 5 percent were Asian and Pacific Islander, up from 1 percent in 1972.Hispanics constituted 15%, up from 6 percent in 1972. Elementary and High School Students, with Number and Percent Having Foreign-Born Parents: October 1999 (Numbers in thousands)
Note: The number of students in the three race groups shown here do not add to the total because data for American Indians and Alaska Natives are not shown Source: U.S. Census Bureau, Current Population Survey, October 1999 Substantial Disabled Population in the US, Census Bureau Reports March 22 Amost 1 in 5 Americans, 53 million people, reported that they had some level of disability in 1997, with 1 in 8 or 33 million persons stating that they had a severe disability, according to a new report released this week by the Census Bureau. Among people 25-to-64 years of age having a severe disability, only48 percent had health coverage, compared with 80 percent for people with a nonsevere disability and 82 percent of those with no disability, the report found.
Holocaust Denial Conference Banned From Lebanon, March 22 A conference hosted by Holocaust deniers scheduled to take place in Lebanon from March 31-April 3 will have to find a new host country after Lebanese authorities denied permission to organizers to hold it in the Middle Eastern nation. While Holocaust denial has had an avid following in some nations in the Middle East, there has recently been a split between moderate Arabs who regard it as an affront, and those who find it a legitimate ideological tool to use against Israel. Many Western European nations ban denial. In the past Southern California has been the host of many of the most well attended denial conferences According to Cambridge University Professor Robert Evans Holocaust deniers generally (in varying degrees) subscribe to all or some of the following: Jews were not killed in gas chambers or if they were, not on any significantÊscale; the Nazis did not have any policy or undertake any attempt to exterminate European Jewry and that Jewish casualties were the result of unauthorized lowÊlevel conduct: the number of Jews murdered did not go into the millions and the actual numbers were much lower; that the Holocaust is largely or entirely a myth invented by wartime Allied propagandists and sustained after the war by Jews to get money for Israel. While a small number of deniers are in fact merely ill informed iconoclasts, conspiracists, contrarians or skeptics, most of the influential deniers are anti-Semitic extremists or Third Reich sympathizers attempting to promote anti-Semitism and a rehabilitation of Nazism. The conference was to be cosponsored by the Newport Beach, California based Institute for Historical Review which publishes a pseudo-academic journal on denial related issues. IHR director Mark Weber is a former official with an offshoot of neo-Nazi William Pierce's racist National Alliance organization. The IHR was founded by Willis Carto who has been described by monitoring groups as one of the nation's most notorious anti-Semites, a charge he has denied. Prof. Brian Levin of Calif. State Univ., San Bernardino, who recently published an investigative report on denial, states that virtually all of the prominent American neo-Nazi groups either sponsor denial or vigorously promote the ideology. A recent American Gallup poll indicated that "only 2% said the Holocaust probably did not happen, and 1% said it definitely did not happen, while 83% said it definitely did happen and 13% said it probably occurred" The Holocaust refers to the largest and most recent coordinated genocidal attack against Jewry in world history. At its conclusion between five to six million men, women, and children of Jewish ancestry or religious affiliation were killed by the Nazi regime. Most of the Jewish deaths that occurred under the Nazi regime occurred at 17 major concentration camps spread across Eastern Europe from 1942-1945. While most died from gassings involving either the insecticide Zyklon B or carbon monoxide, a smaller number died from shootings, beatings, anatomical experimentation and disease. Others systematically subject to mass executions include devout Christians, gypsies, gays, intellectuals, and the disabled.
International Briefs, March 22 Namibia -Shortly after the Namibian Supreme Court ruled against gay unions President Nujoma and Home Affairs Minister Ekandjo increased their verbal attacks on gays in the African Nation. Nambian leaders including the President have urged banishment and arrest of gays. Namibia is located in southwestern Africa. Germany- German prosecutors have declined to prosecute Yahoo for hosting auctions of Adloph Hitler's Mein Kampf on its site. Germany has a criminal law which punishes inciting racial hatred, but prosecutors maintained that Yahoo did not possess the requisite knowledge needed for prosecution. In 1996 American neo-Nazi Gerhard Lauck, was sentenced to four years in prison by a German court after he was apprehended by authorities during a European trip. Lauck was convicted for the mass mailing of hateful neo-Nazi materials to Germany, where it is banned, from his home in Nebraska where it is legal. Article 5 of the German Constitution provides limited protection for free speech but only to the extent that the expression is truthful and does not contravene the human rights of others. After Yahoo faced similar litigation in France it stopped the sales of Nazi material over its site. Bookseller Amazon.com stopped sales fo Mein Kampf to Germany last year. India- Hindu extremists desecrated a Mosque in the Northern Indian city of Armistar on Tuesday during religious classes by burning copies of the Koran, the Muslim holy book, and by throwing pork, a food proscribed by Muslim teaching, the Associated Press reports. The attack is in apparent retaliation for the slaughter of cows by Afganistan's Taliban, an ultra conservative Muslim sect. Cows are considered sacred by Hindu adherents. Afganistan's Taliban regime has been isolated internationally because it harbors of terrorists including Saudi fugitive Osma Bin Laden, discriminates against women, and most recently has destroyed numerous historical and religious treasures including ancient Buddha statutes. France- An anti-globalization protestor, Jose Bove who severely vandalized a French McDonalds restaurant in 1999 lost an appeal of his 3 month jail sentence today, the Associated Press reports Hate Groups Grow Respected Monitoring Organization Reports March 21 The Montgomery, AL based Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), a well respected hate monitoring organization, reported an increase in 2000 in the number of active American hate groups Wednesday (March 21). The SPLC found that there were 602 active hate groups in 48 states and DC, with Alabama and Florida having the most at 39, and Texas second with 38. California was reported to have 29 hate groups. The SPLC added a new category this year, neo-Confederate groups. Without the 90 neo-Confederate groups, the SPLC still reported a net gain of 57 organizations or an increase of 12.4%. The SPLC did not count web only based groups because many might merely be individual publishers. The SPLC reported 366 Internet hate sites, up from 305 in 1999. The survey found a significant increase in the number of neo-Nazi organizations. There were 180 neo-Nazi groups or chapters in the US in 2000, up from 130 in 1999. The neo-Nazi groups with the largest growth were William Pierce's West Virginia based National Alliance, with 44 chapters- up from 32 in 1999, and Matt Hale's Illinois based World Church of the Creator, with 81 chapters. Ku Klux Klan groups and chapters declined from 138 to 110. A newer Klan group, Imperial Klans of America (IKA), replaced Jeff Berry's American Knights as the largest Klan group. The IKA has 19 chapters in 13 states. Christian Identity, the racist religion of white supremacy that contends Blacks are subhuman and Jews are descendants of Satan was in decline as well. Christian Identity chapters fell to 32, down from 81 in 1997 and 46 last year. The SPLC also listed 48 Black Separatist organizations. California State University Prof. Brian Levin, a former SPLC staffer, observed, "The survey shows a definite trend towards the Nazi groups over the Klan groups." He further observed that while most hate crimes are not committed by hard core hatemongers or hate group associates, these groups promote the negative stereotypes that offenders rely on to rationalize their attacks. Levin says that even among hardened bigots there is an independent streak "that causes most of them to embrace hateful ideology rather than the hate groups or leaders themselves." Levin stated, "Unfortunately, the most effective promoters of hate in American culture are not in obscure hate groups, but in the mainstream -entertainers, commentators, politicians, and peers." The Southern Poverty Law Center is at www.splcenter.org Audit of Anti-Sematic Incidents year-by-year, National totals, 1980-1999 Prominent
Jewish Civil Rights Group Reports Slight Rise In Anti-Semitic Incidents
in 2000, March 21
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to index
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| 2000 Census Shows An Increasingly
Diverse Nation
March 13, 2001 (click on image for larger view) |
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The proportion of Hispanic
and nonwhite Americans in the United States is
growing according to new Census data released Monday (March 12). Hispanic
Americans, who can be of any race, grew 58% over the last decade to
35,305,818 or approximately 13% of the population. This brings Hispanic
Americans up to nearly the same level of Non-Hispanic African Americans
who
number 35,383,751 by comparison. 48% of Hispanic Americans identified
themselves as being white only, while another 42% listed themselves
as being
from another race not designated on the form.
The total population of the United States stood at 281 million people,
with
209,128,094 over 18 years old. 6.8 million Americans reported that
they were
more than one race, with most, 93% stating that they were a combination
of
two races. This was the first time that the Census allowed such a
designation. Of the remaining 274.6 million Americans who reported
being of
only one race, Whites accounted for 75.1%, down from about 80% in
1990. The
breakdown of those Americans listing only one race is as follows:
| Race | Percent |
| White | 75.1% |
| Black or African American | 12.3% |
| American Indian and Alaska Native | 0.9% |
| Asian | 3.6% |
| Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander | 0.1% |
| Some other race | 5.5% |
For those non-Hispanics
who listed themselves of one race, or of combination
of races the breakdown was as follows:
white or a combination of white with other race:
198,177,900, an increase of 5.3 percent over 1990
black or combination of black and other:
35,383,751, an increase of 21.1 percent over 1990.
American Indian and Alaska Native or a combination of American Indian
and
Alaska Native and other:
3,444,700, an increase of 92 percent over 1990.
Asian or a combination of Asian with other:
11,579,494, an increase of 74.3 percent from 1990
Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander or a combination of that
with
other: 748,149, an increase of 129.6 percent over 1990
Some other race or combination of some other race and at least one
other
race: 1,770,645, up 610.8 percent from 1990.
Resources: www.census.gov
Hate Emerges As A Possible Motive in Two Thwarted School Violence
Cases
March 8
With the nation paying increased attention to possible threats of
violence on
school campuses after Monday's San Diego County school shooting, bigotry
is
emerging as a possible motive for two new alleged cases being investigated
by
California police. A San Bernardino County sheriff's spokesperson
confirmed
Wednesday that two 17 year old Monument High School students were
arrested
after another student at the Twentynine Palms school reported that
they had
made remarks threatening other students. A purported list of alleged
targets
was recovered at the home of one of the suspects and a rifle was recovered
at
the home of another suspect. They allegedly face charges civil rights
violation as well.
In Ontario, California (San Bernardino County) a student was arrested
for
allegedly making written threats against a school security officer
and police
are also considering civil rights charges in that case too.
In another case the Los Angeles Times is reporting that a 15 year
old alleged
"skinhead type" was arrest at Perris High School (Riverside County)
for
threatening to outdo the Columbine shootings.
Prof. Brian Levin, director of Cal State's University, San Bernardino's
Center for the Study of Hate & Extremism stated, " These are all
difficult
cases, because while the law allows prosecution of individuals for
conspiracies and threats- they must prove to be bona fide ones, and
not
merely crude remarks just designed to offend." The ultimate factor
will be
how solid the evidence against these young people are. Because authorities
acted swiftly to prevent possible attacks in some of the recently
reported
cases it is still unclear whether the requisite intent existed for
establishing the presence of a genuine threat and whether the requisite
motive exists for civil rights charges.
Resources:
Caselaw: Watts v. United States (threats are criminally punishable);
Brandenburg v. Ohio (rules for illegal incitement)
(check our Supreme Court Section for opinions)
Manuals:
Protecting Students from Harassment and Hate Crime, U.S. Dept. of
Education,
available at http://www.ed.gov/pubs/Harassment/
Responding to Hate at School, Teaching Tolerance Project of the Southern
Poverty Law Center
http://splcenter.org/teachingtolerance/tt-index.html
Healing the Hate, Guide for Middle Schools (Adobe);
Fighting Juvenile Gun Violence
(Adobe Acrobat File and HTML Files and Summary/Bibliography); Kids
and Guns
(Adobe Acrobat File and HTML File and Summary/Bibliography);
Combating Fear and Restoring Safety in Schools
(Adobe Acrobat and HTML File);
Annual Report on School Safety, 1998
Adobe Acrobat File and HTML Files and Summary/Bibliography
-- all available at:
http://www.ncjrs.org/jjvict.htm
Indicators of School Crime and Safety, 2000
http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/abstract/iscs00.htm
Aryan
Nations Compound Purchased By Anti-Hate Crusader, March 7, 2001
The Aryan Nations Hayden Lake, Idaho headquarters has been purchased
by a
human rights foundation run by an Internet businessman. Gregg Carr,
41,
purchased the compound from Victoria and Jason Keenan, the Center
has
confirmed, for approximately $250,000. The Keenan's took possession
of the
rural property after they won a $6.3 million tort judgment from the
property's former owner and Aryan Nations founder, Richard Butler
last
September. The Keenan's, who had been brutalized by Aryan Nations
security
guards in 1998, were represented by the Montgomery, AL based Southern
Poverty
Law Center.
Carr is a former executive with and founder of the Prodigy Internet
service
and a former Idaho resident. He is also the founder of Carr Center
for Human
Rights Policy at Harvard.
Respected Boston Attorney Reported As Nominee for Civil Rights Post,
March 6, 2001
Boston trial lawyer Ralph Boyd is reported by the Associated Press
to be
President Bush's nominee for assistant attorney general to lead the
United
States Department of Justice's Civil Rights Division. The Civil Rights
Division addresses criminal activity relating to racial and religious
violence, crimes at abortion clinics, voting rights, housing, and
police
misconduct.
Mr. Boyd has had a distinguished career in the law. Boyd is a partner
at one
of Boston's most prestigious law firms, Goodwin Proctor. A graduate
of
Haverford College (B.A. 1979) and Harvard Law School (J.D. 1984),
he went on
to clerk for Judge Joseph H. Young, a United States District Judge
in
Maryland. He also served an internship with the Southern Poverty Law
Center
in Montgomery, Alabama as a law student.
Since then Boyd has been active in both private and government practice.
As
an assistant United States Attorney for six years Boyd was involved
in bank
fraud, firearms, homicide, bombing, narcotics trafficking, and bank
robbery
cases, and various high profile gang violence prosecutions. He was
the Boston
U.S. Attorney's Firearms Prosecution Coordinator. In that position,
he
coordinated Operation Trigger lock a national firearms prosecution
initiative
of the United States Department of Justice. Boyd also was a member
of the
Justice Department's Urban Anti-Violent Crime Initiative Team, the
Mayor's
Anti-Crime Council, and the Cease Fire Group - a Boston anti-violence
project
involving local, state, and federal law enforcement agencies, courts,
and the
Boston Public Schools. He has served on numerous Bar and government
committees and has argued cases before federal trial and appellate
courts. He
has been at Goodwin Proctor since 1997.
Mr. Boyd is the third African-American to be selected for a major
post at the
Justice Department by Attorney General John Ashcroft.
For more information:
http://www.gph.com/attorney/getinfo.cfm?uniqueID=352
U.S.
Supreme Court Allows KKK Highway Litter Removal
March 5, 2001
The United States Supreme Court declined to hear an appeal by the
state of
Missouri to overturn a federal appellate court order mandating the
Ku Klux
Klan's inclusion in an adopt-a-highway clean up program. Ten states,
including Missouri had barred KKK inclusion in highway cleanup programs.
The
United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit had previously
held
that Missouri's ban punished the Klan's first amendment right to free
expression, even though their beliefs were obnoxious. On Monday, March
5, in
Yarnell v. Cuffley, Docket No. 00-289, the U.S. Supreme Court let
stand the
lower court's ruling by way of an order that did not include a written
opinion.
West Virginia Senator Apologizes For Remark
March 4, 2001
Veteran United States Senator Robert Byrd (D-WV) apologized for remarks
he
made on FOX News Sunday pertaining to race-relations.
"They [race relations] are much, much better than they've ever been
in my
lifetime," the Senator stated. "I think we talk about race too much.
I think
those problems are largely behind us... I just think we talk so much
about it
that we help to create somewhat of an illusion. I think we try to
have good
will. My old mom told me, 'Robert, you can't go to heaven if you hate
anybody.' We practice that." Byrd then blurted there: "There are white
n---rs. I've seen a lot of white n----rs in my time; I'm going to
use that
word.
"We just need to work together to make our country a better country,
and I'd
just as soon quit talking about it so much," Byrd concluded.
Senator Byrd's office later issued a statement which read in part:
"I apologize for the characterization I used on this program. The
phrase
dates back to my boyhood and has no place in today's society. As for
my
language, I had no intention of casting aspersions on anyone of another
race."
New
Hampshire A G Denies Murder Deft. Had hate Literature
March 4, 2001
According to the Manchester Union Leader New Hampshire Attorney General
Phillip McLaughlin denied the credibility of a Feb. 22, 2001 report
on ABC
New's Primetime Thursday relating to Robert Tulloch, 17, a murder
defendant
in the Dartmouth University murder cases of two popular professors,
Half and
Susanne Zantop. The ABC report stated that white supremacist and Holocaust
denial literature were recovered by authorities in a search of Mr.
Tulloch's
bedroom. On March 4, 2001 the New Hampshire Attorney General stated:
"The report that we recovered neo-Nazi paraphernalia or any evidence
of Nazi
literature from the homes of our suspects is inaccurate." ABC News
continues
to stand by their initial report.
Far Right Crime At Record Levels in Germany
March 3, 2001
Right wing extremist violence motivated by such things as anti-Semitism
and
anti-immigration status is at a post War high German authorities report.
The German Interior Ministry stated that bigoted violence increased
34% from
1999 to 2000. The total number of right wing crimes, which includes
the
display of hate symbols, gestures and literature increased 59% in
2000 to
15,951. Germany and other western European countries, unlike the United
States criminalize hateful speech and symbols. There were three reported
hate
homicides and violent offenses overall totaled 998. Anti-Semitic crimes
stood at 1,378, a 69% increase over 1999. Anti-immigrant crimes stood
at
3,594, an increase of 57% over the previous year.
Many Germans rallied for tolerance over the weekend, but several neo-Nazi
protesters were arrested on hate speech charges. Germany's highest
tribunal
is currently deliberating whether the Parliament can ban the far right
National Democratic Party. Party leaders contend that it has 7,000
members
throughout the nation.
Attorney General Ashcroft Renews Support of
Profiling Legislation
March 2, 2001
United States Attorney General John Ashcroft reiterated his call for
a study
of racial profiling by police and voiced support for a failed bill
mandating
research from the previous Congress. Ashcroft stated that if Congress
failed
to pass a new racial profiling bill similar to one introduced last
year by
U.S. Senator Russ Feingold (D-Wis.) and Representative John Conyers
(D-Mich.), that the Justice Department might do its own study. Previous
data
from Maryland and New Jersey indicated that a hugely disproportionate
number
of motorists pulled over by state police on interstate highways were
Black
and Latino.
A California State bill mandating racial profiling data collection
failed
last year after the state legislator who introduced it changed his
position.
According to California ACLU attorney Michelle Alexander, authorities
should
not only keep data on car stops, but on the reason for the stops,
whether a
search resulted and the final disposition of the matter, in order
for the
information to be meaningful.
Return to
index
Illinois Racist Law Grad Loses Round in Attempt
to Enter Montana Bar
March 1, 2001
Peoria, Illinois White Supremacist Matt Hale, 29, lost a round in
his
attempt to get licensed to practice law in Montana according to our
friends
at the Illinois based Center for New Community (newcomm.org). Hale,
the head
of the racist and anti-Semitic World Church of the Creator had attempted
to
get licensed in Montana after the United States Supreme Court refused
to
reverse the Illinois Bar Association's denial of a law license there
on
"moral character" grounds. The Montana Bar Association stated in a
letter to
Hale that "the committee does not feel that your file and application
establish by clear and convincing evidence that you possess the requisite
character and fitness to practice law in Montana." Hale has indicated
that he
will appeal the Montana decision.
The World Church of the Creator urges its followers to engage in a
racial
holy war (RAHOWA!) against its enemies. The Church is particularly
critical
of African-Americans, Jews, and Christianity. One former WCOTC follower,
Ben
Smith, went on a two state shooting spree that left two dead and several
injured in 1999 after Hale, his mentor, lost an appeal to practice
law before
an Illinois tribunal.
Pennsylvania Racist Seeks to Fill Aryan Nations Void
On Feb. 28, the Pennsylvania based Education and Vigilance Network
told
members that long time Keystone State racist August Kreis is trying
to fill
the void left from the bankrupting of Idaho based Aryan Nations. In
an
interview with a Pennsylvania ABC affiliate August Kries, of Ulysses,
Pennsylvania allegedly stated that he stockpiles military style firearms
and
is working on recruiting youth. During the interview Kries is alleged
to have
stated that he has "unadulterated hatred" for Jews and allegedly encouraged
some listeners to "[t]arget those working against the white race "
