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While searching the internet for blog number six, about a video representation of hate crime, I came across an interesting video that I will mold this ninth blog around. This video is about a group of black men, also called a gang in the video, who are charged with targeting white pedestrians for assaults. The way the reporters frame the report in the video, it seems that these assaults are essential hate crimes, due to the targeting of only white people, as well as the group using epithets during the attacks. Now I know this is a study of the white power movement class, and this would seem like the opposite of our focus, but I would like to tie some comments and blog posts from the internet including Stormfront to show how white nationalists view this kind of incident. From what I had already researched on Stormfront for different posts, the members have a very strong view on a situation where a group of African Americans target a white person in an assault.

One common theme that seems to be present in most of the threads on Stormfront relating to black on white crime, is that members of Stormfront feel that those types of crimes are never labeled as racially motivated, or hate crimes. Most of the talk in the threads is related to “the fact” that whites are being charged with hate crimes and gaining media attention, whereas people of color who commit assaults and murder against whites get away with their crimes. Although anyone without a supremacist agenda can look at the statistics and see that these Stormfront members are clearly wrong, they still seem to argue these facts in nearly every forum thread relating to crime.

There is a great deal of outrage over a video such as the one above throughout Stormfront. A good deal of the posters on the website claim that the media is at fault for misplacing blame on whites, even if they are the victims. They also use vocabulary and phrases that dehumanizes people of color especially when they are the perpetrators. This type of dehumanization is a tactic of spreading hate throughout the forum, while at the same time eliminating any feelings or remorse for their comments and or actions because they have conceptualized the non-whites as sub-human.

This is just another video that reports an incident of black males committing a hate crime against a white man, who was eating at a restaurant with a black man. The comments below are typical on Youtube, however unfortunate, and one reads as follows,

“So these 4 apes were mad that a human guy was associating with a [n-word]? So [n-word] don't want to be integrated with whites. Segregation is what they want. I'm fine with that too, never having to watch another [n-word] ruin my lunch, never see another [n-word] on TV, never have to pay another penny in taxes for welfare, EBT and other gibs me for [n-word]. Let's start right NOW.”

Extreme vs. Mainstream

We have spent a good amount of time in class and in our blog topics about the difference as well as the connection of mainstream ideology versus extreme ideology. This differentiation of views and actions is sometimes very apparent when it is related to hate crimes, but at times, the two almost blend together and it can be difficult to discern whether or not actions and speech are intentionally hateful in nature.

In most cases of a hate crime, especially in the media, the report is seen as an extreme action. When someone sees a murder, lynching, batter or assault, the message that comes across is that an extremist is behind the violent action. This is definitely the case in some situations, especially the big time media covered cases, but hat about the smaller cases with individuals not connected to what we perceive as an extremist organization?

One perfect example of hate crime in the extreme light, would be some of the violent acts carried out by the author of Authobiography of a Recovering Skinhead, Frank Meeink. Meeink talks about the unprovoked attacks of people in nightclubs, homosexuals, and transients. This is a classic example of an extreme hate crime that you might see on the six o’clock news. Even though these crimes did not result in the death of a victim, they were committed by a skinhead leader, which automatically puts and “extreme” spin on the crime itself. Another example of an very extreme hate crime is the James Byrd Jr. case. James Byrd Jr., an African American man, was dragged behind a pickup driven by three men believed to be white supremacists, until he hit a culvert that decapitated him. This lynching by dragging gained a huge amount of media exposure.

Some of the more mainstream crimes fueled by hate, are crimes that the courts and juries have a hard time prosecuting due to the low level of hate that is involved in the crime itself. If the plaintiff is not part of a supremacist organization, did not shout racial epithets during the act of violence, or did not have any underlying racially motivations, it can be difficult to discern if the crime is a hate crime, or if it is just a white on black or white on Hispanic crime. This is where mainstream title comes into play , and where cases can sometimes be under-prosecuted and serious offenders are let off of the hook from time to time. Mainstream is in my opinion just a cop out of a serious crime, because the attacker may not have a shaved head or a swastika tattoo. Hate crime is a serious offense, and I think that the differentiation of mainstream and extreme in the case of hate crimes is unacceptable.

Southern Poverty Law Center

The Southern Poverty Law Center, or SPLC, is one of the most prominent groups aimed at bringing justice to the victims of hate, and spreading tolerance. The SPLC is dedicated to fighting against hate and bringing the perpetrators of hate crimes and unjust situations down. This is the organization that directly relates to my topic, and is trying to make hate crimes a thing of the past. The SPLC is a non-profit organization that is renowned for its record of legal victories against hate crimes. Founded in 1971 by two civil rights lawyers, Morris Dees and Joseph J. Levin Jr., the SPLC itself has seen attacks by hate groups while trying to promote tolerance and education. In 1983, the SPLC headquarters was firebombed by the clan, which ultimately destroyed the physical building as well as all of the SPLC’s records. The next year, Morris Dees was the target of assassination by a hate group by the name of The Order. One of the Southern Poverty Law Center’s most famous victories came against the United Klan of America, in an unprecedented case where the SPLC held the organization itself responsible for the murder of a young black man in Mobile, Alabama. This case crippled the United Klan of America due to the $7 million that they were forced to repay the mother of the young man.

Some recent cases relating to the SPLC are the reform of Alabama’s death penalty, issues of immigration, the use of mace on Birmingham students, as well as their opposition to the views of Lou Dobbs and Glenn Beck and white supremacy group leaders like David Duke. The Southern Poverty Law Center also has programs such as HATEWATCH which is devoted to keeping tabs on extremist groups and radical right wing organizations. Another program that is increasingly helpful and forward thinking, is the website tolerance.org that aims at teaching tolerance to Americans and especially children. This website contains different tools and resources to help teach tolerance in schools and seminars, and to help combat hateful ideology, bigotry, and racism.

This video Shows Mark Potak of the SPLC arguing Lou Dobbs’ views of immigration as well as the influence that Dobbs’ show has on its viewers. Potak explains that the framing of Dobbs’ program lets separatists disseminate their views over national television.

The SPLC reports in this video that there are 926 new hate groups in the U.S. (in 2009) which is a 50% increase from the year 2000. Dees also reports that this rise in hate could be a result of the economic crisis as well as the election of President Obama. He also relates this climate to the climate during the Oklahoma City Bombing by Timothy McVeigh. This makes for a threatening situation in terms of a possible rise in hate crimes.

Groups like the SPLC are an extremely positive and necessary key to the struggle against hate. Tolerance is not an idea that can come to life without the helping hand of such organizations, and the legal victories behind the SPLC are a great reminder of the aid that the SPLC has contributed, and continues to contribute to victims in America.

Hate Crime Video Surfaces in B.C.

The above video news story is about a black man named Jay Phillips, and how he was attacked out of the blue by a group of white males in Vancouver B.C. Phillips explains that the men, a group of five, drove by in a pickup truck while shouting unprovoked epithets and threats before jumping out of the vehicle. Phillips said that he remembers the men using the word “lynch” as they threatened him, before they attacked him. Phillips is trained in martial arts and defends himself against the men, but as the video shows, he could not fend them off forever. Mr. Phillips explains to the reporter that these types of threats and bigotry have no business in a place like Vancouver that has such a diverse population.

Although the police stated that there “seemed” to be a racial element to this assault, they have called it an isolated incident, and say that there is no reason to believe that the white men are connected to any organization such as a white supremacy group.

The type of behavior that Jay Phillips describes in the report, correlates to the behavior that Frank Meeink portrays as typical skinhead behavior in his book, Autobiography of a Recovering Skinhead. Meeink stated throughout the book that the main thing that binds skinheads together is violence and mayhem. He writes extensively about the violence that he and other skinheads lashed out with on a regular basis. Through Phillips testimony as well as the video that was caught of the assault, it seems like a page right out of Frank Meeinks book. Then men cruised around in the back of a pickup looking for trouble while calling Phillips a [n-word], then jumped out and attacked him as a group and continued to use racial epithets.

The police initially called the attack an isolated incident, but the judge that tried the men felt differently. Provincial Court Judge Peter Doherty said that “the acid fog of racism permeates the case”. Though I could not find an article specifying whether or not the men we finally convicted of an actual hate crime, the articles containing Judge Doherty’s statements definitely seemed that they would try the men for a hate based assault. Doherty also said that the white men who committed the assault has forever changed their lives through their immature, alcohol and testosterone driven actions, which leads me to believe that the court either intends to, or has already convicted the assailants with a the crime.

Through the Autobiography of a recovering Skinhead, Meeink describes his remorse for his actions and affiliation with this style of behavior, and explains how foolish and ignorant his previous beliefs were. These are the actions of the these white men that shocked this community in B.C. It surely seems that the courts are trying to make an example of this group so that assaults like this do not happen again. It is inspiring that people like Frank Meenik and the courts of Canada are trying to prevent future acts of hate and violence from happening again.

“the acid fog of racism permeates the case”

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/british-columbia/guilty-verdict-for-assailants-in-bc-assault-caught-on-youtube/article1656248/

The Oklahoma City Bombing of 1995 is viewed as one of the worst acts of terrorism in the United States before 9/11. The man responsible for carrying out the bombing is Timothy McVeigh, and is the central figure for hate crime review that I have chosen for this post. Tim McVeigh claimed that this crime was politically motivated, but after reviewing aspects of his life including his prior employment, his racist ties and ideology, it is apparent that supremacist views definitely played a role in his hate crime actions.

Timothy McVeigh is a prime example of a lone wolf whose political beliefs and belief of supremacy fueled his anger and led to his violence. As stated in previous posts, a hate crime is defined as a crime motivated by racial, sexual, or other prejudice, typically one involving violence. Because of McVeigh’s time spent handing out rhetorical literature at gun shows, as well as his frequent sending of hate mail, built the background to his hateful demeanor, and laid the groundwork for the horrific act of violence that is remembered as the Oklahoma City Bombing.

McVeigh was obsessed with the anti-government, pro-white America literature titled The Turner Diaries. This book written by William Luther Pierce, who was once the leader of the White Nationalist organization National Alliance, details the overthrow of the American government, as well as a race war and the eradication of Jews and people of color. Such obsession over this piece of literature that is referred to as the bible of the racist right, ties McVeigh into the white nationalist movement, as it also solidifies his sentiment of an anti-government future.

Although the general public views Timothy McVeigh as a monster, there are the supremacists who see his actions as necessary, and in some instances, justified. This lone wolf violent activity is the fuel to the fire when it comes to taking hateful rhetoric and turning it into action. Tim McVeigh believed that the bombing would light a fire under Americans and shine light on how corrupt and inflated the government has supposedly become. Although that is not the lens through which the majority of Americans view the situation, it is how some groups interpret the bombing, among other violent hate crimes. Hate crimes like these are the catalyst to the white nationalist movement. They start and progress discussion whether on forums or in a group setting.

Timothy McVeigh is considered a central figure, because he epitomizes the white supremacist movement in regards to a figure who spouts and spreads rhetoric in a hateful manner. It is men like McVeigh that the extreme supremacists, as well as the lurkers, look to in order to gain insight into the movement, or to justify their own beliefs and actions.