Hate group membership on rise in GOP South

[Jabbery]

I'm in Atlanta, but I've got friends who work with the the Southern Poverty Law Center over in Montgomery, and they're telling me that hate groups are feeling very emboldened by the increasing Republican inroads being made in the South here lately. They say that Texas in particular is seeing a massive increase in hate group affiliations among young people. They say that South Carolina and Georgia are also seeing a rise in hate group membership and activity. They say that law enforcement efforts to monitor these groups, especially at the Federal level, have dropped off significantly in the last three years.

We should have known this would happen. This is the Republican dream coming true - the entire South turning 100% Republican based on the GOP's appeal to the racist Civil War mentality of ignorant, undereducated Southerners. It makes me sad for my native region.

But it also strengthens my resolve to fight the racist Republican party with every fiber of my being.

[Khephra]

1. They're not "growing" exactly

As you say "emboldened". They've always been there; they've just been afraid to show their real colors, so to speak.

That's going to be their downfall...if they fall. Most conservatives that I know can't stand the racist Right. They'd vote Libertarian if the GOP turns into a clone of the Dixiecrats.

[Jabbery]

4. Actually, the SPLC says the numbers are up

Both members and activities. Bush has created a climate that emboldens Republicans to reveal their true racist hate colors.

[bluestateguy]

2. We should use the Patriot Act to monitor them

They should be declared terrorist organizations under the full powers of the Patriot Act.

[loudsue]

3. Boy, you NAILED that one....They should be declared TERRORISTS

Because that's exactly what they are. And they ARE emboldened by the neocons.... all hate, all the time, and "I'm ALWAYS better than you, so I can do whatever I want to you" mentality.

Thugs. Government sanctioned thugs.

:kick::kick:

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

5. Southerners I know are ashamed of the racists

Maybe that's because I'm in Arkansas, not Texas or Alabama. There's an active KKK group in Boone County, and they sent out a mass mailing about two months ago, explaining why good Christians should hate blacks. The City Counsel of Harrison, the county seat, passed a resolution condemning the mailing, and putting on record that the ideas expressed therein were not those endorsed by Harrison. FedEx Freight, one of the largest employers in the area, recently held a tolerance event which asked all people to work together. A hate group sent out a mailing about it, saying it was terrible because it was endorsed by a Christian-Jewish ecumenical group. That mailing was condemned as well, and the event went on as planned with no incidents.

I'm an educated Yankee transplanted to this area, but I'll say that I'm proud of the way the native Arkansans have stood up to ignorance and hatred.

[Jabbery]

8. Unfortunately, the GOP winks and nods at them

In the 1960's things were different - there were true racists in both parties and there were good people in both who fought the good fight. But once the laws were passed and the troops went home, the GOP exploited the disaffected racists in the Democratic party and appealed to their basest instincts to lure them into the GOP. They are still defecting to this day. Georgia's state government just went Republican for exactly that reason.

[tjwash]

10. The same thing happens here in California.

Racist jerks are everywhere, even here in San Diego county. I remember a few years ago, the KKK was putting "the white way is the right way" fliers on windshields at a shopping center in Santee, and the Sheriff told them to stop because the businesses at the shopping center were complaining. Of course never content to listen to anyone, they took it to court screaming about "freedom of speech" (funny how it's an issue when it's them that's being told to shut up), and that even though it was private property, they should be able to push their racist agenda on everyone. They eventually dropped the case, but to this day, here in San Diego, Santee is known as "klantee" because of that...

[merh]

13. You are most fortunate. My governor and senior U.S. Senator are

supporters of Council of Conservative Citizens (CofCC). Check out their web page http://www.cofcc.org. The governor supports the confederate flag, was the head of the RNC, studied under Raygun, and is part owner of one of the largest lobbying firms in D.C.

The GOP has a lock on this state and their pro-corporate, civil justice reform, "small gov't" mumbo jumbo were bought by the citizens of Mississippi and he has just begun his destruction of the state.

GOP - Divide and Privatize.

ps. check out that web site and it's Arkansas page. It will disgust you.

[69KV]

16. yuck!

Sorry, I just took a look. :puke:

The first things that stood out on the very front page:

A "Free Zundel" ad. That guy is a Holocaust denier, neo-nazi sympathizer in Canada who thinks the U.S. was on the wrong side in WWII.

A link to the American Nationalist Union. That group used to be called the Populist Party. That was the ticket David Duke ran for president on in 1988.

An article called "'Homo' Depot Supports Queer Agneda" and another called "The Queer Onslaught", and one called "Celebreties Embrace Jewish Sorcery"

An ad for a book claiming to reveal the "TRUTH about Martin Luther King and why he does not deserve a national holiday"

That's all I needed to see. There's no reason to look past the front page. That's a neo-nazi group, plain and simple.

Which governor and senator is this, so we can expose their ties to this group and demand they resign from office?

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

6. The GOP "Southern Strategy" in action.

The very thinly veiled racism inherent in "The Great Commicator's" southern strategy continues to bear rotten fruit.

[IronLionZion]

7. Some racist confederates just HATE the Republicans

like this guy: www.rebelarmy.com

If he wasn't so damn racist, he could be a Democrat. He talks about corporate greed and helping the working class and bring our troops home now.

[Cheswick2.0]

9. It was said a few years ago that Pa had more hate groups per capita

than any other state. I wonder if that is still true and if our membership is also growing.

[IronLionZion]

14. I heard we were third in hate group membership

and 47 in education. hmmm... perhaps they are related. Jim Eisenhower was talking about this during his campaign for attorney general.

[theHandpuppet]

11. Racism rampant in current GOP

I posted this message to DU over a year ago so some of the links may no longer be viable (I know the "Southern Partisan", for example, has changed their addy) but the pattern is evident. Thought it worth reposting here.

Anyone who would deny the insidious influence of neo-confederacy in our govt and its policies needs a reality pill. This "Sons of Confederate Veterans" group is the same one that publishes that racist rag, "The Southern Partisan", and they have their tentacles all over the Bushreich! (They were also instrumental in the defeat of Max Cleland in GA) Check this out for a frightening eye-opener:

The Temple of Democracy. Fighting the Neo-Confederate movement and it takeover of American politics and policy. See: http://www.templeofdemocracy.com/

Prominent politicians appearing in Southern Partisan Magazine: U.S. House Representative Dick Armey, U.S. Senator John Ashcroft, U.S. Senator Thad Cochran, U.S. Senator Phil Gramm, U.S. Senator Jesse Helms, and U.S. Senator Trent Lott. Index to Southern Partisan magazine, the bi-monthly journal of the same group that made defeating Max Cleland its primary goal in the mid-terms: http://www.templeofdemocracy.com/SouthernPartisanIndex1999.htm
and an updated link to more recent articles:
http://www.templeofdemocracy.com/SouthernPartisan2000.htm

Ashcroft defends "Southern Partisan": http://www.fair.org/press-releases/southern-partisan.html
http://www.fair.org/press-releases/ashcroft.html
http://www.uncletaz.com/ashcroft/

Additional reading : http://www.templeofdemocracy.com/SouthernPartisan.htm http://www.accuracy.org/press_releases/PR011501b.htm

McCain bows to neo-confederates associated with Southern Partisan -- note that Quinn, piublisher of SP, also had ties to Ronald Ray-Gun
http://www.tnr.com/013100/soskis013100.html
http://www.pfaw.org/pfaw/general/default.aspx?oid=2581

Pat Buchanan and SP: http://www.political.com/gossip-arc/0040.html

The Bush Family and the neo-confederacy: http://www.guerrillanews.com/civil_liberties/doc674.html
http://www.rtis.com/reg/bcs/pol/touchstone/february00/03confederacy.html

Related links:
http://www.shucks.net/
http://www.detnet.com/wilke/partisan.htm
http://www.pointsouth.com/index.html
http://www.templeofdemocracy.com/SouthernVoice100500.htm
http://www.newnation.org/Archives/confederacy-020418.html

"Southern Partisan T-Shirt Identical to One
Worn By Timothy McVeigh at Time of Arrest"
http://www.accuracy.org/press_releases/PR011501b.htm

[tjwash]

12. Every year...

...since Reagan, the Aryan nations, and the KKK in Idaho give their endorsement to the GOP, and every year the GOP will say they do not want it. And this is year after year. Of course the GOP is full of racists. If they were not, the A.N. and the KKK would endorse a different party.

[tnlefty]

15. Have you seen tolerance.org's state by state maps?

I receive an e-mail notification each year when they have completed the new maps and I check them out to see which groups are around me and if any new ones have cropped up, etc.

[FlemingsGhost]

17. How is running to Costa Rica fighting with every fiber?

Er... "voting with your feet."

Try harder.

[Jabbery]

19. Did you serve?

Just wondering if you served your country honorably in the armed forced of the United States.

Just wondering.

Well?

[resist]

18. The Great Black State of Mississippi

I'm a very recent transplant to Ms. from the left coast and have kinda had an awakening. racism seems to be alive and well in this country after all. The complaint I've heard locally is that those blacks are a majority and they vote together. So I'm thinking how come the entire south is not solidly african american and democratic now? Haters will just have to accept the fact that they're in the minority now. Seems wierd this isn't happening more.

[SouthALdem]

20. I know what you mean.....

I'm in Alabama and it scares me when I hear some of the stuff coming out of peoples' mouths. Of course, I do consider the Republican Party in Alabama a hate group after the way my parents (both FORMER Repubs-my mother was actually Secretary of the state party) were treated. Threatening mail, hateful phone calls. My Dad even got death threats mailed to him because he works with the ACLU on cases here and there and was one of the original plaintiffs in the Roy Moore Ten Commandments law suit. We're not sure if it's related or not but someone shot one of our cats. He survived but lost an eye because of it.

It's scary.