A Booming Church and Its Complicated, Ugly Past - The New York Times

The church in Zarephath is the flagship congregation of the Pillar of Fire, a Methodist offshoot founded in 1901 by a formidable female preacher, Alma Bridwell White, whose positive legacy of feminism was complicated in the 1920s by her ardent embrace of the Ku Klux Klan. Scholars believe that the Pillar of Fire was the only denomination in America to publicly endorse the Klan, even though individual ministers from other faiths were active in it.

The contradictions of the sect’s fiery founder create a kind of puzzle for the church’s modern leadership. Pillar of Fire long ago moved away from the hate of the Klan, and its leaders have issued statements denouncing and regretting the church’s historic involvement with it. In a sign of how different the modern church is, the local presiding elder of the denomination, Robert Saydee, is an African refugee.

Yet Pillar of Fire owes its existence to Bishop White, the first female bishop of any Christian denomination in American history. Her traces remain everywhere in Zarephath, the agrarian faith community she founded here in 1905 and named for the town where Elijah found comfort from a widow in the Bible. And yet her complicated legacy is virtually ignored by church leaders, who can still disagree about the extent of her intolerance.

A Booming Church and Its Complicated, Ugly Past - The New York Times

The KKK issues plea for members to kill gay people · PinkNews

The Ku Klux Klan is taking aim at the LGBT community – who they believe should be killed in order to end the HIV/AIDS crisis.

Leaders from the Louisiana [Georgia] chapter of the group have distributed fliers urging people to join their group and slaughter gay people in an effort to “save our land, join the Klan, white power.”

“Stop Aids: Support Gay Bashing,” one of the flyers read. “Homosexual men and their sexual acts are disgusting and inhuman.”

“Our race is our nation,” reads another.

The fliers are signed “Loyal White Knights of the KKK” and include a website address and phone number to call for those interested in joining the genocide.

The KKK issues plea for members to kill gay people · PinkNews

Wheatfield bomb maker ordered to be detained

I have been watching this story to see where it may lead.  This is home town for me (not to far from were I grew up), and I am a bit flabbergast by some the reactions of former classmates to this incident.

The U.S. Attorney's Office revealed new information Wednesday, regarding the investigation of a Wheatfield man accused of making and possessing homemade bombs.

The new information, was geared to persuade a federal judge that Michael O'Neill, should be detained in federal facility and not allowed to seek bail or bond.

O'Neill is accused of making at least seven bombs at his home. Two weeks ago, one of the explosives inadvertently went off inside the garage. O'Neill was the only one injured and was taken to ECMC where his left leg was amputated. He's been there ever since.

What's the new evidence prosecutors are revealing?

"A series of exhibits that the government felt justified detention of Mr. O'Neill," said U.S. Attorney William Hochul.

Prosecutors released several pictures of some of the explosives O'Neill made. One said nails are inside. Another one contained BB's.

Here's more evidence prosecutors are revealing -- raising questions about whether O'Neill is a racist? Prosecutors say O'Neill, who's a former Niagara County corrections officer, was found with Nazi posters, Confederate flags and other divisive items in his garage.

"Depiction of a certain Ku Klux Klan symbol or picture, it also included a picture of the founder of the Ku Klux Klan, Nathan Bedford Forrest," Hochul said.

"We don't know the import exactly of what these sort of inflammatory items might've mean only to say that they were in the immediate vicinity," said Jack Alsup, an assistant U.S. Attorney.

Wheatfield bomb maker ordered to be detained

See also:

New York white supremacist blows off his own leg while making bombs at his house: prosecutors

His attorney said O’Neill was just planning to blow up some tree stumps.

“The fact that there were some items that we described in court as consistent with, white supremacists, to include the Ku Klux Klan, and the Nazi imagery, some of the verbiage which was particularly on the Nazi picture, also the Confederate battle flag, means that law enforcement has more work to go,” U.S. Attorney William Hochul told TWC News.

White supremacists sign up for military to train for race war — with little pushback from Pentagon

“The soldiers learn from unconventional warfare in Iraq and they realize that they can use that type of warfare in America, and it’s impossible to stop. I tell people to learn as much as you can to improve munitions capabilities, patrolling; I want them to learn sniping and explosives, the Green Berets.”

Dennis Mahon, white supremacist sentenced to 40 years for a bomb attack that injured a black city official in Phoenix.

__

According to the FBI, there are hundreds of white supremacists in the US army or in the veteran community. Some analysts even estimate the number is in the thousands. In America, 203 white supremacist “extremist cases” investigated by the Bureau from 2001 to 2008 involved veterans. The problem hasn’t gone away. Neo-Nazi veteran Wade Michael Page attacked six worshippers at the Sikh Temple in Oak Creek, Wisconsin, in 2012.

I spent a number of years investigating how neo-Nazis and white supremacists had infiltrated the US military, with very little push back from the Pentagon, which was desperate to keep the supply of troops flowing for the occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan.

As part of my research, I spoke to veterans who had become white supremacists before service and joined to gain access to weapons and training, as well as veterans who had been radicalized after returning from the war.

Charles Wilson, spokesman for the National Socialist Movement, one of the top neo-Nazi groups in America, was frank about his attempts to populate the US armed forces with extremists: “We do encourage [our members] to sign up for the military. We can use the training to secure the resistance to our government. Every one of them takes a pact of secrecy … Our military doesn’t agree with our political beliefs, they are not supposed to be in the military, but they’re there, in ever greater numbers.” He claimed to have 190 members serving.

[,,,]
When the Department of Homeland Security warned in 2009 that disenchanted veterans wooed by white supremacist movements could lead to the “potential emergence of terrorist groups or lone wolf extremists capable of carrying out violent attacks”, the report was lambasted by right-wing politicians and commentators. Michelle Malkin called it “one of the most embarrassingly shoddy pieces of propaganda I’d ever read” and “anti-military bigotry”.

One comment did make an interesting point, "White supremacy roots get in the way of the Army's mission because it doesn't have time to manage people's egos. This article is reaching a bit."  Under normal circumstances, I might agree with that assessment.  Although this is not a new issue or concern, it is an issue that has, until recently, only been talked about behind partially closed doors. 

The Department of Defense has a long-standing policy of intolerance for organizations, practices or activities that are discriminatory in nature.  DOD Directive 1325.6, Guidelines for Handling Dissent and Protest Activities Among Members of the Armed Forces,” was issued in 1969 as one of many measures taken to renew, clarify, and emphasize that policy. Despite the specific language of this directive, reports in 1986 of Army and Marine Corps members participating in Ku Klux Klan (KKK) activities forced Secretary of Defense Casper Weinberger to reaffirm the Defense Department’s position via the priority message cited above. Yet new cases of service member involvement with extremist organizations continue to make the headlines. In February 1990, five Air Force security policemen were discharged for active participation in the Ku Klux Klan. One of the five was a chief recruiter who took part in cross-burnings and planned a KKK chapter in Denton, Texas. The following year, an Army sergeant pleaded guilty along with three others to weapon charges in an apparent conspiracy to stockpile military hardware for use by white supremacist groups. According to one civilian media account, the arsenal included “land mines, machine guns, TNT, and anti-aircraft weaponry” and was “large enough to blow up the Gator Bowl.” In October 1993, four airmen in Alaska were discharged from the Air Force for burning a cross and using racial slurs. Finally, as recently as 1995, two Army soldiers committed two racially motivated murders at Fort Bragg, NC, resulting in the death of two African Americans and prompting a DOD review of the 1986 policy and a subsequent revision in 1996.

White supremacists sign up for military to train for race war — with little pushback from Pentagon

The Klan’s Vile Post-Charleston Recruiting Spree - The Daily Beast

Days after the massacre at a black church in South Carolina, some Americans woke to a vile surprise: KKK fliers with candy on their lawns.

The propaganda—stuffed into plastic baggies with pieces of peppermint and Tootsie Rolls—included a phone number for the Loyal White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan. Planted under the cover of darkness, the fliers were distributed in California, Kansas, Alabama, Mississippi, and Georgia.

It’s not something local police departments are taking lightly, and some have even reached out to the FBI for assistance. The Rockdale County sheriff’s department in Conyers, Georgia, collected more than 80 fliers and is investigating whether anyone can be charged with criminal trespass or littering.

“Whether it was a joke or from an organization doesn’t matter to me,” Sheriff Eric Levett told The Daily Beast. “The fact that it was done during this time is ignorant and cowardly.”

A message on the hate-spewing hotline, based in North Carolina, salutes 21-year-old Dylann Roof, who was charged with murder for the killing nine people in Charleston. Roof penned a racist manifesto before the June 17 mass shooting and wanted to start a “race war.”

“We in the Loyal White Knights of the KKK would like to say hail victory to … Dylan S. Roof who decided to do what the Bible told him,” a man chirps in the recording. “An eye for an eye. A tooth for a tooth. They [black people] have spilled our blood too long. It’s about time someone spilled theirs.”


The Klan’s Vile Post-Charleston Recruiting Spree - The Daily Beast

FBI’s warning of white supremacists infiltrating law enforcement nearly forgotten | theGrio

If you remember, back in November of last year I posted this article by Matt Osborne of Breitbart Unmasked - Invisible Empire? Racist Police And The KKK's 2014 Nationwide Recruiting Drive.  In concluding his piece - where he briefly mentions this 2013 report (LAW AND ORDER AND WHITE POWER: WHITE SUPREMACIST INFILTRATION OF LAW ENFORCEMENT AND THE NEED TO ELIMINATE RACISM IN THE RANKS)
 which discusses how law enforcement agencies are a "primary target for infiltration":

White supremacy ideology endures in the United States. White supremacy adherents strategize on how to implement their vision of a white America. Members pledge on their membership card of the Knights Party, a Klan-affiliated white supremacist group, to work for the “protection of the White race” and to advance their cause in “all areas of society, whether economic, judicial, social, educational, scientific, or political.”  To reach all areas of society, white supremacists seek to infiltrate the political establishment, the military, and law enforcement.  This article focuses on white supremacists infiltrating law enforcement, the dangers posed by such infiltration, and the need for law enforcement employers to discharge racist officers.

I pointed out that he asked a very important question. ",,,but what about the extremists wearing badges?" It is an issue that is not new.

In October of 2006, the FBI published a report called “White Supremacist Infiltration of Law Enforcement.” The report basically warns that white supremacist leaders have “historically shown an interest in infiltrating law enforcement communities or recruiting law enforcement personnel.”

According to “The Grio,” a number of key events foreshadowed the report:

Several key events preceded the report. A federal court found that members of a Los Angeles sheriffs department formed a Neo Nazi gang and habitually terrorized the black community. Later, the Chicago police department fired Jon Burge, a detective with reputed ties to the Ku Klux Klan, after discovering he tortured over 100 black male suspects. Thereafter, the Mayor of Cleveland discovered that many of the city police locker rooms were infested with “White Power” graffiti. Years later, a Texas sheriff department discovered that two of its deputies were recruiters for the Klan.

In near prophetic fashion, after the FBI’s warning, white supremacy extremism in the U.S. increased, exponentially. From 2008 to 2014, the number of white supremacist groups, reportedly, grew from 149 to nearly a thousand, with no apparent abatement in their infiltration of law enforcement.

This year, alone, at least seven San Francisco law enforcement officers were suspended after an investigation revealed they exchanged numerous “White Power” communications laden with remarks about “lynching African-Americans and burning crosses.” Three reputed Klan members that served as correction officers were arrested for conspiring to murder a black inmate. At least four Fort Lauderdale police officers were fired after an investigation found that the officers fantasized about killing black suspects.

FBI’s warning of white supremacists infiltrating law enforcement nearly forgotten | theGrio

New Study Finds The KKK Was Instrumental In Switching Southern Voters From Democrats To Republicans | If You Only News

A press release from the American Sociological Association on “Newswise” says that a new study finds that the KKK has had a “lasting impact” on politics in America. Specifically, the study, conducted by David Cunningham, chair of the Department of Sociology at Brandeis University, Rory McVeigh of Notre Dame, and Justin Farrell of Yale University, found that the KKK was instrumental in switching southern voters from Democrats to Republicans, beginning in the 1960s. The study also found that the KKK’s influence over southern politics has continued into the 21st century.

According to the ASA’s press release, the researchers looked at ten southern states where the KKK was actively recruiting during the 1960’s. They examined the county voting records, and discovered that, in the presidential elections between 1960 and 2000, counties with active KKK chapters showed a “statistically significant increase in Republican voting compared to counties with no established KKK chapter.”

New Study Finds The KKK Was Instrumental In Switching Southern Voters From Democrats To Republicans | If You Only News

Invisible Empire? Racist Police And The KKK's 2014 Nationwide Recruiting Drive | Breitbart Unmasked

Matt Osborne is a fellow blogger over at Breitbart Unmasked asks a very important question. ",,,but what about the extremists wearing badges?"

The Missouri KKK has turned the shooting death of Michael Brown into a recruiting drive and threatened to use violence, but 2014 was already a story of extremists trying to enlarge their organizations. Beginning with a fizzled militia event on the National Mall and graduating into nativist anti-immigration actions during the Summer, this year of reactionary politics also reportedly saw a nationwide recruiting effort by the Ku Klux Klan.

After an initial burst of growth with President Obama’s inauguration, the nation’s oldest and best-known white supremacist movement suffered declining participation in recent years as its agenda was largely sublimated into Republican politics. The once-great ‘invisible empire’ was in need of fresh membership.

One sign of their efforts this year is the uptick in news reports of KKK recruiting flyers. Klan recruiting flyers were already being reported around the country before the shooting of Michael Brown by Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson. Since late July, they have shown up in Havre County, Montana, Karrick, Pennsylvania, Hamilton, Ohio, East Texas, Harris County, Texas, Springfield, Indiana, Eunice, Louisiana, Bentonville, Arkansas, Union County, Florida, and elsewhere.

But ever since the killing of Michael Brown, the Klan has consciously nationalized around the defense of white supremacy in American policing, and the largest Klan organization in that state has risen to national prominence. In late October, flyers from the Missouri Klan organization turned up in Prattville, Alabama.

Invisible Empire? Racist Police And The KKK's 2014 Nationwide Recruiting Drive | Breitbart Unmasked

When hate hits home (Pt 1)

The following is coming out of a Facebook conversation that started when a fellow group member shared a disconcerting incident involving a "kkk nazi skinhead at my house. His daughter and wife were here as well." [sic]

The ensuing discussion kicked off with reference to Alan Berg. A Colorado radio show host who was assassinated on June 18, 1984 by associates of the  white nationalist group, The Order (of the Silent Brotherhood) founded Robert Jay Mathews, in 1983. 

Whether Berg was killed because of his Jewish heritage or because of his outspoken views doesn't matter; Berg was contentious and liked to bait callers.  His specialty,  Berg liked to agitate right-wing extremist groups which put Berg on Mathews' hit-list.

A pivotal incident, according to witnesses, was Mr. Berg's telephone interview of two white supremacist preachers on his program on Feb. 13, 1984. The interview with Pete Peters, the pastor of the La Porte church, and Jack Mohr, a preacher and paramilitary instructor, ended in an angry outburst after Mr. Berg ridiculed his two guests and Mr. Mohr hung up.

What is interesting to note, and what makes these supremacist/neo-Nazi  type groups and militias so dangerous,  you never know when or where individuals may again rear their ugly heads. Remember this guy, Frasier Glenn Miller (and NC sheriff probing Kansas shooter’s ties to 1987 triple slaying following Raw Story reportNC sheriff probing Kansas shooter’s ties to 1987 triple slaying following Raw Story report?)  Miller is the maggot responsible for the April 13, 2014,  shootings near Kansas City which was fatal to three individuals. 

After officers arrested Frazier Glenn Cross — an Aurora, Mo., man better known as F. Glenn Miller — Sunday afternoon, authorities said he went on a rant inside the patrol car. Though Overland Park Police Chief John Douglass wouldn’t say what Cross hollered, a television crew captured him on video while he was handcuffed in the back of the car.

“Heil Hitler,” Miller yelled out, and then he bobbed his head up and down.

Miller was connected to The Order. It was his testimony in 1987 that put many members of The Order behind bars, "But Miller served only three years in prison, largely because he testified against 14 leading white supremacists in a 1988 Arkansas sedition trial. Among other things, Miller told the court that the late Order founder Robert Mathews had given him $200,000 in stolen money to finance the White Patriot Party."

(This is a work in progress,,,)

ADDENDUM::KKK members call for shooting young refugees dead: ‘Leave the corpses laying on the border’

The "Loyal White Knights" have been busy lately,,,

A self-described “Imperial Wizard” for a Ku Klux Klan organization openly defended his group’s call to deal with the thousands of young Central American immigrants coming to the U.S. through a “shoot to kill” policy, Al Jazeera America reported.

“To me, they’re breaking the law when they come here,” a hooded man identifying himself as Robert Jones said. “If we can’t turn them back, I think if we pop a couple of them off and leave the corpses laying on the border, maybe they’ll see that we’re serious about stopping immigration.”

Jones, who said he belonged to a group calling itself the “Loyal White Knights,” made the statement in a 10-minute interview with an associate flanking him in a remote field in North Carolina.

The Klan “Wizard” also told Al Jazeera that the current influx of refugees from El Salvador, Nicaragua, and Honduras was sparking a rise in KKK membership, though he did not offer any evidence to back up his claim.

“We get thousands of people calling us a day, sending money, donations,” he insisted. “People want to see more rallys. They’re begging us to come to their town.”

KKK members call for shooting young refugees dead: ‘Leave the corpses laying on the border’

KKK drops recruitment candy bags in Oconee Co. neighborhood - FOX Carolina 21

The KKK is recruiting in the Upstate. And a Seneca subdivision woke up Sunday to find bags of candy on their driveways with literature directing people to "Save our land, join the Klan."

One family in the neighborhood is especially concerned, not realizing that the Ku Klux Klan, known for violence against African Americans and minorities through its history, was still around.

Now they're scared, afraid of the KKK's reputation and they're upset that the organization that's classified as a "hate group" is in their area.

A voicemail message picked up when someone dials the "Klan Hotline" listed on the paper. It starts with, "Be a man join the Klan! Illegal immigration is destroying America," discusses immigration concerns and ends with, "always remember if it ain't white, it ain't right. White power."

Robert Jones, the Imperial Klaliff of the sect, the Loyal White Knights, returned a call to FOX Carolina. He said that this weekend was their national night ride, a recruitment event they have three times a year. He said that chapters across the country drop literature overnight.

KKK drops recruitment candy bags in Oconee Co. neighborhood - FOX Carolina 21

Fruitland Park police shaken by KKK charges - Orlando Sentinel

I guess a simple way of looking at this is, if you belong to a "subversive group" that is centered on discrimination based on minority status then you don't belong in a job to serve and protect the public. That aside, I do wonder how this incident will be interpreted in regards to the First Amendment and freedom of speech. An interesting conundrum.
__
Fruitland Park police Chief Terry Isaacs said his department has been shaken by troubling but unproven allegations that a deputy chief and a former police corporal were associated with the Ku Klux Klan.

The allegations, contained in a confidential FBI report provided to Isaacs by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, led to the sudden resignation of Deputy Chief David Borst and Isaacs' decision Friday to dismiss Officer George Hunnewell.

Isaacs would not confirm that the report linked the two officers to the KKK, instead describing the group as a "subversive organization." He said he couldn't be more exact in his description because he thought he was not authorized to release details of the report. Issacs said the document was given to him as chief to consider how the allegations might affect the officers' credibility and the perception of the department in the community.

Chief Deputy State Attorney Ric Ridgway, from whom Isaacs sought advice, identified the KKK as the hate group.

"It's not a crime to be a member of the KKK, even if you are the deputy chief. It's not a crime to be stupid," Ridgway said, in a previous interview. "It's not a crime to hate people. It may be despicable, it may be immoral, but it's not a crime."

Fruitland Park police shaken by KKK charges - Orlando Sentinel

KKK leader: We don't hate people because of their race - NBC12.com - Richmond, VA News

More to the story,,,

NBC 12 spoke to Frank Ancona who is Imperial Wizard of the Traditional American Knights of the Ku Klux Klan. He is president of the group distributing the fliers in Chesterfield County. Ancona says KKK membership is up across the country.

"In the last 6 years that I've been president of this organization I've seen the numbers probably triple," said Ancona.

He says members are tasked with recruiting new members.

"We don't hate people because of their race," said Ancona. "We are a Christian organization."

Ancona claims the packets are meant to recruit, and he says they are tools used to "set the record straight."

"Because of the act of a few rogue Klansmen," said Ancona. "All Klansmen are supposed to be murderers, and wanting to lynch Black people, and we're supposed to be terrorists. That's a complete falsehood."

Each neighbor we interviewed said they trashed the KKK fliers.

"The funny thing is the same neighborhoods where you're saying there are people who don't want the flier are neighborhoods where our members live," said Ancona. "And neighborhoods where people are sympathetic to our cause and are glad to hear from us. We get emails from people encouraging us...thanking us for the information."

Ancona says his organization is not a hate group.

"We want to keep our race the White race," said Ancona. "We want to stay White. It's not a hateful thing to want to maintain White Supremacy."

KKK leader: We don't hate people because of their race - NBC12.com - Richmond, VA News

Chesterfield residents receive KKK fliers - Richmond Times-Dispatch: Chesterfield County News

Ancona, who is based in Missouri, says the group has been dealt a bad hand by the media and the Union government after the Civil War. He said that it’s actually a fraternal organization that has specific values, including preserving the constitution as written and traditional Christian beliefs.

But at least one Chesterfield resident who got the flier isn’t buying that.

Ancona said he doesn’t know who put out the fliers or how many members are in Chesterfield. The organization’s website has a dozen fliers that members can print up and hand out in areas they believe are ripe for recruitment, he said.

One of those fliers says “many people have experienced the blacks firsthand” and have seen the “savagery and animalism in many of these people.”

The flier that went to Chesterfield residents says the organization’s mission is “exalting the Caucasian race and teaching the doctrine of white supremacy.”

“That does not mean that we are enemies of the colored and mongrel race, but it does mean that we are organized to establish the solidarity and to realize the mission of the white race,” that flier reads.

Ancona said some misconceptions come from the fact that the organization is open exclusively to white, native-born Christians and that it has rituals and ceremonies that mysterious because they are known only to Klan members.

“The secret is not that we have this plot or anything ... we’ve gotten this bad reputation,” Ancona said.



Chesterfield residents receive KKK fliers - Richmond Times-Dispatch: Chesterfield County News

KKK Member Walks up to Black Musician in Bar-but It’s Not a Joke, and What Happens Next Will Astound You

After reading this article the first thing I did was check to see if the Las Vegas Guardian Express was for real (in other words not The Onion or Daily Currant), it is. Next was adding another book to my ever growing list,,,

Daryl Davis is no ordinary musician. He’s played with President Clinton and tours the country playing “burnin’ boogie woogie piano” and sharing musical stylings inspired by greats like Fats Domino, Chuck Berry and Jerry Lee Lewis. He’s a highly respected and electrifying performer who is currently an integral member of The Legendary Blues Band (formerly known as the Muddy Waters Band,) and he rocks the stage all over the nation.

Davis’ travels, of course, have always afforded him the opportunity to meet a huge range of diverse people, but perhaps nothing could have prepared him for the moment that would change his life.

It was 1983 and Davis was playing country western music in an (informally) all-white lounge. He was the only black musician in the place and when his set was over, a man approached him. “He came up to me and said he liked my piano playing,” says Davis, “then he told me this was the first time he heard a black man play as well as Jerry Lee Lewis.” Davis, somewhat amused, explained to the man: “Jerry Lee learned to play from black blues and boogie woogie piano players and he’s a friend of mine. He told me himself where he learned to play.” At first, Davis says, the man was skeptical that Jerry Lee Lewis had been schooled by black musicians, but Davis went on to explain in more detail. “He was fascinated,” says Davis, “but he didn’t believe me. Then, he told me he was a Klansman.”

KKK Member Walks up to Black Musician in Bar-but It’s Not a Joke, and What Happens Next Will Astound You