IMMIGRATION BENEFICIAL

An article from Newsweek by Christopher Dickey, debunks the current myth that with immigrantion makes our cities “unsafe.”

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Urban Legends

New immigrants may be the best thing that ever happened to American cities, but don’t wait for the leading presidential candidates to tell you that.

By Christopher Dickey

Newsweek Web Exclusive

Updated: 4:28 PM ET Nov 28, 2007

What do the safest big cities in the United States have in common? Rudy Giuliani knows, but he’s not likely to say so, at least not now. Why? Because the answer, in a word, is immigrants.
 
When Giuliani was the law-and-order mayor of New York City, Mr. Zero Tolerance was more than happy to tolerate immigrants, including those who entered or stayed in the United States illegally. As conservative New York Times columnist David Brooks pointed out recently, Giuliani “once went overboard and declared, ‘If you come here and you work hard and you happen to be in an undocumented status, you’re one of the people who we want in this city.'”
 
This wasn’t so much altruism or “immoderate centrism,” as some of Giuliani’s fans suggest, or even a sentimental reaction to his own family’s (somewhat controversial) immigrant roots. It was purely practical. About 38 percent of New York City’s population was born outside the United States of America, and while most are in the country legally, many are not. (If they can’t register their identities anyplace with the city or state government, they can’t be counted accurately. And of course they can’t register with the feds without risking deportation.) What’s certain is that first-generation immigrants have played almost as important a role in making New York more secure as the vaunted hard line on crime taken by Mr. Zero T.

The “Safest City” awards published a few days ago by Congressional Quarterly back up this kind of thinking. Among the top 10 with populations over 500,000, four are in Texas: Fort Worth, San Antonio, Austin and the border town of El Paso, which is the second-safest big city in the country. Two are in California: San Jose and San Diego, which, again, is right across the line from Mexico. The safest city of all is Honolulu, with its very diverse population, while New York City ranks fourth. (New York City also looks as if it will have fewer murders this year than at any time since reliable statistics became available, in 1963.) “I would say, if you want to be safe, move to an immigrant city,” Robert J. Sampson, chairman of the sociology department at Harvard University, told me on the phone this afternoon.
 
Nationwide, over the last 15 years we’ve seen the largest wave of immigration, in absolute numbers, both legal and illegal, ever to reach the shores of the United States. Foreigners fresh off the boat, so to speak, now represent almost 13 percent of the U.S. population, which is almost as high in percentage terms as during the late 19th century. According to a report from the nonprofit Immigration Policy Center earlier this year, the estimated undocumented population has doubled, to 12 million, since 1994. Yet the violent crime rate nationwide has declined more than 34 percent during the same period, while crimes against property dropped more than 26 percent.

Yes, these facts do run against conventional wisdom, which holds that newly arrived foreigners are essentially, even intrinsically, dangerous. A recent study showed that 75 percent of Americans think “more immigrants cause higher crime rates.” Full stop. A single sensational incident involving illegal aliens, like the execution-style murder last summer of three students in Newark, N.J., can send shudders through people already nervous about all the newcomers. And that feeling is especially strong in less urbanized parts of the country like Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina, which are vital to presidential contenders. Certainly in South Carolina, where I spend part of each year, laborers from Mexico seem to be changing the whole tenor of daily life. And then, of course, there’s the question of terrorism, which, we all remember, flew in from abroad. Yet if ever there was an issue where popular thinking is misleading, it’s the dangers posed by new immigrants.
 
On the terror front, for instance, after Giuliani left office in 2002 his successor, Michael Bloomberg, and Police Commissioner Ray Kelly drew on the city’s incredible diversity to help create one of the most effective law enforcement and counterterror operations in the country. The NYPD has about 600 linguists: native speakers of Urdu, Dari, Bengali, Arabic (in several dialects), Russian, Gaelic, Spanish and more. The class that graduated from the police academy a year ago included almost 300 foreign-born cadets from more than 50 different countries who have a feel for the street in just about every imaginable immigrant neighborhood.
 
But it’s the overall social impact of immigration on crime that is most important. “Almost everyone who has examined this issue and is not an ideologue has come to the same conclusion,” says James Lynch, a distinguished professor at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice, in Manhattan. “In the United States immigrants engage in common law crime at rates lower than the native population.” And it’s not just that newly arrived immigrants are less likely to be part of an urban nightmare, it’s that they bring their own positive dreams. According to Sampson, there’s “a growing consensus” that “immigration revitalizes cities around the country.” Instead of becoming empty urban wastelands, marginal neighborhoods fill up with new immigrants who want to build their futures and wind up building the economy.
 
Hillary Clinton understands all this, of course. The immigration wave, including the flood of illegals, began when her husband Bill was president. But it shouldn’t be surprising that the Democratic senator from New York, as presidential candidate, sounded so confused when asked in a recent debate about an abortive plan by New York’s Democratic Gov. Eliot Spitzer to give driver’s licenses to otherwise undocumented foreigners. The questions were basically “are you for or against.” But of course the subtext is much more complicated. If first-generation immigrants are helping to make cities more secure, then doesn’t it make sense to have as much information about them as possible? Or is it smarter to make them live as far outside the law as possible? Clinton couldn’t seem to decide, perhaps because to make her point honestly she’d have to convince 75 percent of Americans their fundamental assumptions are wrong. People just know, or think they know, that immigration and crime are part of the same package.

So the debates go on, with every discussion of illegal aliens ever more alienated from the facts at hand.

‘Black On Black’ Crime Taken To Task

There is a really interesting discussion occuring in reference to the shooting death of Sean Taylor. Jason Whitlock of FOX Sports has written the following article…(be sure and check out the comments).

Taylor’s death a grim reminder for us all

Jason Whitlock / FOXSports.com
Posted: 4 hours ago

There’s a reason I call them the Black KKK. The pain, the fear and the destruction are all the same.

Someone who loved Sean Taylor is crying right now. The life they knew has been destroyed, an 18-month-old baby lost her father, and, if you’re a black man living in America, you’ve been reminded once again that your life is in constant jeopardy of violent death.

The Black KKK claimed another victim, a high-profile professional football player with a checkered past this time.

No, we don’t know for certain the circumstances surrounding Taylor’s death. I could very well be proven wrong for engaging in this sort of aggressive speculation. But it’s no different than if you saw a fat man fall to the ground clutching his chest. You’d assume a heart attack, and you’d know, no matter the cause, the man needed to lose weight.

Well, when shots are fired and a black man hits the pavement, there’s every statistical reason to believe another black man pulled the trigger. That’s not some negative, unfair stereotype. It’s a reality we’ve been living with, tolerating and rationalizing for far too long.

When the traditional, white KKK lynched, terrorized and intimidated black folks at a slower rate than its modern-day dark-skinned replacement, at least we had the good sense to be outraged and in no mood to contemplate rationalizations or be fooled by distractions.

Our new millennium strategy is to pray the Black KKK goes away or ignores us. How’s that working?

About as well as the attempt to shift attention away from this uniquely African-American crisis by focusing on an “injustice” the white media allegedly perpetrated against Sean Taylor.

Within hours of his death, there was a story circulating that members of the black press were complaining that news outlets were disrespecting Taylor’s victimhood by reporting on his troubled past

No disrespect to Taylor, but he controlled the way he would be remembered by the way he lived. His immature, undisciplined behavior with his employer, his run-ins with law enforcement, which included allegedly threatening a man with a loaded gun, and the fact a vehicle he owned was once sprayed with bullets are all pertinent details when you’ve been murdered.

Marcellus Wiley, a former NFL player, made the radio circuit Wednesday, singing the tune that athletes are targets. That was his explanation for the murders of Taylor and Broncos cornerback Darrent Williams and the armed robberies of NBA players Antoine Walker and Eddy Curry.

Really?

Let’s cut through the bull(manure) and deal with reality. Black men are targets of black men. Period. Go check the coroner’s office and talk with a police detective. These bullets aren’t checking W-2s.

Rather than whine about white folks’ insensitivity or reserve a special place of sorrow for rich athletes, we’d be better served mustering the kind of outrage and courage it took in the 1950s and 1960s to stop the white KKK from hanging black men from trees.

But we don’t want to deal with ourselves. We take great joy in prescribing medicine to cure the hate in other people’s hearts. Meanwhile, our self-hatred, on full display for the world to see, remains untreated, undiagnosed and unrepentant.

Our self-hatred has been set to music and reinforced by a pervasive culture that promotes a crab-in-barrel mentality.

You’re damn straight I blame hip hop for playing a role in the genocide of American black men. When your leading causes of death and dysfunction are murder, ignorance and incarceration, there’s no reason to give a free pass to a culture that celebrates murder, ignorance and incarceration.

	Make your voice heard…
This story has touched off some very spirited debate. If you would like to join in, it is being discussed on our community page.

Of course there are other catalysts, but until we recapture the minds of black youth, convince them that it’s not OK to “super man dat ho” and end any and every dispute by “cocking on your bitch,” nothing will change.

Does a Soulja Boy want an education?

HBO did a fascinating documentary on Little Rock Central High School, the Arkansas school that required the National Guard so that nine black kids could attend in the 1950s. Fifty years later, the school is one of the nation’s best in terms of funding and educational opportunities. It’s 60 percent black and located in a poor black community.

Watch the documentary and ask yourself why nine poor kids in the ’50s risked their lives to get a good education and a thousand poor black kids today ignore the opportunity that is served to them on a platter.

Blame drugs, blame Ronald Reagan, blame George Bush, blame it on the rain or whatever. There’s only one group of people who can change the rotten, anti-education, pro-violence culture our kids have adopted. We have to do it.

According to reports, Sean Taylor had difficulty breaking free from the unsavory characters he associated with during his youth.

The “keepin’ it real” mantra of hip hop is in direct defiance to evolution. There’s always someone ready to tell you you’re selling out if you move away from the immature and dangerous activities you used to do, you’re selling out if you speak proper English, embrace education, dress like a grown man, do anything mainstream.

The Black KKK is enforcing the same crippling standards as its parent organization. It wants to keep black men in their place — uneducated, outside the mainstream and six feet deep.

In all likelihood, the Black Klan and its mentality buried Sean Taylor, and any black man or boy reading this could be next.

Blogger Austin at Sundrip Journals takes Mr. Whitlock to task at…

The People Behind My Eyes

 Thoughts on this?

THE RELIGIOUS RIGHT IN A SNIT

FromThe Carpet Bagger Report

Dobson tells Hannity he’s ready to bolt the

GShare 

Focus on the Family’s James Dobson, whose 2008 plans are suddenly very important to the Republican establishment, was on Fox News last night, giving Sean Hannity a chance to beg him to stay within the GOP fold, even if Rudy Giuliani is the Republican nominee.

Dobson wasn’t persuaded. (via Hot Air)

I haven’t been able to track down a full transcript, but towards the end, Hannity suggested Hillary Clinton would be worse than Rudy Giuliani, so Dobson should go with the lesser of the two. Dobson concluded, “If Rudy Giuliani wins, I’m telling you, the pro-life and pro-family movement is over. It is gone. If it’s Hillary, as bad as she is, there will be a mobilization to fight what she’s trying to do. If he is put in office by conservatives, and those who are pro-life and pro-marriage and pro-family, I’m afraid we will not recover from it.”

And that’s really the point of this ongoing story. I’ve seen several prominent progressive voices argue that there’s no way Dobson would leave the GOP, making all of the recent bluster an elaborate bluff.

It’s really not. Dobson has a movement to protect, and a Giuliani nomination would destroy it.

Matt Yglesias argued yesterday:

I seem to be the only liberal who thinks that James Dobson et. al. will probably follow through on their threat to sink Rudy Giuliani if he becomes the Republican nominee, but now we have Richard Viguerie chiming in with a similar threat. I think this business is real. If Giuliani wins the White House, the pro-life lobby will wind up looking like a paper tiger and nobody will pay them any mind in the future. The mere fact of a Democrat in the White House doesn’t threaten their power nearly as much as a pro-choice Republican would.

Matt, you’re not alone on this one. To reiterate a point I argued last week, the religious right has been coasting for over a decade, having convinced the Republican establishment that without theocratic activists, the party has no foot soldiers.

It’s been a bit of shell game that no one in the party wants to push too far. If Dobson and his allies do break ranks, it actually puts their credibility on the line in a way that’s never happened — if Giuliani can win the GOP nomination and (gasp) the presidency without so much as a hint of support from the religious right, no one will take the movement seriously again.

These religious right leaders are making bold threats, but they really don’t have any choice. Dobson & Co., not to mention their loyal followers, believe they have enormous influence in Republican circles, and can dictate the party’s direction. If the Republicans nominate a pro-choice, pro-gay, pro-gun control, thrice-married serial adulterer who wants to invest in stem-cell research, the religious right’s masquerade will be over. It will be obvious that the movement is practically powerless in the party, and the groups’ benefactors will have far less reason to keep writing the checks that keeps the movement afloat.

Dobson’s fear of Hillary pales in comparison to his self-preservation instincts.

The Confederate Flag As a Racist Symbol

The Confederate Flag As
A Racist Symbolby Nicole NicholsWith all of the flap and rhetoric about heritage, history and the Confederate Flag it is understandable if people are just a little confused and more than a little chagrined over the whole issue.There are those who take to the streets and boldly accuse the anti-confederates of wanting to strip the South and the Southerners of their history and their culture. They wish us to believe that the banner in no way represents racism but does symbolize Southern Pride and heritage. Uh…huh!

Beware of those claiming not to be racist while engaging in behaviors that clearly defy thoughts of unity and embracing diversity. One must give pause to determine what the true, and sometimes hidden, agenda of these folks really is.

If we are truly to believe that Southerners wish to cleave to their “heritage,” then are we to assume that the legacies of slavery and oppression that are an integral part of that heritage are being held on to as well? Given the association of the Confederate Flag with the atrocities that brought about the Civil War and the post-war usage of the flag, one can only draw the logical conclusion that the flag, itself, is a symbol of extreme hate.

During the Civil War the flag was used primarily to give the soldiers a means by which to tell their ranks from those of the Union soldiers when in battle. This was done largely because their field of vision was often limited by smoke. But, the flag also symbolized the secession of the South from the nation. Since much of the disagreement which led to this secession centered around the enslavement of people as well as the inhumane doctrines that accompanied such enslavement, one must ask why this “legacy” is one to be fought for.

All of the Civil War stuff aside, the primary objection to the flying of the Confederate Flag comes from its post-war history. After the Civil War the Confederate flag was adopted by one of the most noted and feared extremist groups – the Ku Klux Klan. The flag could be seen hanging or draped at their clandestine meetings, carried with them to their cross-burnings and lynchings and rapidly became a symbol of the black hearts and white sheets of the marauding gangs that terrorized people of color in our, once again, United States. Though slavery was ended hatred and racism continued to grow and to fester. And, the inequalities and injustices of extreme racism were proliferated by those standing behind or beside the Confederate flag.

As more racist and extremist groups formed the flag seemed to be the unifying symbol and common thread between the groups and has been and is currently being used by the American Nazi Party, Racist Skinheads, Aryan Nations and a host of other groups. That the Confederate flag is an internationally recognized symbol of racism and bigotry is inarguable. Former ranking member of the Aryan Nations, Floyd Cochran tells us…

“Everywhere I went in the racist movement the confederate flag was flown. Often times we hear or have been told that the confederate flag has to do with heritage. That is does – white privilege; a heritage that enslaved people and exploited people all in the name of white supremacy and the confederacy. Today in the 21st century, racist organizations know that marching and waving the swastika isn’t cool. However, waving the confederate flag is still acceptable to many. In many ways the confederate flag has become the 21st century version of the swastika. The swastika didn’t start out as a racist symbol of evil. Its origins are as a symbol of peace and well-being. Over the years it became known and seen as a symbol of hate – like the confederate flag.”

“At Aryan Nations I was taught what the confederate flag represented:
* 13 stars represented the 13 lost tribes of white Israel.
* Red was purity of blood.
* White was the color of our skin.”

Why then are we asked to believe that it is a symbol of “heritage” and “culture” and that it should be allowed to remain proudly waving over the capitols of our state houses? That white privilege is being threatened in America is not in question – it is. That people are no longer willing to accept practices, rites and archaic ideologies simply because they have “always” been there is certainly a refreshing given. And because of these changes the precepts and tenets of the extremist groups, their members and their sympathizers are being exposed and threatened. Hence, a new tactic must be employed. It has been practiced and rehearsed and placed into a three-piece suit. It walks and talks like an upstanding and concerned citizen. It has been given the mantra “I’m not racist – I am a racialist.” It has been polished and spit-shined and taught to use “White Rights” as a smoke-screen. And, it found a rallying cause in the Confederate flag issue. Now it is selling the idea of white culture, white heritage and an endangered white race.

The Confederate flag is a symbol of extreme racism. It’s “cultural heritage” is one of oppression, slavery, bigotry and hatred. It symbolizes the night raids and burning crosses, the atrocious indignities placed upon all people of color and the murdering and plundering of a malignancy untethered. To endow such a symbol with qualities such as “pride,” is a feeble attempt to camouflage the ugliness of all that it stands for and should never be accepted by a citizenry as rich and diverse as ours.

Nicole Nichols is a freelance writer and educator in the Mid-West.

Governor of Mississippi, Haley Barbour – spoke before a Council-sponsored political rally last year and was photographed with Council leaders. He later claimed that he knew nothing about the Council of Conservative Citizens. We really find that hard to believe since he was the Republican National Committee Chairman when Trent Lott was embroiled in the controversy over the group. According to his biography:

Haley is Chairman and Chief Executive Officer and founder of Barbour Griffith & Rogers, which Fortune magazine named the top lobbying firm in the United States.

Haley served as an advisor to President Ronald Reagan for two years as Director of the White House Office of Political Affairs.

Haley served two terms as Chairman of the Republican National Committee.

In 2000 Haley chaired the Bush for President Campaign Advisory Committee in Washington, D.C. He was one of ten members of Governor Bush�s National Presidential Exploratory Committee in 1999.

We agree with Mark Potok of the Southern Poverty Law Center who is quoted as saying, “It’s almost impossible for a politician and particularly a Republican to not know about the Council of Conservative Citizens scandal because of what the head of their own party said. I can’t say what’s in each of these politicians’ heads, but I think some politicians are simply pandering to white supremacists for political support.”

Obviously, Governor Haley Barbour knew better. Obviously, Governor Haley Barbour has the contacts and the clout to make a major impact on the current governmental officials.

Mississippi State Supreme Court Justice, Kay Cobb – she attended the same rally as Barbour and introduced council leader Virginia Abernethy. When she came under fire, she too claimed to be ignorant of the Council’s agenda. Claiming that she has never supported racism, she said that she thought that the group was just “ultra-conservative, mostly older, white, rural citizens.” She then conceded that her “perception may have been wrong.”According to Justice Cobb’s biography:In 1975, she enrolled in the University of Mississippi School of Law and graduated 13th in her class in January1978.She was also the recipient of Phi Alpha Delta and Phi Delta Phi scholarship awards.She has served on the President�s Commission on United States� Model State Drug Laws and the National Alliance for Model State Drug Laws. Her latest award is the 2003 Chief Justice award presented at the Annual Meeting of the Mississippi Bar, for her work in revising the Mississippi Rules of Court.Somehow, we find it difficult to believe that someone as smart and involved with the political process as Justice Cobb could fail to realize that the Council of Conservative Citizens is a hate group. She has to have witnessed numerous other politicians caught in the Council’s head lights, as well as all of the publicity surrounding the controversy. How can she look anyone in the eye and plead ignorance? We doubt that would stand up in her courtroom.Tommy Woods, State Representative for Mississippi. According to an October 14, 2004, article in the Clarion Ledger, written by Jerry Mithcell, Woods said he’s been a member of the council for the past several years. He said he joined because he opposes abortion and other liberal ideas. He went on to say, “We’re just really dedicated to preserving our Constitution and our American way of life. I know there’s a lot of folks that don’t agree with me. I don’t think we ought to just let anybody come into the U.S.”While he believes the needy should be helped, regardless of race, he sometimes gets upset at what he spots outside the local welfare office. “You drive by and see the new automobiles and SUVs,” he said. “In most instances, they’re white. I tend to have a feeling that it’s being abused.” (Clarion Ledger, 10/14/04)Representative Woods, according to his biography:
Occupation: Cotton GinnerTommy Woods is Chairman of the Interstate Cooperation committee. He also serves on the Banking & Financial Services; County Affairs; Management; Public Utilities; Transportation and Ways & Means committees.Representative Woods is a Gideon, Mason and Shriner and is affiliated with Sigma Phi Epsilon, Farm Bureau, AOPA, Marshall County Soil & Water Conservation and Northwest Junior College Advisory Board.We think that Representative Woods is pulling our leg when he expects us to believe that the Council of Conservative Citizens is interested in “preserving our American way of life.” That would mean protecting our multiculturalism – now we all know that is not what he meant.Mississippi State Representative Gary Alan Chism, Republican. Chism is listed as a member of the Southern Heritage Defense Panel at the 2003 meeting of the Council of Conservative Citizens National Conference.According to his government profile, “Representative Chism is a Mason, York Rite and a Shriner. He is affiliated with the Independent Insurance Agents of America, and of Mississippi, National Association of Insurance Financial Advisors, the Mississippi Association of Life Underwriters and the Society of Certified Insurance Counselors.” He has served as a state representative from 2000 until present.He is an Independent Insurance Agent as well as Co-Owner of Columbus Insurance Services, Inc.United States Representative from Mississippi, Roger Wicker – Wicker has been in attendance at meetings of the West Tennessee and Marshall County Chapters of the CofCC. He refused to comment on his reasons to both the Clarion Ledger and the Southern Poverty Law Center. We wonder if that is anything like pleading the Fifth.While he has engaged in some notable work during his years in Congress, his affiliation with the Council of Conservative Citizens gives us pause. Given that he is on some very powerful committees up there in D.C., we believe that an explanation to his constituency – and to others who might be the recipients of his actions. In the words of another great southern gentleman – “Is you is…or is you ain’t?”From his biography:He serves as a member of the leadership team in the House as deputy majority whip. In 2001, he was elected to the Republican Policy Committee, which is the policy-making arm of the majority party in the House. He was re-elected to that position in 2003.He landed a seat on the powerful Appropriations Committee in 1995, and he continues to serve on the panel. He is a member of three Appropriations subcommittees, including Labor, Health and Human Services and Education; Defense; and Foreign Operations. In 2003, he assumed additional legislative duties when he was named to the Budget Committee. He has also served as chairman of the Tennessee Valley Authority Congressional Caucus.Dr. Brent Nelson – Ph.D in English; college professor; blatantly racist. Nelson is one of the many erudite academians of the Council of Conservative Citizens. With a PhD in Literature from Ohio University, Nelson has ingratiated himself into the fold of not only that organization but of the entire racist right.Virulently anti-Semitic, Nelson detests immigration and claims that the United States will soon resemble a Third World country. He desperately seeks a separate nation for blacks and whites.Nelson authored “America Balkanized: Immigration’s Challenged to Government,” published by none-other than the National Alliance’s “National Vanguard Books.”Nelson is an Assistant Professor and Librarian at the University of Arkansas, Little Rock. We wonder how proud Arkansas is of this jewel calling their hallowed halls of academia his.Jared Taylor – editor of the decidedly racist “American Renaissance” he is a favorite guest and speaker at all CofCC events, and is reported to be a CofCC Board member. Taylor believes that American heritage is white Anglo-Saxon and that it has been neglected and is in danger of being eradicated because of the current emphasis upon racial and gender equality.The Southern Poverty Law Center characterizes Taylor thusly: “Jared Taylor, the man who heads the New Century Foundation and edits its allied magazine American Renaissance, is a white supremacist who celebrates the “clear conception of the United States as a nation ruled by and for whites.” The foundation and magazine, based in Oakton, Va., tirelessly advance pseudo-scientific theories linking IQ to race and advocate eugenics � selective breeding to “improve” human genetic stock.”Taylor has also been the recipient of a Pioneer Fund grant. He is closely associated with Wayne Lutton, the editor of The Social Contract, a journal published by John Tanton the anti-immigration guru. In actuality, Jared Taylor, Wayne Lutton, Richard Lynn, Sam Francis, and John Tanton mesh quite well together on a number of projects and a number of fronts.Jesse Helms, Long time Republican Senator from North Carolina – reported to be on the Advisory Board of the Council of Conservative Citizens – but that is just the beginning with good ole boy Jesse. He served as a Senator from 1973 to 2003. A profile from Who2.com gives us this look at Jesse:“As chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee he was one of the most powerful men on Capitol Hill, known as a fierce foe of Communism, arms control agreements and Cuban leader Fidel Castro. Domestically he clashed with liberals over issues ranging from school busing to the National Endowment for the Arts. (He was sometimes called “Senator No” for his implacable opposition to liberal initiatives.)”Jesse was always considered a member of the hard right. Robert Scheer of the Los Angeles Times wrote a scathing article on Helms in which he stated, “It was Sen. Helms (R-N.C.) who derided the 1964 Civil Rights Act as the single most dangerous piece of legislation ever introduced in the Congress” and later opposed a national holiday for that “pervert” Martin Luther King Jr. And it was Helms who, while millions throughout the world faced death from AIDS, sought to block funding for medical research on that dread disease to punish the “revolting conduct” and “unnatural acts” of gays.”Jesse Helms was on the advisory board of the Council of Conservative Citizens. Jesse Helms also shows up on the rolls of the Council for National Policy, a secretive hard right committee with a whole lot of clout.Harold James Brubaker
Speaker of the North Carolina House of Representatives – elected 1995, 1997 Member of the North Carolina House of Representatives, currently serving 14th term Republican from the 78th House DistrictBrubaker is listed as a Real Estate Appraiser and he is on the Ethics, Legislative Redistricting, Public Utilities, and Rules, Calendar, and Operations of the House Committees. Brubaker came under fire for speaking before the Council of Conservative Citizens and sharing the dais with Jared Taylor and Kirk Lyons.Attorney Kirk Lyons has an illustrious resume. Long-time defender of White Supremacists, Lyons runs an organization which crosses over all of the neo-Confederate groups. He is most active in the League of the South but lends his “expertise” to the Council as well.Lyons enjoys dressing up in kilts and period clothing. He houses many pictures of him in various costumes and garb on his website. Lyons is a white supremacist and he flaunts it. He and his wife were married on the Aryan Nations compound by the late Pastor Richard Butler and Lyons has dedicated his law practice to defending racist extremists.Advocating “Southern Ethnic Cleansing,” Kirk Lyons thought he had the world by the tail and that he was a shoe-in for the “Commander of the Army of Northern Virginia,” an extremely prestigious position within the Sons of Confederate Veterans. The SCV is 30,000 members strong and has assets approximating 5 million dollars. But, that was not to be. In a very close vote, Lyons was defeated.Although his presence lately has not been something sought after because of his notorious past and the striving of the CofCC to appear mainstream, his fingerprints are all over this organization. In the past, he has spoken at fund-raisers for the CofCC and always supports them.Duke is a former Klansman and a former Louisiana State Representative. He was recently released from prison on some income tax charges. He loves to gamble – especially on the donations sent to him by his supporters. He enjoys living large and likes the ladies. He and Stormfront’s Don Black have been pretty buddy-buddy along with a host of others who are following his lead in attempting to become more “mainstream” in their approach to recruiting and their agenda.Trent Lott – a U.S. Senator from Mississippi for more than three decades.At a birthday party for the totally racist Strom Thurmond, Lott made a very racist remark which led to a great deal of furor from the media and the White House. In December of 2002, Lott resigned as Senate Republican Leader under pressure from his colleagues. During this period, Lott’s Honorary membership in the Council of Conservative Citizens was also made public.Lott is a Freemason and retains a membership in the extremely controversial and secretive Council for National Policy along with Jesse Helms and other hard right-wingers.Kenny Knight, former henchman for David Duke and now President of the Southern Louisiana branch of the Council of Conservative Citizens.Former Governor of Mississippi, Kirk Fordice – honored guest who addressed previous national conventions held by the Council of Conservative Citizens. Recently deceased. Even though Fordice died earlier this year, we have placed him here because of his stalwart stand with his buddies from the CoCC when they were being criticized and scrutinized. The CoCC has been very instrumental in electing their people to governmental office and Kirk Fordice was not about to abandon them.

Former Alabama Governor, Guy Hunt – honored guest who addressed previous national conventions held by the Council of Conservative Citizens.

Governor Hunt was convicted of using money collected for Innaguration Ceremonies for personal use – and ethincs violation. He was placed on five years probation and ordered to pay restitution in the sum of $232,350. After serving three years of his probation, he was pardoned by the Alabama Pardon and Parole Boad – a three member committee – two of whom had been appointed by Hunt. It was reported that he had paid very little of the restitution.

Bob Barr represented the 7th District of Georgia in the United States House of Representatives from 1995 to 2003.

Bob Barr supports a Christian Conservative extremist position. According to the Religious Freedom Coalition, “Upon calling his office we find that all religions except ultra conservative christianity, “..aren’t “Real” religions.”

Barr has been referred to as “hypocritical,” “mean spirited,” and a “moral crusader, and an “anti-gay bigot.”

He called hate crimes legislation to protect the rights of gays and lesbians, women and disabled Americans “a backdoor way to obtain protected status for sexual orientation and sexual deviancy.”

Barr gave a Keynote speech to a gathering of the racist and anti-immigrant Council of Conservative Citizens and has graced them with his message on several occasions. He has taken a hard pro-life stance yet it is reported that he paid for one of his three wives to have an abortion.

In addition to his ties with the Council of Conservative Citizens, he has been supported by the John Birch Society who has paid for his speaking engagements with them. He currently belongs to the Libertarian Party.

William Lord – 1992 leader of the Mississippi Council of Conservative Citizens, was also a regional organizer for the “White Citizens Council.”

 Walter P. “Buddy” Witherspoon – A Republican National Committeeman from South Carolina. He was asked to resign his membership in the Council of Conservative Citizens by Jim Nicholson, Chairman of the Republican National Committee. Witherspoon refused to do so saying that he would not do anything of the sort.
 

Sam Dickson, out of Georigia. He is an attorney and lecturer. He wrote “Shattering the Icon of Abraham Lincoln” which has been bantied around the web by a number of the racist groups. He is a segregationist and a member of the Council of Conservative Citizens. He frequently speaks at their events as well as at the events of other hate groups.

Leonard “Flagpole” Wilson, esq. from Townley, Alabama serving as the National Director of the Council for Conservative Citizens and as Parliamentarian for the Sons of Confederate Veterans.

In a recent shake-up surrounding the Sons of Confederate Veterans, the Southern Poverty Law Center had this to say about “Flagpole:”

“Leonard “Flagpole” Wilson, a national director of the Council of Conservative Citizens, who became staff parliamentarian. Wilson earned his nickname by shouting from atop a flagpole during the violent 1956 demonstrations he helped lead against the admission of the first black student at the University of Alabama.”

Kenneth J. Schmidt of New Jersey. This guy has quite a history. A “Third Positionist,” Schmidt, according to the SPLC, advocates “environmentalism and animal rights, sides with labor against capital, and proposes to separate the races into their own ethnically pure countries, where they will live close to the land and govern themselves at the most local level possible.”

He is currently an officer of the New York chapter of the Council of Conservative Citizens and is considerably more overtly revolutionary than many of the others within the organization. He is listed among the “40 To Watch” published by the Southern Poverty Law Center.

Wayne Lutton, in his 50’s out of Petosky, Michigan. He doesn’t like immigrants and detests gay people. He is on the editorial advisory board of the CCC’s “Citizen Informer.” He is also closely associated with American Renaissance as well as John Tanton who, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center, who “built much of the anti-immigration movement.”

Lutton also edits “The Social Contract,” a publication that is put out by U.S. Inc. which is nothing more than an umbrella group of Tanton’s which provides publishing to a number of White Supremacists.

Lutton earned a PhD in modern history from Southern Illinois University and has made the rounds of the far right with both his writing and his speeches, hammering away at immigration, AIDS, and homosexuality. He is a favorite at CoCC events.

This is Ed Cassidy aka “Fisheye.” Cassidy was a Virginia Reform Party officer who liked to hang out with the likes of Mark Cotterill and served as a photographer for the Pat Buchannan campaign. He also led a local chapter of the Council of Conservative Citizen’s and is reported to serve as a photographer for that organization as well.

At one point, the Buchanan campaign officials decided that the publicity surrounding Mark Cotterill’s white supremacist views was too much for the Virginia Reform party. They threw Cotterill out, but “Fisheye” was allowed to remain.

Don Black – perhaps the most unreported on and under-rated racist in America today. Black is a former KKK Grand Dragon and keeps a large portrait of KKK founder Nathan Bedford Forrest an the wall behind his desk. He is frequently credited for having erected the first hate site on the World Wide Web. In the early 1980’s Don Black was arrested for helping to plot the overthrow of a Caribbean island. That is when he left the Klan.

Black’s son, Derek, runs Stormfront for Kids out of the same computer room that houses his Dad’s set-up. Formerly from Alabama, Black resides in Palm Beach, Florida. He has close ties with David Duke and others from the racist right. He has also been a favorite speaker at the Council of Conservative Citizens events.

**These are but a few of those who support the Council of Conservative Citizens. The actual number of notables is huge and often overlaps into other organizations with much the same agenda.

The Shame of the South

Organized hate groups in America and around the world are of genuine concern to a free society such as ours. They not only gnaw at the fabric of humanity they degrade all that is wholesome and decent in a civilized world. Studying these groups they often seem to be only the “fringe” element of our nation considering the small number of members and their inability to unify and present any type of legitimate threat. Yet, the numbers are frequently deceiving because they do not take into account the silent supporters and the tacit agreement that others share with them.

Groups like Aryan Nations and the National Socialist Movement get our attention through their blatant acts of racism and discrimination. They are vocal and visible. It is those who fly below the radar of watch groups and others who report on their outlandish and sometimes violent actions who we really must consider perhaps even more dangerous in the grand scheme of things.

 These are the groups who operate within the mainstream of American society and who wield awesome power both at the voting booth and in the halls of government.The neo-Confederate Movement is, to many, considered to be a little daffy and somewhat eccentric. Often the operation is thought of as harmless and benign and something engaged in by those malcontents in the South whom, for whatever reason, never got over losing the Civil War. Nothing could be further from the truth. And nothing could be more dangerous than allowing this Movement to flourish – and believe me, it is doing precisely that.Like the neo-Nazi’s and the whole White Supremacy movement, the neo-Confederates’ contingencies are varied with a number of groups making up the whole. Unlike the neo-Nazi’s, they appear to be a lot more cohesive in their efforts to present a united front. Vehemently opposed to immigration, homosexuals, inter-race marriages, and integration, membership in these groups spans the United States and boasts about an alarming number of members. Additionally, the movement is spearheaded by individuals of prominence and sometimes wealth. The neo-Confederates are but the tip of the ice-berg in the grand scheme of this repugnant hard-right morass, however. Behind every “movement” there has to be largesse – and lots of it. As we move through the members and the leaders of this “Southern Swamp” we will attempt to connect the dots. There are connections – and we think we have found some of the money trail.

The premier group among these neo-Confederates is the Council of Conservative Citizens who were largely unnoticed prior to Senator Trent Lott being outed as an honorary member and staunch supporter of the group.

In the 1950’s South racism was the norm. In Mississippi it was perpetuated by a group called the “White Citizens Council” and a racist infrastructure that was unparalled and virtually impossible to destroy. Robert “Tut” Patterson was the founder of the White Citizens Council and together with a handful of other small businessmen and shop-owners, as well as Mayors and other white community leades the organization grew to a membership of over 250,000 in and out of Mississippi. The group prided itself on their ability to threaten and harass those who advocated civil rights. The Council was a segregationist organization and they often wielded a heavy hand and quite a bit of power within the communities.

The White Citizens Council was often referred to as the “Uptown Klan” as it appeared that sheets and hoods had been discarded and replaced by suits and ties. The ideology of this group was much like that of the Klan believing that whites were superior and “uppity Negroes” had to be kept in their place. According to the Sisters of Selma website, “Uppity blacks found themselves jobless, black professionals had credit, insurance, or license problems, and all blacks who tried to register to vote were placed on a blacklist.”

Eventually, after a long history of intimidation and hate, the Council fell apart only to be resurrected a few years later by some of the previous members. Gordon Lee Baum of St. Louis, Missouri, once a field organizer for the White Citizens Council, pulled a meeting together in Atlanta of some of the former members, including one-time Governor of Georgia, Lester Maddox, and together they formed what is know known as the Council of Conservative Citizens. Not surprisingly, Tut Patterson became a columnist for the “Citizens Informer” newspaper, a CCC publication. That same publication ran a column written by none other than Trent Lott.

Using old mailing lists, the 30+ membership rapidly gained momentum attracting those who agreed on segregation, miscegenation, the Confederate Flag, and immigration. Claiming not to be racist, the organization continued to flourish primarily in the South but later spanning much of the United States as it does still today. Their non-racist claims, however, just don’t hold up to scrutiny. The Southern Poverty Law Center, long ago, declared the Council a “Hate Group” and their attempts to appear mainstream conservative have recently fallen by the wayside opting for a much more blatant presentation of their agenda. In the late 1990’s, a few politicians got themselves in some real hot water over their affiliations with this group, not the least of which were Bob Barr and Trent Lott.

It has been reported that the organization currently has over 15,000 members across the United States. Of course, the number of supporters and sympathizers is much larger.

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