Call to Action: Oppose White Supremacists in Kalamazoo, Michigan

The following “call to action” announcing plans to protest the white supremacist event in Kalamazoo, Michigan comes from the group Michigan Against White Supremacy:

Call to Action: Oppose White Supremacists in Kalamazoo, Michigan

On Saturday, August 4, the racist radio talk show host Hal Turner is holding what he is hoping will be a major white supremacist event in Kalamazoo, Michigan. Turner’s event, dubbed a “Rally Against Black Gang Terrorism,” will feature speakers from various Ku Klux Klan groups, a pastor from the racist Christian Identity religion, and various racists not affiliated with any organized group. Moreover, invitations have been extended to nearly every organized white supremacist group from the Aryan Nations to White Revolution. Far from expressing concern about any issues affecting people in Kalamazoo, Hal Turner’s event is designed to act as a means of recruiting more people into the white supremacist movement and advancing their racist agenda.

Michigan Against White Supremacy is organizing a counter event because we believe that the white supremacists cannot be ignored. If we choose to ignore the white supremacists, they will be emboldened. If allowed to rally unopposed, the white supremacists will believe that they have the support of the community to enact their program of racist terror. Many of the white supremacists coming to Kalamazoo have advocated violence to achieve their political goals–expressing support for acts ranging from the “lynching” of African-Americans in Kalamazoo to the mass execution of Jewish people. We must stand up and oppose white supremacists as one of the many ways in which we can and should stand in solidarity and mutual struggle with oppressed groups.

We encourage people to protest in a way that effectively will silence the white supremacists’ message. In addition, we support people using a variety of methods and tactics to oppose the presence of white supremacists in Kalamazoo, provided that their actions are well-thought out and take into consideration their potential impact on the local community and other counter-demonstrators.

Meet at Bronson Park (South Rose and W. South St) in Kalamazoo, Michigan at 12:00pm. Brings signs, banners, noisemakers, and anything else that will help make it clear that white supremacy is not welcome in Kalamazoo, Michigan, or anywhere else.

For more information, please consult our website at http://maws.wordpress.com

In solidarity,

- Michigan Against White Supremacy

Tags: hal turner, kalamazoo, michigan, protest, racism, racists

Author Daniel Levitas Speaks at Ford Museum on Rightwing Domestic Terrorism

On Tuesday evening, reporter and author Daniel Levitas delivered a lecture at the Gerald R. Ford Museum in downtown Grand Rapids on domestic terrorism. Building off his book The Terrorist Next Door: The Militia Movement and the Radical Right, Levitas focused his lecture on rightwing domestic terrorism and the groups in which they are involved.

Levitas began his talk by recounting the Oklahoma City bombing 12 years ago that killed 160 people and wounded 500. Levitas reminded the audience that at the time of the attack, many commentators in the media declared that it was an act of “Mideast terrorism” despite the fact that it would later turn out to be an attack staged by domestic terrorists of the radical right. Levitas explained that the radical right movement had been building for several years without any attention from law enforcement officials and that the attack was a surprise to law enforcement officials.

Despite the fact that law enforcement officials were taken by surprise, a radical rightwing movement had been organizing for several years and had been building a movement around the idea that the government was waging war against them. The militia movement had thousands of members around the country, including some 10,000 members in Michigan, the majority of whom were stockpiling weapons and supplies for what they thought would be a future invasion of the United States by the “New World Order.” At the same time, these groups saw the actions of the United States government, including the siege at Waco, the shooting of a white supremacist’s wife at Ruby Ridge, and the passage of the Brady Bill–which they saw as an attempt to disarm America and make it vulnerable to an attack by the “New World Order”–as evidence of a war against them.

Despite some success in prosecuting militia and radical right groups in the wake of Oklahoma City by the government, these groups have continued to organize, even as many of them have given up on broad-based movements. According to Levitas, many white supremacist groups have given up on the government, essentially viewing it as “lost” to “non-whites,” Jews, and immigrants. This was clear immediately after 9/11, when many white supremacists applauded the attack on the “Zionist Occupying Government”–commonly referred to as “ZOG”–and cheered the killing of 10,000 “ZOGites.” White supremacists such as Hardy Lloyd of the World Church of the Creator, a white supremacist group, cheered the attack and talked about the need to get guns ready for the revolution. A leader of the neo-Nazi National Alliance applauded the attacks as well, stating “we may not want them marrying our daughters…but anyone who is willing to drive a plane into a building to kill Jews is alright by me.”

Levitas explained to the audience that while receiving much less attention in the media, arrests of white supremacist and radical right individuals have increased since 9/11 and have made up a significant number of those arrested on terrorism charges. He cited two examples, Eric Rudolph and William Krar, both of whom identified with the radical right. Eric Rudolph, who set off a pipe bomb at the Olympics in Atlanta and who attacked people at a family planning clinic, attacked because he believe the government had lost its authority because of abortion and tolerance of homosexuality. William Krar, a militia member from Texas, had built a chemical weapon–a sodium-cyanide bomb–like the ones the government fears may be built by Al Qaida. Yet, despite the destructive power of the bomb, the 5,000 rounds of ammunition, 100 pipe bombs, and the neo-Nazi literature that he was arrested with, the government never made Krar’s arrest a serious issue.

While it is easy to focus on a particularly violent fringe of the radical right, Levitas argued that the real problem lies where the ideologies of the radical right tap into widely held sentiments and stereotypes. To illustrate this point, Levitas explained that 14% of Americans hold anti-Semitic stereotypes, including the idea that Jews care only for themselves, that Jews control Wall Street, and that Jews killed Christ. In regards to immigration, Levitas explained that a significant portion of Americans responded to a survey stating that it “bothers” them to see immigrants succeed while native-born United States citizens are struggling. Levitas also cited two recent votes that showed widespread voter support for racist policies–a vote in 2000 in Alabama to remove an amendment from the constitution banning whites and African-Americans from marrying and a 2002 vote in Oregon to remove language in the state constitution saying that “negroes” could not enter into contracts or hold property. In both cases, a significant portion of the voters–40% and 31% respectively–voted to keep the racist language in the constitution. To seriously address the threat of radical rightwing movements, Levitas argued that people need to address the underlying ideologies rather than focusing purely on a law enforcement strategy.

Tags: racism, racists, rightwing, terrorism, united states

Recent Statements by Michigan Senator Carl Levin on the Iraq War Assign Responsibility for Violence to the Iraqis

Over the past week, Michigan Democratic Party Senator Carl Levin has made numerous statements about the war, the majority of which come from Levin’s discussion of a recently blocked measure that he proposed to withdraw some troops from Iraq by April of 2008. That proposal, largely reported as a measure that called for the “withdrawal” of United States soldiers from Iraq, would have left an unknown number of soldiers in Iraq to conducted unspecified operations to combat “terrorism” in Iraq.

In explaining his support for this proposal, Levin has made it clear that his concern lies more with maintaining the United States’ imperial power, rather than demonstrating a genuine concern for the Iraqi people. For the past several years, Levin’s statements (1, 2) have repeatedly called for the Iraqi people and government to make “difficult” political decisions while asking little of the United States, who ultimately bears responsibility for the current situation and violence in Iraq. In a recent statement on July 20 titled “The Only Hope for Iraq,” Levin blamed the violence in Iraq on Iraqi leaders, charging that Iraqi leaders “dawdle” rather than address the bloodshed in Iraq:

Our brave servicemen and women are dying and being wounded while Iraqi leaders dither…. Ending our open-ended commitment is the only way that we can force the Iraqi leaders to make the necessary political compromises. That is the only hope for success in Iraq.

In the statement, Levin assigns all responsibility to the Iraqi leaders, rather than considering the United States’ role as an occupying force and how that might motivate a violent reaction from those living under the indignities of a military occupation.

In a floor statement on the measure made on July 18, Levin asserted that withdrawing United States troops from Iraq was the only way that the United States could “force” “Iraqi leaders to act.” Levin declared that “just about everybody now agrees that there is no military solution in Iraq and that the only way to end the violence is for the Iraqi political leaders to settle their difference,” again ignoring the role of the United States in motivating violence. Levin’s comments, without addressing the origins of the “violence” in Iraq, promote the idea that the Iraqi people are predisposed to killing each other without reason.

Levin’s assigning of blame exclusively to the Iraqis should raise concern in the antiwar movement, as should his recent comments on “the surge.” In a “colloquy” with John Warner posted on his website, Levin spoke favorably about Bush’s recent escalation of the war:

Even though I had misgivings about the surge, I put those aside once the President had made a decision to go forward. I wish to support the troops, and they are carrying out this mission. I think there is a strong chance there will be some measure of achievement of the surge militarily.

Of course, there are have been no indications that “the surge” is making any kind of progress in Iraq, and indeed there has been talk that a much talked about report on the success of “the surge,” originally scheduled for September, may not be ready until November.

Tags: antiwar, democrats, iraq, levin, michigan, senate

Racist to Kalamazoo: “Maybe its time… to spay an neuter blacks”

The racist radio show host Hal Turner, who is organizing an August 4 white supremacist event in Kalamazoo, Michigan at which a variety of Ku Klux Klan members and others involved in the organized white supremacist movement, has issued a new “Message to NAACP and other Blacks in Kalamazoo” that makes his true feelings towards African-Americans clear. Rather than addressing his false “concern” over alleged “black crime” in Kalamazoo, Turner’s latest website posting provides further proof that he is using the rally as an attempt to steer concern over crime in a racist direction.

In comments made on his website on July 10, Turner claimed that his rally has been successful in pushing the Kalamazoo to address “black crime.” Turner has taken credit for the Kalamazoo City Manager’s recent claims that Kalamazoo is at the crossroads of “civility and peace” and “full-scale gang violence.” Turner has claimed that his rally is changing policy and that police are now willing to consider “stepped-up” law enforcement to address “crime”–some of which might result in the city being considered “racial profiling.” Some white supremacists have even asserted that the police will be “on their side” at the rally, despite the fact that the Kalamazoo chief of police has made two public calls for the community to ignore Turner’s rally.

Of course, Turner really has no concern for the citizens of Kalamazoo and is only interested in using his rally as a means of furthering the agenda of the white supremacist movement and brining in new recruits. In his July 20 “Message to NAACP and other Blacks in Kalamazoo,” Turner says that the Kalamazoo Chief of Police is telling the NAACP and African-Americans to because “he knows your people cannot control themselves.” In the statement, Turner goes on to refer to African-Americans using terms such as “animalistic,” “savages,” “sub-human,” “beasts,” and “bucks.” Turner, who advocated “lynching” African-Americans in Kalamazoo to address the problem, has once again called for violence, stating:

We spay and neuter dogs and cats for that kind of rampant reproduction, maybe its time to treat you like animals and spay and neuter blacks!

Turner claims that he is going to Kalamazoo to “speak truth” to the community. Turner says that he and his fellow white supremacists are going to:

…stand up, in public, and tell everyone how we’re tired of the animalistic savages the Black community has turned loose on the streets. We’re going to look everyone right in the eye and talk about how we’re tired of the crime, the drugs and the violence these sub-human beasts perpetrate!

Statements by Turner referring to African-Americans as “sub-human” or threatening violence continue to be ignored by the media in Kalamazoo. The first article appearing about the rally ignored these issues, as have subsequent articles. The most recent article to do this was “