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The following is reprinted with permission from Avra Shapiro, Director, Public Relations, Simon Wiesenthal Center, Los Angeles CA.
Ku Klux Klan
The Ku Klux Klan was founded in 1865 in Pulaski, Tennessee. Started by a small group of Confederate veterans, the 'Klan' quickly
attracted whites who feared the new social order that came with the end of slavery and the new social position of blacks. Unable to come to grips with the new realities of the post-Civil War South, Klan
members resorted to a campaign of terror and violence against the former slaves.
In the 1920's, the Klan boasted a membership of several million. While today's Klan has lost much of its appeal and its membership
has dropped to less than 15,000, the Klan still attracts support in many areas of the United States - beyond its traditional strongholds in the South.
Klan groups currently active include:
AMERICAN KLAN KNIGHTS OF THE KU KLUX KLAN - Based in Modesto, California, with affiliates in Oregon and Washington state.
AMERICA'S INVISIBLE EMPIRE KNIGHTS - Based in Hartselle, Alabama, with affiliates in Florida and Georgia.
ARYAN CHRISTIAN KNIGHTS - Based in Brown's Summit, North Carolina, with affiliates in Virginia. Leader Clyde Jones, operates a
"Christian" bookstore and has been involved in the Christian Identity movement.
CHRISTIAN KNIGHTS OF THE KU KLUX KLAN - Based in Mount Holly, North Carolina, with affiliates in South Carolina and other southern states.
CONFEDERATE KNIGHTS OF THE KU KLUX KLAN - Based in Henderson, North Carolina, with affiliates in Kentucky and Virginia.
FEDERATION OF KLANS - Based in Chicago, Illinois, and known to be active in Alabama, Colorado, Kentucky and Tennessee.
KEYSTONE KNIGHTS OF THE KU KLUX KLAN - Based in Johnstown, Pennsylvania, with affiliates in Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Indiana,
Georgia, New Jersey, Ohio, South Carolina and West Virginia.
KNIGHTS OF THE KU KLUX KLAN - During the early 1990's, this was the largest Klan group, with branches in nearly 30 states. Still active
in California, Florida, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Texas and Washington.
TEMPLAR KNIGHTS OF THE KU KLUX KLAN - Based in Port St. Lucie, Florida, with an affiliate in Kentucky.
Various other 'independent' Klans dot the American landscape, with many based in Alabama, Florida, Indiana, North Carolina,
Tennessee and Texas.
Nazi
Today, the term Nazi can refer to a wide variety of groups in Germany and throughout the world which advocate organized hatred towards dews
and other minorities. Historically, it refers to the members of the National Socialist German Workers Party, the backbone of Adolf Hitler's Third Reich. Contemporary Nazis, also known as neo-Nazis,
consider themselves the heirs to Hitler's racial and political program.
Neo-Nazi groups in the United States:
NSDAP-AO - (National Socialist German Workers Party- Foreign Branch) Based in Lincoln, Nebraska, the NSDAP has strong links to neo-Nazi
groups in Europe.
NATIONAL SOCIALIST VANGUARD - Based in The Dalles, Oregon, National Socialist Vanguard has focused its efforts on trying to recruit high
school students.
AMERICAN NAZI PARTY - The American Nazi Party is one of two organizations claiming to descend from the original American Nazi Party which
was headed by George Lincoln Rockwell. Based in Chicago, ANP also claims affiliates in California and Texas.
ADOLF HITLER FREE CORPS - Closely associated with the Keystone Knights in Pennsylvania, members of the organization have been active in a
variety of local Klan gatherings.
NATIONAL SOCIALIST WHITE PEOPLE'S PARTY - Formed by longtime racial activist Harold Covington, aka Winston Smith, NSWPP has become one
of the most active groups on the Internet which has spawned new activity in a number of other states.
Skinheads
Skinheads derive their name from their shaved heads, which, along with Doc Marten boots and grotesque tattoos, readily identify them to the
public. The Skinhead movement was born in 1967 in England's working class neighborhoods. Later, Skinheads, fueled by a racist offshoot of a music genre called Oi!, began taking to the streets to
physically attack members of minority groups. Although Skinheads are regularly courted by more 'established' extremist groups, in recent years they have formed their own hierarchy. In the
1990's, the Skinhead movement developed into three distinct groups, SHARPS (Skinheads Against Racial Prejudice), neo- Nazi Skinheads, and Trads (Traditional Skinheads). The common denominator of all
three groups is their love of violence. SHARPS and the neo-Nazi Skinheads often square off in direct violent confrontation. The TRADs consider themselves 'apolitical' - interested only in
maintaining the Skinhead culture and lifestyle.
Active Skinhead groups include:
HAMMERSKINS - Derive their name from the marching hammers that represented Skinheads in the Pink Floyd (a British Rock Band) movie, THE
WALL. U.S. branches include: Confederate, Northern, Western and Eastern Hammerskins. International branches have also surfaced including British Hammerskins, Charlemagne Hammerskins in France and the
Southern Cross Hammerskins from Australia.
AMERICAN FRONT - Founded in San Francisco by Robert Heick, American Front has moved its headquarters to Portland, Oregon, and currently has
members throughout the Northwest and California.
ARMY OF ISRAEL - Based in St. George, Utah, the Army of Israel has followers in Nevada and Southern California.
RESISTANCE RECORDS - Formed by Canadian skinhead George Hawthorne, (nee Burdi), this company is producing and selling the majority of
racist music available today. Hawthorne heavily uses the Internet to sell CDs, cultivate customers, and recruit followers.
WAR SKINS - Formed in 1983 as an independent group, in 1986, War Skins were recruited by Tom and John Metzger, leaders of White Aryan
Resistance. (WAR has been the most successful white supremacy group in recruiting Skinheads). Although War Skins are primarily based in California, branches have surfaced as far away as New Jersey and
Florida.
While the number of Skinheads has decreased to under 5,000, Skinhead groups continue to flourish in California, Florida, Michigan, New
Jersey, Texas, Pennsylvania and Washington.
Peckerwoods
A term first used by blacks in the South to deride white racists, today Peckerwoods also refers to organized racist activity in and out of
the nation's prisons. In the late 1980's, recruitment of young men and women in many of the nation's prisons helped lead to the emergence of white power street gangs similar to the neo-Nazi
skinheads - with one major difference. Neo-Nazi skinheads disavow any form of drug use. Peckerwoods, like most gangs, earn their money from drug-dealing, clandestine drug labs, and gun-running. The
Peckerwood 'style' is derived from both Latino gangs (Pendleton shirts and baggy pants) and Skinheads (Doe Marten boots, flight jackets, and in some instances, shaven heads). Women in this
movement are called Featherwoods.
NLR (NAZI LOWRIDERS) - NLR was started in 1992 by members of the Peckerwoods (see listing above). Once recruited, NLR gang members - male
and female - are expected to carry out 'contract' work for their 'elders' including drug deals, drive-by shootings, and murder.
Militia / Patriot / Conspiracy
In the early 1990's, a new trend in extremism emerged in the form of militia/patriot groups. Focusing anger on the government and its
problems - both real and imagined - the militia movement has been successful in creating a more mainstream guise to extremism than the previously established groups in the United States.
This movement traces its roots to a 1992 gathering in Colorado. Hoping to capitalize on the public's anger over the treatment of
separatist fugitive Randy Weaver during his holdout on a mountaintop in Idaho, a group of long-time extremists gathered in Estes Park, Colorado. Attending the meeting was a virtual
'who's-who' of extremism including Louis Beam, a former Texas Klan leader and 'ambassador-at-large' of Aryan Nations; Red Beckman, one of the most prominent tax protesters in America;
and Pete Peters, an Identity minister from Colorado, who has long been associated with the white supremacy movement. It is likely that Beam, a longtime strategist for the hate movement, conceived the
idea of patriotic Citizens' Militias to attract average Americans who had previously showed little interest in joining extremist groups.
The strategy worked. Beginning in 1993, thousands of Americans were drawn to a new movement whose platform focused on excessive taxes, a
failing judicial system and fears of a future crisis which would overwhelm law enforcement. Across the country, new Citizens' Militias were organized that claimed that they would serve as a force
which would assist legitimate authorities in time of unrest.
Disturbingly, many of these militias were, in fact, formed from the ranks of Klansmen and known white supremacists. While many members of
militias claim - perhaps justifiably - that they are not racists, much of the movement's rhetoric and literature are replete with updated versions of long-debunked conspiracy theories. One such
theory is an updated version of an alleged plot of international bankers to enslave the hard-pressed American worker through the Federal Reserve System and the International Monetary Fund. In addition,
many militias have been influenced by the overly racist Identity ideology. As of 1997, over 800 militias and militia support/patriot groups have been organized.
Among the most prominent militias are:
MILITIA OF MONTANA - Affectionately known to its supporters as MOM, the Militia of Montana is led by John Trochmann and his nephew, Randy.
MOM acts as a clearinghouse on militia-related issues such as the Freemen and Republic of Texas standoffs, and other issues alleging misconduct by the Federal government. Although he denies any racist
goals, John Trochmann was associated with Aryan Nations in the early 1990's and was a featured speaker at the 1990 Aryan Congress.
WOLVERINE PRODUCTIONS - One of the earliest militia sup- port groups, its leader Mark Koernke, aka Mark From Michigan, distributed many of
the video tapes that would be used to build the militia movement. Although his more radical pronouncements moved the Militia of Michigan to disavow him, Koernke continues to be a major force in the
movement, speaking at national conferences and hosting a daily short-wave broadcast.
POLICE AGAINST THE NEW WORLD ORDER - Founded by former Phoenix, Arizona police officer Jack McLamb, this organization distributes Vampire
Killer 2000, a conspiracy tract that decries the alleged 'New World Order.' It was found in the possession of Timothy McVeigh following the Oklahoma City bombing. McLamb openly recruits both law
enforcement and military members to join the struggle against 'Globalists' and the impending 'One World Government as outlined in that book.
CENTER FOR ACTION - Led by the former Green Beret Colonel Bo Gritz, a hero within the 'patriot' movement, the Center for Action
conducts a series of training seminars to 'prepare' Americans for an 'uncertain future.' SPIKE training (Specially Prepared Individuals for Key Event), teaches participants emergency
medicine, common law, guerrilla tactics, how to pick locks and use explosives. Gritz's writing is strongly influenced by Identity doctrine.
Christian Identity
Christian Identity is a quasi-religious movement that attempts to provide religious underpinnings to many of the nation's white
supremacy organizations, including those seeking to overthrow the American government. Identity bases its racist and anti-Semitic agenda on an amalgamation of 19th and early 20th century notions about
Race and bizarre interpretations of the Old and New Testament, which are alien to the teachings of normative Christianity. Identity can be traced, in part, to a school of thought which developed in
England circa 1870. Rev. John Wilson preached that Anglo-Saxons were the descendants of the "Ten Lost Tribes of Israel," and therefore, God's "chosen people". The message soon
made its way across the Atlantic to the United States. It stood to reason that if the English - to the exclusion of the Jewish people - were the flesh and blood descendants of the ancient Israelites, so
were Americans.
'Anglo-Israelism' as it became known, was transformed into a virulent theology of hatred by Wesley Swift, a former Ku Klux Klan
firearms instructor from Lancaster, California. In 1946, Swift founded the Anglo-Saxon Christian Congregation (later called the Church of Jesus Christ Christian), preaching the message that "all
Jews must be destroyed."
followers of Identity believe they are 'saved' by "Race,' rather than "Grace". Only the white race was
created by G-d. Swift attributed the appearance of the black race on earth to a battle in space fought between God and Lucifer and insisted that Jews are a result of Eve mating with the Serpent in the
Garden of Eden. From this mating came Cain, the purported father of the Jews.
By bestowing upon itself the title of 'Christian,' Identity seeks to remove the stigma of racism and bigotry from the
'believer' by insisting that hatred of Jews, Blacks and other "mud peoples" is mandated by the Bible and, therefore, the will of God.
Identity Groups active in the U.S. today include:
ARYAN NATIONS - Based in Hayden Lake, Idaho. With supporters across the United States, Aryan Nations is led by Pastor Richard Butler, once
a student of Swift, and the long- time "spiritual leader" of the white supremacy movement.
CHURCH OF JESUS CHRIST - Based in Harrison, Arkansas, this Identity ministry is operated by Thom Robb, who is also the leader of the
Knights of the Ku Klux Klan.
CHRISTIAN DEFENSE LEAGUE - Based in Arabi, Louisiana, CDL is run by James K. Warner, a leading white supremacist for over 25 years. CDL
publishes the (CDL Report, well- known for its continual attacks on Jews and other minorities.
CHURCH OF ISRAEL - Based in Schell City, Missouri, leader Dan Gaymen has been a fixture at Identity and white supremacist gatherings since
the early 1970s.
LAPORTE CHRISTIAN CHURCH - Based in LaPorte, Colorado, this church which publishes Scriptures for America, is led by Pete Peters, one of
the most vehement preachers in the Identity movement today. Peters has a regular radio program, a detailed webpage and hosts regular 'bible retreats.'
JUBILEE - Based in Midpines, California, Jubilee is a newspaper edited by Paul Hall. The Jubilee sponsors a syndicated radio program
entitled NewsLight, and hosts an annual Jubilation conference that regularly attracts leading extremists.
For additional information or a complete copy of The New Lexicon of Hate, call or write:
Simon Wiesenthal Center
International Headquarters
9760 West Pico Boulevard
Los Angeles, CA 90035
Phone (310) 553-9036
Fax (310) 553-4521
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