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Rob Larsen
10652686
CES 444 Writing Assignment 3
For our third writing assignment this semester, we were tasked with selecting three of those interviewed by Swain and Nieli in Contemporary Voices of White Nationalism. The three I chose to delve into further were David Duke, Matthew Hale, and Lisa Turner. I chose these three based on popularity mainly, also the fact that I find Matthew Hale to be quite interesting in the realm of white power, and also find those that follow him to be an interesting bunch. David Duke, Matthew Hale, and Lisa Turner have all played specific roles in ushering in a new form of racism in the United States. This new form of racism is more tolerant to many different types of whites, more open to change and legal practices, and harder to find blatant fault with on the surface. It is for these reasons that this new form of racism is potentially more dangerous than many of those previously seen in America.
Arguably one of the most important people ever to be part of the white power movement is David Duke. Not only is he nearly renowned the world over for his work within the white power movement, he was also an elected member of the Louisiana State House of Representatives from 1989 to 1992. Duke in most people's eyes would be viewed as the stereotypical white power leader. He is a Christian fundamentalist, white male, and former member of the Ku Klux Klan. Duke started the group called NOFEAR, the National Organization for European-American Rights which he claims to be a group against the defamation of whites, similar to the way the NAACP handles defamation of colored people.
Matthew Hale is considered by many to be an interesting part of the pro-white movement. He does not consider himself a Christian at all, instead a follower of a movement he terms as "Creativity." He also claims the title of pontifex maximus. He received a law degree from Southern Illinois University School of Law at Carbondale and had passed the Illinois Bar Exam, yet he was denied a license to practice law based on his anti-Semitic views. Hale's recruitment practices have tried to break the mold viewed as the standard by those in the white power movement. He attracts young, educated people, and even states that the "reason why we go after the private schools is because we want to have the elite. We are striving for that, focusing on winning the best and the brightest of the young generation" (Nieli, 238). This is different than the standard perception of the southern Christian redneck that is commonly associated with those that identify themselves within the white power groups.
Lisa Turner, like Matthew Hale, is an odd occurrence in the white power movement. She, unlike most of those in leading roles within white supremacists, is a woman. Turner was a member of the Creativity Movement (Church of the Creator), the group that Matthew Hale leads. While Turner may be outside the norm in some cases, she definitely falls within most people's standard vision of racists in many other ways. She has no problems openly calling those of different colors "mud people" or "nigger," and even states this abruptly in the interview with Russ Nieli. She says, "We feel that it's our free speech right to call them niggers. If the act like niggers and behave like animals and apes in our society, then they are not going to be called very nice words, and, that's the way we see it" (Nieli, 256). She goes even further when she states that an all white world would be the most beautiful thing she could imagine and the crowning achievement in human creativity and reduced crime rates. An additional point of interest with Turner is a note she makes about Mein Kampf. She feels that the book told her that "the white race had been lied to about a number of things, such as the Holocaust" (Nieli, 248). This is amusing, because at the time Hitler penned the book, the holocaust had yet to happen. How a book told her that an event that would take place in the future was a lie is beyond the reasoning of most people, but apparently it lies within the text.
Duke, Hale, and Turner, in one way or another, all fit into at least some of the standard white power stereotypes. This can be simplified enough to say they all feel the white race is entitled to more than they are currently getting, be it through religious reasons or scientific reasons. On a basic level however Duke differs drastically from Turner and Hale because of his view of entitlement through Christian fundamentals. Duke also states that in his book he is "very careful to say that I don't endorse the principle of inferiority" (Nieli, 174). This is a stark contradiction to many of his other beliefs however, as he feels the white race is entitled to more because they are a cleaner, less crime prone people, with higher IQ, basically because of religious entitlement.
While Hale and Turner claim that their views are not religiously based in the sense of Christianity, but scientific (and more technically a religion "based on science"), they also have some fairly blatant contradictions with this line of thinking. The most obvious is their hatred of the Jews. Matthew Hale even goes so far as to call the Jews his enemies. If he were truly anti-religion he would probably also consider Christians his enemies, but he actually considers many white power Christians to be his friends. From a purely historical standpoint, it would be impossible to ignore some of the shortcomings or major problems caused by those in power within Christian religions. Just off the top of my head I can think of quite a few that top even the worst generalizations and slanders of the Jewish community (unless of course you buy in to the global domination schemes). The crusades, for instance, promote violence, inferiority, religious and racial intolerance, all lead by the Pope for hundreds of years. While these white power activists will condemn the media "takeovers" by the Jews, they fail to stand against some the bloodiest parts of white European history, or even say that alternative methods should have been considered.
Out of each of the three of these individuals, Hale to me is the most interesting. He states that "we certainly are racists, and we accept that label just fine, as a badge of honor. We believe that a racist is a person who loves his own race - and that is the epitome of good, as far as we're concerned. Now, as far as being a hate group, that's certainly some people's characterization of us, but we are no more of a hate group than the NAACP" (Nieli, 240). This point that Hale raises is amusing to say the least. A hate group would likely be a group that may commit violent acts, and Hale seems to condemn them. At the same time, Hale is currently serving a 40 year prisons sentence for trying to hire an assassin to murder a judge that was in charge of his copyright dispute with a church using the same name. The assassin, his chief of security, turned out to be an FBI informant. Hale received the maximum possible sentence. While Hale has in the past stayed away from direct use of violence, he is definitely not above prompting followers to do so. This also makes one question the shooting rampage a former member of the church, Benjamin Smith, went on in 1999 seem slightly more suspect, though Hale was said to have no direct involvement.
Each of these three individuals has had success in realms others have not, which is one main aspect that ties them all together. Duke was responsible for breading the new generation of the Ku Klux Klan. These new members wore business suits and presented themselves as racist, yet professional. He also opened the doors to new membership possibilities that were blocked from the previous Klan. Lisa Turner, during her time at the World Church of the Creator, was directly responsible for targeting women in hopes to bolster their ranks within the racist group. Aside from the absolute head of the church, she states that women can fill any leadership role. In the realm of white supremacy, this is a large step forward for "equal rights" and is viewed as such. It becomes harder for a neutral observer to say something along the lines of "that man is a racist, redneck, white trash, no class individual with his backwards ways of thinking," when talking about a racist if women and well-groomed people fill their ranks. Matthew Hale, as mentioned before, also directly targeted the elite among college students. He strove to fill his church with ranks that looked like average, well adjusted, and well educated people.
The new era of racism can largely be attributed to Duke, Hale, and Turner. They open the ranks and unite people under a single white cause. Instead of being divided within a similar fight, they aim to bring people together to create a united front. Duke specifically has done this on numerous occasions, as he modernized the KKK, and in a meeting held in Louisiana shortly after his release from prison, he united members of the National Alliance, as well as members of EURO (European-American Unity and Rights Organization [the spinoff of NOFEAR]) and the Council of Conservative Citizens. By bringing people together, under some of the same principles of Gandhi and Dr. King, they have helped create a new face for racism in America, and with less evil, aside from the core beliefs, to point at, many people may not see the new wave of racism sneaking up on them.
Works Cited/Referenced:
"David Duke." 17 Nov. 2008. Wikipedia. 17 Nov. 2008 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/david_duke>.
Ferber, Abby L. White Man Falling : Race, Gender, and White Supremacy. New York, NY: Rowman & Littlefield, Incorporated, 2000.
"Freed from prison, David Duke mounts a comeback." Intelligence Report. 2004. Southern Poverty Law Center. 13 Nov. 2008 <http://www.splcenter.org/intel/intelreport/article.jsp?aid=477>.
"Matthew Hale Gets Maximum 40-year Sentence." Intelligence Project. 7 Apr. 2005. Southern Poverty Law Center. 13 Nov. 2008 <http://www.splcenter.org/intel/news/item.jsp?site_area=1&aid=102>.
"Race extremist jailed in plot to kill judge." 9 Jan. 2003. CNN. 13 Nov. 2008 <http://www.cnn.com/2003/us/midwest/01/08/white.supremacist/index.html>.
Swain, Carol M., and Russell Nieli, eds. Contemporary Voices of White Nationalism in America. New York, NY: Cambridge UP, 2003.