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U nited States Action |
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Supremacism Isn't American Over the past six months, reports have continued to be published about a resurgence of racial supremacism in America. Madeleine Gruen has reported on her concern regarding counterterrorism reporting that in "the post 9/11 era, white supremacist groups no longer receive the same sort of news media attention they once did." Last week, the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) reported that "926 hate groups were active in the U.S., up more than 4% from 888 in 2007"... and "more than a 50% increase since 2000." The SPLC map of such groups shows a wide range of such groups including both white and black racial supremacist organizations. We continue to see reports of white racial supremacist groups activities, including reports of a terrorist plot against President Barack Obama (trial scheduled for April 2009), reports of a recent Ku Klux Klan murder reported in Louisiana, reports of white supremacist vandalism, reports of police officers in Nebraska and Florida ordered to resign due to their affiliation with the Ku Klux Klan, and reports of white supremacist racial fliers passed out in Tennessee, Florida, and Pennsylvania. Such white supremacist groups should be taken as a serious threat -
they have a
history of violence and terrorism in America. They have been
involved in activities such as the
cyanide bomb plot led by white supremacist William Krar in 2003 and
have advocated violence against the American government, such as
white supremacist Neo-Nazi Hal Turner's support for terrorist attacks on
the Senate. Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh was
associated with
Neo-Nazi and white racial supremacists. The SPLC, whose latest report on supremacist organizations has been
included in the
numerous media reports, recognizes the
"Nation of
Islam" as a hate group, along with
other
supremacist groups such as the Ku Klux Klan. The SPLC
states
that the "same criterion should be applied to all groups regardless of
their color." However, in recent
American media reports on
Louis
Farrakhan and his so-called "black nationalist"
Nation of
Islam, the supremacist nature and the
hate group
status of this organization is not mentioned, as
the press reports on a meeting of 14,000 followers of this group in
Chicago. Such
press reports don't even question the supremacist nature of such a
group that reportedly calls for "inclusion" of others, nor does it ask
about any
Islamic supremacism within such organizations. Major media
organizations interview its leader, Louis Farrakhan, as a respectable
national figure. A man who
states that
"the white man is our mortal enemy" is viewed as merely a leader of
"black nationalism," today by the American media. When national
entertainer "Snoop Dogg"
appeared at this Nation of Islam convention supporting its cause,
there is no mention of the supremacist nature of the group or
condemnation of the entertainer for such an association. In the numerous
reports on the Nation of Islam conference, there is no mention of its
inclusion as one of the growing
hate groups
listed by the SPLC. Supremacism has no place in America's public, no place in American gatherings, no place in American media, no place in American entertainment, no place in American houses of worship. Supremacism has no place anywhere in America. Supremacism, of any kind, isn't American. Those who are against America's commitment to the inalienable human rights of equality and liberty, those who are against the truths that we find self-evident, those who against the truth that all men and women are created equal -- they are not just against other races, other nationalities, and other people - they are against America itself. Supremacists are America's national enemies. In February, the British newspaper "The Independent" published a story on photojournalist Anthony Karen's research on white supremacists, entitled "America Unmasked." Like others, they fail to understand what America is. There is no mask on America's commitment to equality and liberty - it
is defined in our
declaration as to who and what we are as a nation -- we hold these
truths to be self-evident that all men and women are created equal.
It is
hammered in stone in the walls of our public monuments. In the
identity of America, we define ourselves as a nation that is committed
to the inalienable human rights of equality and liberty for all.
There is nothing "right wing" or "left wing" about such a commitment;
this national identity and commitment is about being an American. This is why it is so vital to recognize the national threat of supremacism in America, and speak honestly and consistently about it. Recognizing the threat of supremacism must be a priority in all of our national and international decisions as a nation. Moreover, this challenge is more than a threat to America, it is also a threat to all of humanity. If we attest, both in America and around the world through the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, that equality and liberty are inalienable human rights -- then we must conclude that supremacists are more than just America's enemies, supremacists are the enemies of humanity itself. Americans and the rest of humanity committed to equality and liberty must reject the lie of supremacism -- wherever, whoever, and whatever form it takes. Fear No Evil. [Postscript - see also Sources documents for additional reading and background information.]
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