white supremacist groups begin to mobilize in response to Jena rally
Categories: African-American
Written By: Shawn Williams
Howard Witt now reports on white supremacist and neo-nazi groups who are forming a response to last Thursday's rally in Jena. Click here to see Mr. Witt's entire story. A few excerpts from Tuesday's Tribune:
* No sooner did tens of thousands of African-American demonstrators depart the racially tense town of Jena, La., last week after protesting perceived injustices than white supremacists flooded in behind them.
* First a neo-Nazi Web site posted the names, addresses and phone numbers of some of the six black teenagers and their families at the center of the Jena 6 case and urged followers to find them and "drag them out of the house," prompting an investigation by the FBI.
* David Duke, the former Ku Klux Klan leader, last week announced his support for Jena's white residents, who voted overwhelmingly for him when he ran unsuccessfully for Louisiana governor in 1991.
* "There is a major white supremacist backlash building," said Mark Potok, a hate-group expert at the Southern Poverty Law Center, a civil rights group in Montgomery, Ala. "I also think it's more widespread than may be obvious to most people. It's not only neo-nazis and Klansmen-you expect this kind of reaction from them."
* McMillin (mayor of Jena) has insisted that his town is being unfairly portrayed as racist-an assertion the mayor repeated in an interview with Richard Barrett, the leader of the Nationalist Movement, a white supremacist group based in Learned, Miss., who asked McMillan to "set aside some place for those opposing the colored folks."
PLEASE, PLEASE read Mr. Witt's article in it's entirety.
September 25th, 2007 at 9:46 am
Should we really be surprised that this is taking place. I know that we sometimes like to think that great strides have been made, but if we did not learn anything else from the O J Simpson trial is that there is a great division along color lines in how we view america and race relations. This is something that america has never really addressed in an open forum its the big white elephant in the middle of the room that no one likes to talk about but we know that it is there but act like we do not see it well some of us act like we do not see it. I do not think that it is only the ignorant and uneducated that view us as not being equal those are the ones that yu can actually somewhat understand where they are coming from, but I feel that we have some very educated wealthy individuals in influential positions that feel the same way they just fail to show so openly. You can have much more respect for a wolf who lets you know he is a wolf than wolf hidden in sheeps clothing. All we can do is try to open up a dialogue and provoke thought and try to bring about a change
September 25th, 2007 at 1:30 pm
These white rights groups are merely protesting against the destruction of the justice system. The Jena Six committed a hate crime against a single white person. This person was not involved in the exercise of free speech, but was brutalized by a group of multi-conviction criminals.
September 26th, 2007 at 6:49 pm
For the life of my I can’t understand why it is right for people to burn crosses in people’s yard or hang nooses in a tree. Major B you don’t know the whole story. You are are saying a sawed off shotgun is not as deadly as a pair of shoes. Let’s be truthfull some of those white boys have records also. We as black people have been put down all our lives. But you know what I’m not blaming the white man as some would say. Because when all is said and done we all have to meet judgement day. Whites, Blacks, rascist people will pay for their wrongs. You just remember that