Detroit Free Press photo by Pauline Lubens
Richard Butler, left, and Robert Miles at the Aryan Congress meeting near Howell last July.
by theological underpinning, the
pseudo-intellectual element" (in
which Miles, "clever and articulate,"
figures prominently), and "the para-
military Klan and Neo-Nazi organiza-
tions?'
Between the different elements
there are factional differences, but all
subscribe to certain common beliefs:
That blacks are inferior and violence-
prone, draining the country's
resources and weakening it thi-ough
attempts to "mongrelize the race";
that Jews are conspirators, intent on
taking over society, invariably behind
black unrest, using their superior in-
telligence to manipulate blacks and
to influence the government; that the
federal government (labeled ZOG - for
Zionist Occupational Government) is
the enemy, operating unconstitu-
tionally in violating the white power
movement's rights to free speech and
practice of their religious beliefs, and
that they are the true patriots,
resisting communism and fighting to
preserve the true American heritage.
Also crossing factional boundaries
is the association of many, though not
all, white-power advocates with the
Identity movement, a network of
"churches" whose creed identifies
white Anglo-Saxons with the ten lost
tribes of Israel and holds that they,
not Jews, are God's chosen people. The
doctrine predicts an apocalyptic se-
cond coming of Christ, which many
members believe will follow a gigan-
tic race war, precipitated by an attack
on the U.S. by the Soviet Union which
will wreak wholesale destruction,
leaving only Identity adherents sur
viving to build a "new Israel" in
America.
Among those subscribing to Iden-
tity beliefs are members of some of
the most prominent groups, notably
the Aryan Nations, whose leader,
Richard Butler, is the pastor of the
Church of Jesus Christ Christian, an
affiliated Identity church. Others in-
clude the most violent, such as the
Christian Defense League, the Cove-
nant, the Sword and the Arm of the
Lord, the Posse Comitatus and the
Christian-Patriots Defense League.
All of these groups and many
others have members or supporters in
Michigan, Lobenthal asserts. Their
numbers are small and their exact
whereabouts are sometimes difficult
to pinpoint. Most keep a low profile,
maintaining loose affiliations with
more than one group, receiving mail-
ings and attending occasional
meetings, most significantly those
held at the Cohoctah headquarters of
Miles' Mountain Church.
Social and economic discontent
has always been a main reason peo-
ple turn to the white power movement
and Michigan has often provided a
suitable area for recruitment. Recent-
ly, frustrated and angry farmers here,
as elsewhere in the Midwest, have
been subjected to appeals from the ex-
tremist right. The LaRouche network
has made determined efforts to play
on rural discontent.
The Liberty Lobby's publication
"The Spotlight:' a major vehicle for
white-supremacist publicity, has
focused many of its articles on farm
issues and much attention on increas-
ing its circulation in rural areas.
Individual hate groups have also
concentrated their recruitment efforts
on the farming community. One of
these is the Posse Comitatus, an "ex-
tremely violent and radical"
organization, says Lobenthal, whose
activities have drawn the attention of
the FBI. The Posse, made up of loose-
ly affiliated groups of armed
vigilantes and survivalists, pursues a
policy of intimidation and harass-
ment, encouraging farmers to blame
Jews and the federal government for
"I expected to meet a
monster. Instead, he
reminded me of my
grandfather."
their recent woes, urging them to de-
fend their land "with their lives." One
such group is known to have been
operating north of Flint. Others are
believed to be active in Michigan,
though local FBI officials report there
are "no ongoing investigations" into
their presence here.
Acknowledging "no authority, ex-
cept perhaps a sympathetic sheriff:'
individual branches of the Posse, says
Lobenthal, sometimes camouflage
their identity by adopting innocuous
sounding names in attempts to escape
official attention.
This tactic is also employed by
Identity church groups, who
sometimes change their names fre-
quently to avoid detection.
"Sometimes the names seem to
change overnight. A lot of members
don't like giving their groups names
at all. Others decide to adopt a name
in order to claim tax-exempt status as
a church;' says Dan Shriner, of the
Flint Journal, who infiltrated an
Identity church group in the Flint
area in 1980. That group has now
disbanded. Its leader, Paddy Quinn,
who was eventually prosecuted for tax
evasion, died in prison last year. Some
members joined Miles' Mountain
Church. Others, Shriner conjectures,
formed or were absorbed by different
groups.
Up to 20 Identity churches are
thought to be functioning currently in
Michigan with a total membership of
perhaps 300.
One major objective of church
members, says Shriner is to "create
chaos in the government" by en-
couraging tax evasion, for example,
particularly among those who, feeling
the effects of hard times, are looking
for someone to blame for their pro-
blems. The group with which Shriner
was involved worked within the
depressed auto industry, persuading
General Motors workers that they
didn't really have to pay taxes, show-
ing them how to alter their monthly
withholdings, but neglecting to ex-
plain that this did not absolve them
from tax liability at the end of the
year.
"The next step," says Shriner,
"was to persuade them that Jews
25