Mounting Hate, Fighting Back
The SPLC essay notes that after more
than a decade out of the spotlight, mili-
tias have returned to the forefront with
Michigan again "a hotbed of militia
activity." The SPLC has documented 34
Michigan militia groups — a staggering
number considering that a year earlier, it
found only 42 militias in the entire coun-
try, Ellcessor said. As of 2009, there were
127 militias in the U.S., an increase of
more than 200 percent.
"As America and Michigan navigate a
difficult economic and social landscape, it
is our right and duty to engage in a robust
discussion about the issues of the day and
to hold our elected officials accountable at
the ballot box:' said JN Publisher Arthur
Horwitz. "However, when people of respon-
sibility and power in government and
the media incite others to express their
displeasure through violence, slander and
intimidation, they have to be called out.
"As representatives of Michigan ethnic
media outlets, we appreciate and cherish
the freedom and opportunity our coun-
try provides and the responsibilities that
come with them:' Horwitz added. "We
have also felt the sting of bias, defama-
tion and discrimination and are united in
speaking out against hate mongers and
those who enable them:'
The media partnership is presenting
its work in issues published the weeks of

2009, about 30 self-described "freedom
keepers" met at Georgia's Jekyll Island,
where they mapped out "action plans"
for a larger movement — one that
would confront not only taxes, but also
an array of issues that threaten to "col-
lapse the Republic."
What followed was their "Continental
Congress" in Illinois — an 11-day gath-
ering that aligned a broad section of the
radical right. Next month, on the anni-
versary of the Oklahoma City bomb-
ing, thousands of the newly united will
march in Washington, D.C., in support
of gun rights.
But it's not just the militias mak-
ing a comeback. Other antigovernment
"Patriot" groups — extremist organiza-
tions that see the federal government as
their primary enemy — are on the rise.
Patriot groups include organizations
that engage in groundless conspiracy
theorizing, are opposed to the "New
World Order" and advocate or adhere to

March 29 and April 5. The content includes
the SPLC's findings and original editorial
viewpoints. The partnership is hosting
interviews and call-in segments on WDET.
It also is encouraging the news media,
ethnic and mainstream, to invite conversa-
tions and engage the audience through a
variety of social media.
"We are undertaking this work because
we want to contribute to a climate that
says hate and extremism are not values
that will move Michigan into the future,"
Excellsor said.
Betsy Kellman, the Anti-Defamation
League's/Michigan Region director, put the
situation in perspective. "There is a growth
of anger and hostility that has swept over
certain segments of society," she told the
IN. "There is a toxic atmosphere of rage.
"In the mainstream, we are seeing tea
parties. In the backwoods, we are seeing
the militia. Although this is a fringe move-
ment and extremist, it is frightening to
believe that some of these people might be
willing to act on their anger."

❑

IN viewpoint: page 40

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Bombs And Bullets

n an online New York Times com-
mentary on the arrest of mem-
bers of Hutaree, Kenneth Stern,
American Jewish Committee's
New York-based director on anti-
Semitism and extremism, wrote, in
part:

I

"The indictment of a militia
group plotting to kill a law
enforcement officer and blow
up the funeral procession is a
AJC's Kenneth Stern
reminder that only a few people,
fueled by an ideology glorifying
violence, can cause great damage. While the increase in militia
groups this past year is not a replication of the movement's quick
growth in the 1990s, some lessons do apply. When Congress
debates immigration reform, we will likely see more militia
activity."
He added, "Fear of non-white immigration is a ripe issue for
white supremacists eager to convince people that the government
is conspiring to harm their interests, and that the patriotic answer
is not ballots, but bombs and bullets."
Two factors determine how much traction militia groups get, he
wrote. "Does law enforcement take the threat seriously (as it has
post-Oklahoma City)? Do politicians, media and others endorse
and amplify, or expose and denounce, hateful rhetoric swirling
around mainstream issues at the wide end of the funnel?"

instance, revived a key
extreme antigovern-
Patriot conspiracy the-
ment doctrines, such
ory — the charge that
as the belief that
the Federal Emergency
income taxes are ille-
Management Agency
gal and that individu-
is secretly running
als can pronounce
a.
concentration camps
themselves "sovereign
— before finally
citizens," thus becom-
"debunking" it.
ing exempt from
Mark Potok and Heidi Beirich
Bachmann proposed
taxes and a whole
Special Commentary
that Congress be
array of laws.
investigated for anti-
The SPLC docu-
Americanism, suggested that Obama is
mented a 244 percent increase in the
trying to create mandatory political re-
number of active Patriot groups, which
education camps for youths and accused
include militias, in 2009. Their numbers
grew from 149 in 2008 to 512 in last year. her enemies of harboring a "socialist,
globalist worldview."
What's truly remarkable is that the
As the rhetoric has heated up, so has
Patriot movement's central ideas are not
the violence. Right-wing extremists
being promoted solely from the fringe.
Unlike the 1990s, people with large public — men who were not tied to militias
but nevertheless absorbed the end-
megaphones, such as the cable-TV FOX
News Channel's Glenn Beck and U.S. Rep. less harangues, hyperbole and hate of
antigovernment voices — have mur-
Michele Bachmann, R-Minn., are provid-
dered six law enforcement officers since
ing a voice to the movement. Beck, for

Obama's inauguration. Most recently, a
number of individuals with antigovern-
ment, survivalist or racist views have
been arrested in a series of bomb cases.
The recent Pentagon shooter, Internal
Revenue Service plane crasher and
others are prime examples of people
who were undoubtedly mentally ill, but
picked up on the movement's rhetoric
and followed it to a violent end.
We cannot write off the vitriol that is
being spewed across the country. The
anger sweeping a segment of the popu-
lation has helped the radical right catch
fire and has revitalized a movement that
produced an enormous amount of crim-
inal violence and terrorism in the past.
We ignore it at our own peril. ❑

Mark Potok is director of the Southern

Poverty Law Center's Intelligence Project,

which monitors hate and extremist

organizations across the United States. Heidi

Beirich is research director for the SPLC.

JN

April 8 • 2010 11