HOW WHITE SUPREMACISTS FUND THEIR MOVEMENT

The story below came out yesterday and I agree with Potok on the prevalance of drugs among those in the White Nationalist Movement - and I think this contadiction of values can and should be taken be taken one step further.

Publicly, most white nationalists extol the virtues of the white race and their "family values." Yet, the "movement," as is evidenced by many of the stories found right here on this blog, often finds itself plagued by an inordinate amount of sleaziness, violence, drugs, spousal abuse, pedophilia, etc. More than any other group of individuals, it seems, white nationalists have found themselves in the position of having to do damage control and apologizing for their members.


TO ORIGINAL ARTICLE

Meth trafficking is key funding source for white nationalists
By Todd A. Heywood 8/26/08 11:58 PM

Methamphetamine (source: Partnership for a Drug-Free America)
In an interview with Michigan Messenger Tuesday, Mark Potok, director of the Intelligence Project at the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), said white nationalists routinely produce and sell meth to fund their activities.

At least one of the suspects in the foiled, alleged attempt on Sen. Barack Obama’s life in Denver at the Democratic National Convention was in possession of the drug.

“I would say that meth is very largely controlled by white supremacists,” Potok said. “It is notorious for being produced by white supremacists. It is a rural white working class phenomenon … They have a huge chunk of the market.”

Potok was careful to note that selling meth was the norm for white nationalist criminal groups like biker gangs or the prison gangs, not the more established organizations.

“It’s not the Aryan Nations and the National Socialist[s] who are getting this money. [The meth makers] tend to be criminal enterprises [such as] white nationalist biker gangs and prison gangs like Aryan Brotherhood. I don’t think the meth is bringing in a lot of money to the Klan.”

Posters on the most influential white nationalist Web site, Stormfront.org, are publicly decrying the meth issue, claiming white pride does not include drug use. But Potok scoffs at the claim.

“I think it is some kind of bad joke,” he said. “The White Nationalist movement [in general] is absolutely shot through with drugs. Meth in particular. It is really kind of a sick little inside joke,” Potok said of claims that the movement was anti-drugs.

The SPLC’s Intelligence Project investigates and monitors hate movements throughout the United States, reporting its findings to 50,000 law enforcement agencies worldwide. According to the SPLC hate map, Colorado has 12 active hate groups in the state, while Michigan has 26.

But Denver, Potok said, has seen more than its fair share of racist violence.

In the late ’80s, he says, police drove a skinhead movement out the city, only to see it return in the late ’90s, culminating with the machine-gunning of a Denver police officer and the killing of an African immigrant who was “wearing the clothing of the enemy.” In other words, Potok said, he was black.

Denver police at one point during this three-day battle with white supremacists actually surrounded police stations with school buses to prevent truck bombings, Potok said.

Potok’s organization regularly monitors a range of racist Web sites and said that his group had not noticed an uptick in anti-Obama rhetoric or calls for Obama’s assassination, since the foiled assassination attempt was first reported.

He also said it was doubtful any of the widely organized groups would be involved in an assassination attempt on Obama.

If another racist attempt on Obama’s life were to happen, he said, it would likely be carried out by a “lone wolf” and not be orchestrated by organized hate groups like the KKK.

Potok also wrote a post Tuesday about how white nationalists have formulated a conspiracy theory that the alleged plot in Denver was staged by the federal government or, as they refer to it, the Zionist Occupied Government (ZOG), to frame, target and ultimately eradicate them.