Fast-Growing America Based Hate Groups - Research Paper Example

Information: Comparative Analysis of New Black Panther Party for Self Defense and the White Supremacist World Church of the Creator. Introduction: White Supremacist World Church of the Creator is a fast-growing America based hate group whose stated goal is "making this an all-white nation and ultimately an all-white world." Members of the group are mainly young white males, but women and children are also a part of it. The members carry out violent recruiting campaigns across America. This group is spread over a large area including contacts in Australia, Austria, Canada, France, Germany, Poland, Russia and Switzerland, having more than 30 affiliated Web sites and chat rooms. The group’s battle cry is "RaHoWa" (Racial Holy War). (The Creativity Movement in 2003)   New Black Panther Party for Self Defense is the largest black racist militant group founded in Texas. New Black Panther Party gained supporters through media coverage of its efforts of taking on racial discrimination issues under the pretext of civil rights. The group’s demonstrations call for racial violence ruining its efforts to promote black pride. In January 2009, a suit was filed against New Black Panther Party for intimidating a voter on Election Day 2008 in Philadelphia. (New Black Panther Party for Self Defense: Ideology 2012) World Church of the Creator Description: The ideology of World Church of the Creator is ‘Creativity’ which is a racial religion aiming for the survival and expansion of the white race. The members of World Church of the Creator call themselves ‘Creators’ who view every matter as a white man’s perspective, resulting in attacks on followers of other religions and people of other races. Its slogans are ‘A Whiter and Brighter World’ and ‘RAHOWA" (RAcial HOly WAr)’. (Robinson 2012) Creativity was founded by Ben Klassen (1918-1993). The Church of the Creator (COTC) was organized by him which was succeeded by The Creativity Movement in 1973. After Klassens suicide in 1993, the group’s activity began to decline and it started to fade out but it was resuscitated by Rev. Matthew Hale (former head of the National Socialist White Americans Party) in 1996 and named it World Church of the Creator and was its Pontifex Maximus- the highest priest. He attracted a large number of followers, ‘creators’. He passed his bar exams but has been denied a license due to his religious beliefs. (Robinson 2012) Montana has been a centre of WCOTC activity. In the early 1990s Rev Rudy Stanko moved to Billings and began selling Klassen’s books. Rev. Slim Deardorf hosted the annual convention of the WCTOC every summer. Literature has been spread across the state in order to gain followers. In spite of Hale’s knack of keeping himself and in the spotlight, the Church became known because of Benjamin Nathaniel Smith who was the ‘Creator of the Year’ 1999. Smith had already tried to set up white supremacy groups when he came across Hale and they met. Smith was devoted to the cause and promoted it by distributing fliers and leaflets and gained media attention, mainly due to the distribution of “Facts That the Government and the Media Dont Want You to Know". Hale encouraged other Creators to follow Smith’s example. (ADL Backgrounder - World Church of the Creator 1996; "Creativity Movement (formerly World Church of the Creator) -- Extremism in America) George Burdi, founder of Resistance Records in Detroit, Mich., was one of the world’s most prominent racists, and an active member of World Church of the Creator. He sang for the band Rahowa (which was the slogan of World Church of the Creator). In 1997 he was arrested in involvement of physically violating a female anti racist activist. After his release, he stopped working for the World Church of the Creator. (Southern Poverty Law Center 2001) In 2004, Matthew Hale was convicted and arrested because of his association with Judge Lefkow’s attempted murder. Judge Lefkow had been enduring death threats since four years since she ordered World Church of the Creator to change its name due to a trademark infringement lawsuit. (Michael Lefkow 2012) Since Hale’s imprisonment and law response to the extremist activities of World Church of the Creator, the group has had its downfall. This group which has stuck together with the ideologies introduced by Klassen in his book has had its rise and fall over the time. The books were a source of income and were advertised for $10 a piece in various bigoted publications. Hale was the prominent figure of the group and unless World Church of the Creator finds another champion of its ideology, it is quite probable that it will not remain as right now its condition can not even be considered as an organized group. (Anti-Defamation League. 2001) New Black Panther Party Description: The New Black Panther Party is basically a merger of Pan-Africanism, Black Nationalism, and it also includes racist and anti-Semitic racism. Its core beliefs are derived from the concept that African-Americans still suffer under the white rule, both politically and economically. The groups expressions, conferences, and other events often are outrageous racial discriminations with calls for violence, tarnishing its efforts to promote black pride. The ideology revolves around Black Nationalism, Pan-Africanism, Anti-capitalism, Anti-Zionism and Anti-imperialism. (New Black Panther Party for Self Defense: Introduction 2012; New Black Panther Party for Self Defense: Leaders and Representatives 2011) Khalid Muhammad, one of the most prominent leaders of New Black Panther Party joined the party in 1996. In 1998, under Muhammads influence as leader of the New Black Panther Party a rally was arranged of almost 6000 people, one of the largest rally organized by the group so far which resulted in him being elected as the chairman. After Khalid Abdul Muhammad death in February 2001, Malik Zulu Shabazz became the leader of New Black Panther Party. Shabazz gained supporters by suggesting a militant response to racism around the country and allied with some Muslim leaders. He has organized and led many hate rallies and is fully committed to the organization while following a career of litigator. Hashim Nzinga is the Chief of Staff, and Malik Shabazzs deputy. Like Shabazz, Nzinga has been advocating virulent anti-Semitism. In January 2010, Nzinga expressed his anti-Semitic views and theories in an interview with the New Black Panther Party’s online radio channel. He accused Jews of having unbalanced power over the media. King Samir Shabazz is the head of NBPP Philadelphia chapter who gained national attention when a suit was filed against him and another member of the group for intimidating a voter in the elections of 2008. (Ideology. New Black Panther Party for Self Defense 2012) The group is currently active, although events and conferences organized by it are not very successful in terms of media coverage and turnout and the number of members recruited has reduced drastically since its peak time when Muhammad ruled. The group manages to get some coverage after every few years by catching media’s attention by some foolish stand. (Graham 2010) An exploit organized by the New Black Panther Party (NBPP) in April 2011, which was supposed to take place in over 40 US cities did not succeed. New Black Panther Party released promotional resources stressing "Zionism" as one of the "pressing issues" listing Jews and Jewish institutions among its stated targets. A subdivision was opened in Washington, D.C in 2000 which then became the group’s headquarter. Afterwards, he started to familiarize the group to the natives such as, by arranging a boycott against a Korean-American store because the owner of the store had a quarrel with a black teenager. The episode was caught on tape. Protests were held for a week in front of the store and protestors chanted ‘death to the Bloodsucker’ using anti-Semitic slang. The media attention New Black Panther Party mostly receives is of conservative type. (Graham 2010) Comparative Analysis: Comparing the two extremist bigot groups, it is evident that New Black Panther Party has been more successful in using terrorism toward achieving the objectives outlined in its ideology. By performing several acts of terrorism New Black Panther Party has been able to achieve the objectives outlined in its ideology. By focusing on specific issues of local interest the group also attracts a large number of non members. Many factors contributed to the downfall of World Church of the Creator being absence of a strong leading figure, whereas New Black Panther Party under the chairmanship of Shabazz is still carrying out its activities (Presley 1996; New Black Panther Party for Self Defense: Recent Activity 2012). New Black Panther Party is also supported by many locals who are not aware of the organization but are in favor its ideology of the group promoting African-American rights in politics and economy of the state. Emphasizing on the New Black Panther Party’s revolutionary position, multiple leaders had warned of the danger of being dealt with during the course of its actions. Shabazz advised children to wear bicycle helmets to ensure safety even though he had claimed that the actions of the party will be family friendly. However the event in Philadelphia was extremely non violent and had few participants in spite of King Samir Shabazz’s notion that it might get confrontational and that they were ready to face everything which was a strong front and gained a lot of support. On the other hand Klass, leader and founder of Church of the Creator gained a lot of supporters upon mailing copies of his booklet, “The Brutal Truth About Inflation and Financial Enslavement—The Federal Reserve Board—The Most Gigantic Counterfeiting Ring in the World,” to organizations and individuals whom he thought would be interested in it. Soon after, Klassen published his second book The White Man’s Bible, which he markets as a “program for the survival, expansion, and advancement of the white race.” Klesser benefited when a civil of murder of an Ethiopian who disclosed facts regarding embezzlement of funds was filed against Metzger, to whom he had gone for alliance seeking an active partner and had been declined because of Klassen’s association with the church. Hale’s arrest in 2004 because of his association with Judge Lefkow’s attempted murder ultimately led to the downfall of World Church of the Creator, although small groups are still being lead by Thomas Kroenke, who was appointed "Hasta Primus" or "Spearhead" of the WCOTC before Hales arrest in Wyoming (Presley 1996; Graham 2010; Robinson 2005). In his book, Rise of Domestic Terrorism and Its Relation to United States Armed Forces, Presley summarized that any kind of terrorism is classified as a criminal use of force or action, taken against an individual or his property to threaten or pressurize that individual, or the overall population as well as the government. (Presley 1996) Conclusion: Although many extremist and terrorist organizations and individual are active in the United States of America, the threat level is ‘Yellow’ which means moderate or elevated. These organizations tend to become prominent, bringing about their revolutions and are ready to resist opposition whether from law enforcing agencies or people to quite an extent. (Gerontology Research Group 2012) REFERENCES: "The Creativity Movement in 2003." ADL: Fighting Anti-Semitism, Bigotry and Extremism. N.p., n.d. Web. 3 Nov. 2012. http://www.adl.org/learn/extremism_in_america_updates/groups/creativity_movement/Creativity_Movement_up1.htm "Creativity Movement (formerly World Church of the Creator) -- Extremism in America." ADL: Fighting Anti-Semitism, Bigotry and Extremism. N.p., n.d. Web. 3 Nov. 2012. http://www.adl.org/learn/ext_us/wcotc.asp " Current US Security Alert Level ."Gerontology Research Group Index Page, as of [1997 - 2007] . N.p., n.d. Web. 3 Nov. 2012. http://www.grg.org/SecurityAlertLevel.htm Intelligence Report, Fall 2001, Issue Number: 103.Former Hate Music Promoter George Burdi Discusses His Experiences with Racism and the White Power Music Industry. Southern Poverty Law Center. Retrieved from: http://www.splcenter.org/get-informed/intelligence-report/browse-all-issues/2001/fall/present-at-the-creation Robinson, B.A. "World Church of the Creator." About religious tolerance: the home page of the ReligiousTolerance.org web site. N.p., n.d. Web. 3 Nov. 2012. http://www.religioustolerance.org/wcotc1.htm "New Black Panther Party for Self Defense: Ideology ." ADL: Fighting Anti-Semitism, Bigotry and Extremism. N.p., n.d. Web. 3 Nov. 2012.  http://www.adl.org/main_Extremism/new_black_panther_party.htm?Multi_page_sections=sHeading_3 "New Black Panther Party for Self Defense: Introduction ." ADL: Fighting Anti-Semitism, Bigotry and Extremism. N.p., n.d. Web. 3 Nov. 2012.  http://www.adl.org/main_Extremism/new_black_panther_party.htm "New Black Panther Party for Self Defense: Leaders and Representatives ."ADL: Fighting Anti-Semitism, Bigotry and Extremism. N.p., 1 June 2011. Web. 3 Nov. 2012. : http://www.adl.org/main_Extremism/new_black_panther_party.htm?Multi_page_sections=sHeading_5 "Michael Lefkow." History Commons. N.p., n.d. Web. 3 Nov. 2012. .http://www.historycommons.org/entity.jsp?entity=michael_lefkow_1 "New Black Panther Party for Self Defense: Recent Activity ." ADL: Fighting Anti-Semitism, Bigotry and Extremism. N.p., 1 June 2011. Web. 3 Nov. 2012. . Steven Mack Presley, Lieutenant Commander Medical Service Corps, U.S. NavyC&SC. (1996). RISE OF DOMESTIC TERRORISM AND ITS RELATION TO UNITED STATES ARMED FORCES. Retrieved from: http://www.fas.org/irp/eprint/presley.htm David A. Graham (2010).The New Black Panther Party Is the New ACORN. U.S. Politics. The Daily Beast. Retrieved from: http://www.thedailybeast.com/newsweek/2010/07/14/the-new-black-panther-party-is-the-new-acorn0.html "ADL Backgrounder - World Church of the Creator." ADL: Fighting Anti-Semitism, Bigotry and Extremism. N.p., 6 July 1996. Web. 3 Nov. 2012. http://www.adl.org/backgrounders/wcotc.asp Read More