After being ceremoniously booted from their Coeur d' Alene, Idaho compound in a public bull-dozing in 2001 an Associated Press report published in the New York Times reports the neo-Nazis are back!
Well, sort of.
An Aryan Nations compound in Idaho is pictured at left, with mainstream financial adviser Chris Temple circled in red - Temple, a virulent neo-Nazi who once worked for former KKK Grand Wizard David Duke, is well known and often quoted by mainstream media sources for his investment strategies, but less so for his adulation of Adolph Hitler and his Holocaust denial views.
Both the Times article and a Seattle PI.com article describe local Idaho residents as being puzzled at recent the distribution of fliers calling for the building of a "World Head Quarters".
In typical neo-Nazi distortion of truth and racist fear-mongering, the fliers found on Coeur d'Alene lawns recently depict a young white girl asking her father, "Why did the dark men take mommy away?"
Who's responsible?
Two guys operating out of a PO box.
According to the Kootenai County Task Force on Human Relations, which has monitored and fought the Aryan Nations for years, two men, Jerald O’Brien and Michael Lombard list themselves as the "leaders" of the local Aryan Nations chapter - which consists of O'Brien and Lombard though they claim the recent election of Barack Obama will help fuel their recruiting efforts.
Former neo-Nazi leader Richard Butler was bankrupted back in 2000 after he was found responsible for a violent attack on locals - the Southern Poverty Law Center helped pursue the lawsuit, the organization specializes in suing hate groups and having courts seize their assets.
It's a positive sign to see various media outlets around the country bringing the activities of ignorant, violent cowards like O'Brien and Lombard to light.
It's also reassuring to see that the vast majority of Idaho citizens are totally against and offended by the presence of neo-Nazis infesting their state and trying to bring outsiders there who make pathetic attempts to portray the region as some kind of haven for the Aryan Nations and the tattered remnants of the Christian Identity Church movement and it's demented views of God and religion and embracing of hate and violence based on race.
People of all races recognize these losers for exactly what they are - two guys with a rented PO box, a massive inferiority complex and a warped view of a world in which they are a minority.
When I was growing up in the 70's and 80's there was always something strange about rarely seeing faces on TV that looked like mine, or hearing people who spoke like I did.
As a young African-American male growing up in the suburbs of Bethesda, Maryland there weren't a lot of characters on television that I could really identify with and in a way that's difficult to convey it enforced the sense of social isolation I often felt growing up in an area where the majority of people were white.
Don't get me wrong, I was and am a huge movie buff with a voracious appetite for classic film and all kinds of entertainment, but it really wasn't until the 80's when I began to see recurring black characters in a variety of TV shows. The 'Cosby Show' was the first time I ever saw characters of color that resembled my family and socio-economic upbringing.
For instance I certainly watched 'Good Times' and 'What's Happening' but the projects of Chicago were foreign to me and certainly none of the characters I saw on 'The Six Million Dollar' Man or 'Little House on the Prairie' or 'The Dukes of Hazzard' or 'Dallas' were African-American, but I watched the shows religiously.
There were exceptions. There was Issac from the 'Love Boat', Tootie from 'The Facts of Life' and Arnold and Willis from 'Different Strokes' or the original Lionel from 'The Jeffersons' - but well-rounded multi-dimensional black characters on TV were few and far between.
I was entertained by all kinds of characters (of all races, animated and otherwise) but it was hard to relate to many of them on a level that was personal to me as a kid. While I was a huge 'Star Wars' fan (I saw the film in the theater 11 times) George Lucas' stock soared in my eyes when Lando Calrissian, played by Billy Dee Williams, walked onto the platform to greet Han Solo in 'The Empire Strikes Back'.
That was a special moment for me, seeing a character I felt like I could be; one that was strong, intelligent and looked and spoke like me.
JJ Evans on 'Good Times' was entertaining, but even at a young age I never wanted to be or idolize a character that was so reminiscent of the shucking and jiving minstrel stereotype.
That's no knock against 'Good Times' creator Norman Lear, who changed the way Americans perceived race with 'All in the Family'.
Lear and the 'Good Times' writers also countered JJ's shucking and jiving comedy with the more well-rounded and multi-dimensional characters like his siblings Michael, Thelma, the mother Florida Evans and of course the father portrayed brilliantly by John Amos - who later left the show because of creative differences with the producers over the way his charter was portrayed on screen and how it visualized the black American male.
Network and cable television casting have come a long way and it's nice to read about the industry creating more programming options with an eye towards entertainment geared towards an ethnic audience.
Friday's Media Daily News reports that Viacom's (parent company of BET) is actively courting an older, professional (25-54) African-American demographic with a new cable network called Centric set to launch in the fall.
According to the article Centric would compete with TV One, a joint venture between Comcast and Radio One targeting the same demographic. A consumer demographic that spent more than $800 billion in 2006, numbers that advertisers can't afford to ignore.
Let's hope Centric contributes content that strives to portray African-Americans in a positive and healthy light that reflects the vast array of perspectives within the spectrum of an educated, intellectual, professional demographic.
One that votes, worships, thinks and plays in innumerable ways.
Today I am relieved to say that I no longer have to feel apprehensive about walking into the bank where I keep my own money.
After putting up with rude, insulting behavior from a bigot bank manager and poor overall service it feels good to say I am an ex-TD Bank customer.
Why an ex?
The short answer is I just grew weary of the suspicion, targeting and fear which greeted me from behind the counter and for those who may be reading this and wondering how far this nation has come since the Civil Rights era; read on
Profiling always seems to be defended by people who are rarely profiled themselves. I'm not a bank robber but I was treated as if I might be while waiting for service in the lobby of a TD Bank.
An unfortunate aspect of the recession has been a sharp rise in bank robberies in New York, so some bank employees seem to have developed an outwardly hostile attitude towards male African-American customers.
An encounter with just such an employee at a TD Bank in mid-town Manhattan recently led me to close my account with the bank that treated me as a potential bank robber rather than as the loyal customer that I am.
I’m not a security expert, so I can't really instruct TD Bank on how to keep their branches from being robbed.
But I AM an African-American male, so I CAN tell them what it feels like to be profiled in the branch I've used for the past 4 years.
Almost four weeks ago on Friday February 27th inside the TD Bank branch located on 43rd street and 3rd Avenue (the branch I've used for over 4 years) I was reminded of how far this nation has to go in terms of unequal treatment in public and private facilities based on skin color.
It was a Commerce Bank when I first set up my direct deposit from work there, but in recent months it was acquired by TD Bank. Aside from a few overdraft fees for the occasional bounced check, I'm a pretty average customer.
As a 6’7” African-American male, I can only suppose that (to some who don't know me) I cut an imposing figure. I was a professional football player so I am used to being gawked-at, observed, watched and followed by curious people or suspicious store employees (or bank managers) when I go into stores to shop.
It doesn't happen in the majority of instances when I shop but it does happen.
On Friday February 27th, I took a break from work in the afternoon to walk down to the bank and withdraw $1,200 in cash to pay my rent and Con Ed to the woman I sublet my apartment from.
The teller politely asked for my ID, which I provided. She then asked me if I could wait and took my passport, walked into the back and then returned without it and asked me politely to step aside so she could serve another customer.
I waited for four minutes before a young woman of Indian or East Asian descent, casually strolled from the back, walked behind the counter and sort of just stood there glaring at me without expression with my passport in her hand.
She didn't say anything to me. Didn't smile, or make an attempt to apologize for the delay and explain, or give me a reason why my passport was taken out of ,y site or what they were doing with it in the back of the bank for almost five minutes while I stood there with other customers glancing at me..
Though I was irate and offended, I didn't say anything particularly since one of their uniformed "greeters" casually walked over to where I was waiting and just sort of "took up station" two feet from me.
But I know I was treated differently because I was black.
I decided to do a little checking online and found that a rash of bank robberies in the New York area has led to reviews and overhauls of security measures.
A casual online search reveals a litany of complaints about TD Bank's sketchy practices. Everything from unjustified overdraft fees, to rude employees.
There are other complaints too, but I'm not here to discuss other people's experiences with an uncaring, Canadian-owned financial institution.
I'm writing in the hopes that other people who may have been treated with hostility, lack of courtesy and unprofessional behavior by a bank employee say something about it.
No bank or store employee has the right to treat black people as if they are criminals, especially a bank that has resisted efforts to install security options recommended by the NYPD that could keep tellers and money behind a safe wall so that paranoid, racist bank managers don't have to prowl the bank skulking after black customers.
The Sunday March 15th New York Times reported on efforts by the NYPD to work with banks to voluntarily enact recommendations and "best practices" to try and keep both bank employees and customers safe from the criminals responsible for a string of recent bank robberies in Manhattan.
Among the recommendations are for banks to use security partitions that protect tellers and also employ "greeters", employees who stand at the entrance and greet visitors and customers as a visual deterrent to potential thieves.
TD Bank, according to the article in the Times, has resisted NYPD requests to install security partitions and instead relies on greeters in the lobby and other undisclosed "best practices" which seem to include profiling, and or hostile suspicious managers standing around glaring at black customers who are waiting for service.
Funny, they worry about installing security partitions because it will make customers uncomfortable – but to protect their security, TD Bank allows their employees to treat and regard black customers as if they are in the bank to rob it.
Has this happened to you? Maybe someone you know?
Take action, close your account, write them a letter. I posted an excerpt from this blog to the consumer complaint site "The Complaint Board", and I intend to send their corporate office a letter and mail a copy to the branch at 43rd street and 3rd avenue.
Call them and share your experiences online with other consumers so they know not to give their business to a company that treats honest loyal customers with contempt and disdain because the company views them not as people, but as opportunities to unfairly milk bogus overdraft fees from, or as suspects because their skin is darker.
While hate group membership is rising in tune with the slumping economy, a recent online story suggests private citizens are taking action to confront these gatherings of anti-Semite racist homophobes in the communities where they are trying to take root.
Did you know New Jersey and New York are laced with a variety of neo-Nazi organizations?
Fortunately violent purveyors of hate are dwarfed by the millions of people of all races and religions who see them for exactly what they are; disturbed members of a marginalized group of people who choose to see the world in shades of hate, separation and violence.
On thing I've noticed about these "rallies" by KKK or neo-Nazis is that they're always totally outnumbered by multi-ethnic crowds of people there to demonstrate that their communities are not represented by cowards who run around beating up innocent people, dropping leaflets, defacing homes, churches, synagogues and even graveyards with spray-paint.
According to a recent article posted on the North Jersey.com Website, outraged members of a group calling themselves "One People's Project" stormed into the Allwood branch of the Clifton Public Library in New Jersey and broke up a meeting of a newly-formed white supremacist group known as the "League of American Patriots".
A brawl broke out when five people entered the "League's" meeting, organized under a fictitious group called the "Polish-American Issues Forum" according to the librarian, and started shouting down the wanna-be Nazis.
Daryl Lamont Jenkins, the executive director of the Philly-based One People's Project was quoted as saying the "League of American Patriots" (funny, I thought patriots defended the principles of justice, liberty and equality?) is about 12 months old and is partially made up of at least some members of the 35-year old National Alliance, another Neo-Nazi group.
Jello Biafra of the Dead Kennendys had it right: Nazi punks fuck off!
Fire departments in larger urban America cities boast a strong and proud tradition of cultural ties to the Irish-American community in deference to the many Irish-Americans who have served and given their lives as community firefighters over the decades.
The jobs firefighters do and the risks they take forges a unique bond among it's ranks that transcends the "job" itself. As such, the social life of the firefighter is critical to success in his or her profession.
There are fraternal social organizations, such as the "Emerald Societies" where unofficial professional interaction takes place. Where a firefighter might make valuable social contacts that might offer an advantage when positions open up or in terms of assignment to choice firehouses or units; or learning knowledge about firefighting first hand from veterans and other experienced professionals.
But as the ranks of firefighters in the US becomes more diverse however, increasingly the question about what role background and race play in the promotion of officers has attracted more and more media attention.
According to a recent article in the New York Times, on Wednesday April 22nd the Supreme Court will rule on a discrimination suit brought by New Haven firefighter Frank Ricci.
The 11-year veteran claims he was denied a promotion he earned after he came in 6th in a promotional exam administered to potential officers. The problem: the test was thrown out after 19 other New Haven African-American firefighters failed the test.
Ricci claims he was discriminated against by the city of New Haven because of his skin color and the case is attracting nation-wide media attention.
The case has pitted members of the black firefighters organization against Ricci and 17 other co-defendants (including one Hispanic) who argue that their performance and the merits of their test scores outweigh mandates to promote a proportionate share of officers from the ranks that reflects the makeup of both the fire department and the community itself.
Others from the the city contend the test itself cannot be the sole factor in deciding the qualifications for promotions within the New Haven fire department.
Have remedies intended to reverse racial discrimination gone too far?
Time will tell, but this will be the first time in decades that the Supreme Court has ruled in a case deciding the merits of race-based mandated promotions in the workplace adhere to the intent of the Constitution.
The question still remains, is an African-American or Hispanic-American firefighter at an inherent disadvantage for promotion because he or she might be excluded from social organizations like the Emerald Society?
The history and truth of housing discrimination offers some of the most revealing insight into the grass-roots effects of prejudice and institutionalized racism and anti-Semitism in America.
A recent segment on the Leonard Lopate show offered a fascinating glimpse into the complicated workings of housing discrimination in Chicago.
I can't wait to get my hands on a copy of this book in which she untangles the intertwined web that is the legacy of housing discrimination in the United States.
An associate professor and Chair of the history department of Rutgers Universityin Newark, NJ, Satter speaks with authority and amazing insight and clarity on an issue that has been shrouded in falsehoods, misinformation and secrecy for decades.
The myths and assumptions have been repeated for so long in this country that many people accept them as a sociological truth and an indictment of African-American character: When blacks move in to nicer neighborhoods...they stop taking care of their property... the value of the surrounding homes begin to plummet and whites begin to move out...
Satter demonstrates that these myths were part of a much larger and more complex effort by banks, real estate agencies, business leaders to keep white neighborhoods segregated and keep blacks clustered in very specific areas.
According to Satter's book, as a matter of policy the FHA refused to back loans for African-American homeowners for decades because of an unwritten and widely-held assumption that any property purchased by blacks would decline in value.
The myths that have surrounded the "White Flight" syndrome are a critical part of the history of this nation and a fascinating look at the struggles African-Americans and other minorities have faced in the course of trying to purchase homes and property.
For example, Satter talks about the "Redlining" of communities in Chicago where blacks were forced to buy homes "On Contract" meaning home-owners were responsible for taxes, maintenance fees and monthly payments on the property, but black homeowners received NO actual equity until the balance was paid off.
Contract Selling meant the payments were so high, sometimes three times as high as the rates white were paying, that often blacks were forced to work two jobs, for if they missed one payment, they could lose the property and any equity they had paid into the home would be lost and the property would be turned back over to the selling agent.
The by-product of "Contract Selling" led to the myth of blacks not maintaining their property, because often simple home improvements like painting, fixing shutters or landscaping had to be put off so home owners could afford the higher rates they were paying.
Sadly, it sheds the light on a cooperative effort by the government, bankers, politicians and private citizens to keep people of color excluded from owning property in the larger urban areas of the United States.
Anyone who looks at the urban blight of ghetto projects like Cabrini Green and scratches their head, need look no further than Beryl Satter's book to understood who created these warehouses of humanity an why.
