In this climate of the resurgence of hate and racism, America may be returning to its post-Civil War roots. The impetus is namely the excuse that America has its first president of African descent. There was a white pride march this past spring in downtown Jackson, Mich., whose goal was to “fight for the rights of whites.”
Although we have seen the rallies fostered by the Tea Baggers, there are even more substantially dreaded events scheduled to occur in the coming months. The Georgi-based League of the South has scheduled its 2010 national conference for the 8th and 9th of October at the Atlanta Airport Hilton. Founded in 1994, the League of the South is a neo-Confederate group that advocates for a second Southern secession and a society dominated by “European Americans.”
This Saturday, there will be an Aryan Nations rally at Gettysburg National Military Park. At this event, the members will be allowed to carry firearms on park grounds, under a new federal law that took effect in February. Gordon Young, who leads the Maryland chapter of the organization, has said the group intends to bring two rifles to “protect” the group’s national director Paul Mullet. Young, the former head of the World Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, was recently arrested on a statutory rape charge.
In addition, just this week in Arizona, members of the Neo-Nazi National Socialist Movement led by J. T. Ready and Harry Hughes have started patrolling the Pinal County and Mexican border armed with assault rifles. Ready, who has a criminal record, was also court-martialed twice and kicked out of the U.S. Marine Corps.
This is a troubling period in America. While the fringe hate groups and political extremists in white America continue to spew vitriol, many African Americans remain unconcerned and uninformed of the threat that we actually may be facing. We have elected the first African American president in U.S. history, but it seems that after the inauguration, many of us have left Obama out to dry with our reduced activism and support after he was in office. Will we recognize these threats and become more involved beyond voting and maintain our political vigor, or will we define this historical outcome with our inactivity? –torrance stephens
For more with Dr. Stephens, visit twitter.com/rawdawgbuffalo and rawdawgb.blogspot.com.