-----Original Message----- From: Institute for Public Accuracy <instpa at pacbell.net> To: institute at igc.org <institute at igc.org> Date: Thursday, January 04, 2001 10:26 AM Subject: Context: John Ashcroft and Neo-Confederate Influence
>Institute for Public Accuracy
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>For Release: 1 p.m. Eastern Time -- Thursday, January 4, 2001
>
>Context: John Ashcroft and Neo-Confederate Influence
>
>Two specialists on the political dynamics of neo-Confederate and white
>nationalist groups in the United States today commented on aspects of
>racial politics and John Ashcroft, the nominee for attorney general.
>
>DEVIN BURGHART, burghart at newcomm.org, http://www.newcomm.org
>Burghart is director of the Building Democracy Initiative at the Center for
>New Community. The initiative works to counter the white nationalist
>movement in a 10-state region across the Midwest. "Sen. John Ashcroft gave
>an interview and legitimacy to one of the leading white nationalist groups
>in the country," Burghart said today. "The Senate Judiciary Committee
>should focus on Sen. Ashcroft's endorsement of Southern Partisan." Burghart
>added: "Southern Partisan and its publisher the League of the South have a
>long history of promoting bigotry. The League of the South opposes the idea
>of 'egalitarianism' between the races and argues that Southern whites
>should not 'give control over their civilization and its institution to
>another race, whether it be native blacks or Hispanic immigrants.' To
>accomplish this goal, the League advocates overturning the 14th Amendment
>to the Constitution and contends that 'secession is the best way to restore
>good government to the South.' The League has also been a leading advocate
>of defending the use of the Confederate Flag in Southern states.... In
>response to a petition encouraging Sen. Ashcroft to condemn the League of
>the South, the Council of Conservative Citizens began circulating their own
>petition praising Ashcroft for his comments. The Council grew out of the
>old white Citizens Councils -- the principal organization that fought for
>segregation in the South during the civil rights era."
>
>MARTIN A. LEE, devlee at ap.net, http://www.sfbg.com/reality/10.html
>Lee is the author of "The Beast Reawakens" (Little, Brown & Co.;
>Routledge), a book about contemporary neo-fascism. He said today: "The
>diverse ethnic make-up of George W. Bush's cabinet nominees -- including
>African Americans Gen. Colin Powell and Condoleezza Rice -- has deflected
>attention from one of the most troubling developments in contemporary U.S.
>politics: the ascendance of the far right, neo-Confederate faction within
>the Republican Party. GOP heavyweights Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott
>and Attorney General-designate John Ashcroft have well-documented ties to
>hard-core, neo-Confederate organizations (the Council of Conservative
>Citizens and Southern Partisan, respectively) that equate race-mixing with
>genocide and routinely defend the legacy of slavery. But today's more
>image-conscious white supremacists eschew heavy-handed master race
>rhetoric. Instead they couch their arguments in coded language that recasts
>bigotry as ethnic pride. They claim to be 'for' whites rather than
>'against' people of color. They talk about preserving white identity and
>protecting the rights of European-Americans, which are allegedly under
>assault. Trumpeting what has since become the standard GOP line on
>'giveaway programs' and 'special preferences' for minorities, white
>supremacists maintain that their deteriorating status in society is
>primarily a consequence of 'reverse discrimination' aimed at oppressed
>white people -- not the result of global economic forces and social
>processes that are having a disruptive impact on almost everyone."
>
>For further information, contact at the Institute for Public Accuracy:
>Sam Husseini, (202) 347-0020; Norman Solomon, (415) 552-5378
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