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Charleston Massacre Draws Attention to White Supremacist Backing of Politicians
Jun 27, 2015
This week, The Guardian reported that the leader of a right-wing group which apparently influenced Dylan Roof's extremist views on race before the Charleston church shootings had donated tens of thousands of dollars to leading Republicans.
Earl Holt, president of the Council of Conservative Citizens who once stated that African Americans were "the laziest, stupidest and most criminally-inclined race in the history of the world," has spent $65,000 backing GOP candidates including presidential hopefuls Ted Cruz, Rand Paul and Rick Santorum. In a manifesto attributed to Roof, the accused Charleston shooter credited the CCC with informing his views about race and African Americans in particular.
The Washington Post further reported that Holt, who is based in Longview, Texas, has also contributed to numerous other campaigns, including the 2014 Senate bids of Tom Cotton in Arkansas and Thom Tillis in North Carolina. Once the contributions were made public, many of the candidates announced they will be returning the funds. As Sen. Cotton said in a statement:
We have initiated a refund of Mr. Holt's contribution. I do not agree with his hateful beliefs and language and believe they are hurtful to our country.
This isn't the first time a donor tied to white nationalist and white supremacist groups has drawn attention for supporting conservative politicians. In recent years, there have been several instances of individuals linked to fringe groups making political contributions, especially in support of candidates popular in the Tea Party movement. In many -- but not all -- of the cases, candidates have returned donations and distanced themselves from known extremists once the contributions have been brought to light.
MICHAEL PEROUTKA
A Maryland-based lawyer, Peroutka identifies as a Christian Reconstructionist who believes there is "no such thing as a civil right." For years Peroutka was closely involved with the League of the South, a neo-Confederate group that favors secession and has defended the Council of Conservative Citizens in the wake of the Charleston massacre. Peroutka was a member of the League's board and was a featured speaker at their 2013 conference, "Southern Independence: Antidote to Tyranny." (Peroutka quit the League when news about his ties to the group surfaced during his 2014 campaign for Anne Arundel County Council.)
Peroutka and his law firm have been generous political donors for conservative candidates. According to election spending data compiled by the National Institute on Money in State Politics' FollowTheMoney.org database, Peroutka has contributed more than $300,000 over the last 12 years, including $2,500 for Sen. Ron Paul as a write-in candidate for president in 2012. He also contributed to at least two U.S. House candidates: former Rep. Steve Stockman (R-TX) and current Rep. Andy Harris (R-MD). In addition, FollowTheMoney.org shows more than $200,000 in contributions from Peroutka's law firm since 2000, including to the campaigns of Rep. Harris and Rep. Alex Mooney (R-WV).
By far the biggest beneficiary of Peroutka's political giving has been judge Roy Moore, chief justice of the Alabama Supreme Court. All told, records show Peroutka and his firm funneling $180,000 to benefit Moore and his organizations between 2006 and 2012. In February, Judge Moore earned national attention when he ordered judges and state employees to ignore a federal court ruling legalizing same-sex marriage in Alabama.
In this video from Right Wing Watch, Peroutka addresses a 2012 League of the South conference during which he led the crowd in singing "Dixie," the de facto anthem of the Confederacy, which he called the "national anthem."
CARL FORD
A bankruptcy lawyer in Laurel, Mississippi, Ford is the former lawyer for Sam Bower, the imperial wizard of the White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan who died in prison after being convicted of the murder of civil rights activist Vernon Dahmer. Ford is also active in the League of the South and was active in the Mississippi Klan in the 1960s.
In 2014, news surfaced that U.S. Sen. Chris McDaniel, a Tea Party favorite from Mississippi, received an $800 donation from Ford, who said he especially appreciated McDaniel's position against "so-called immigration reform." Federal campaign finance records show the McDaniel campaign ultimately returning $1,800 worth of donations from Ford.
As reported in The Daily Beast, campaign finance records also show Ford donating to former Rep. Ron Paul (R-TX), Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY), Rep. Alan Nunnelee (R-MS) and the 2006 campaign of Sen. Jim Webb (D-VA).
RON WILSON
A businessman and politician in Anderson County, South Carolina, Wilson for many years was an active member of the League of the South and Council of Conservative Citizens, where he was a columnist for the group's publication "Citizen Informer" from 1989 to 1993. He also was part of an extremist wing that gained control of the Sons of Confederate Veterans, rising to the level of commander-in-chief from 2002 to 2004.
Wilson was also a leader or spokesman for three groups in South Carolina dedicated to defending the Confederate flag: the South Carolina Heritage Coalition, which he directed; the Palmetto League; and Americans for the Preservation of American Culture, a political committee he founded in the early 2000s.
As reported in the Independent Mail, Americans for the Preservation of American Culture raised $22,900 between 2002 and 2008, the year it got involved in national elections:
During the 2008 Republican primary, the group produced radio ads and YouTube videos that attacked both U.S. Sen. John McCain and former Mass. Gov. Mitt Romney for failing to support the Confederate flag, while getting behind former Ark. Gov. Mike Huckabee for supporting Southerners' rights to determine whether to fly the flag.
Eighty percent of the PAC's money came from Wilson and his family.
In 2012, Wilson was sentenced to a 20-year prison term for operating a Ponzi scheme that federal investigators determined had defrauded investors of more than $59 million.
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'We Can't Wait Any Longer': Activist Removes Confederate Flag from SC Statehouse
Bree Newsome climbed flagpole in front of South Carolina statehouse early Saturday morning, stating, "It's time for a new chapter"
Jun 27, 2015
An activist and youth organizer named Bree Newsome climbed the flagpole in front of the South Carolina capitol in Columbia early Saturday morning and pulled down the Confederate flag still flying on Statehouse grounds, telling media, "we can't wait any longer."
Newsome, 30, of Charlotte, was about halfway up the 30-foot flagpole when police demanded she climb back down, but she kept going until she was able to remove the flag from its perch. Upon returning to the ground, Newsome was arrested along with another activist, James Ian Dyson, and taken to the Alvin S. Glenn Detention Center on misdemeanor charges of defacing a monument on state capitol grounds. News of their action spread quickly under the hashtag #FreeBree, sparking a petition to remove the flag and drop the charges against Newsome.
"We removed the flag today because we can't wait any longer," Newsome said in a written statement on Saturday. "We can't continue like this another day. It's time for a new chapter where we are sincere about dismantling white supremacy and building toward true racial justice and equality."
After Newsome's arrest, officials ordered the banner to be raised again around 8:30 am--just in time for a pro-flag rally.
The action came just hours before funeral services continued for the third day for the victims of an attack on Emanuel A.M.E. Church in Charleston, South Carolina, in which a gunman shot dead nine black men and women. Dylann Roof, a 21-year-old white supremacist, has been charged in the murders. The attack is being investigated as a hate crime and has sparked a renewed demand by activists to take down the Confederate flags flying on capitol grounds in numerous states.
Watch video of the action below:
"We could not sit by and watch the victims of the Charleston Massacre be laid to rest while the inspiration for their deaths continues to fly above their caskets," the group that organized the action said in a statement.
"The flag represents white supremacy," another activist, 25-year-old Tamika Lewis, told the Guardian on Saturday. "The image alone is used to ignite fear and intimidation, especially among people of color and minorities. This was a long time coming."
South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley called on the state legislature this week to vote to remove the flag. But, as Lewis told the Guardian, "This was a Confederate symbol that ignited an individual to kill and murder innocent black people in a church, and it was still erected. The legislature was just taking too long to act morally and justly. They're dragging their feet."
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In Face of White Supremacist Violence, Families Express Grief and Forgiveness
'I will never, ever hold her again. But I forgive you. And have mercy on your soul,' says Nadine Collier, the daughter of Ethel Lance
Jun 19, 2015
The families of nine black people slaughtered in this week's white supremacist massacre in Charleston, South Carolina on Friday addressed the confessed killer in court--delivering emotional messages of grief, anger, love, and forgiveness.
Relatives' statements came amid nationwide mourning, demands for justice, and calls to tackle the root causes of the killings: the legacy of white supremacy and racism in America.
The bond hearing in North Charleston was the first public appearance of Dylann Roof, the white man who confessed to the killing at the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church and reportedly said he wanted to start a "race war." He attended the hearing via video link.
Roof was addressed by some of the relatives of the people killed, all of whom were black. Their names are: Depayne Middletown Doctor, 49; Cynthia Hurd, 54; Susie Jackson, 87; Ethel Lance, 70; Rev. Clementa Pinckney, 41; Tywanza Sanders, 26; Rev. Dr. Daniel Simmons Sr., 74; Sharonda Coleman-Singleton, 45; and Myra Thompson, 59.
Nadine Collier, the daughter of Ethel Lance, said at the hearing through sobs: "I forgive you. You took something very precious from me. I will never talk to her again. I will never, ever hold her again. But I forgive you. And have mercy on your soul."
Felicia Sanders, the mother of Tywanza Sanders, was present at the time of the massacre. She survived by pretending to be dead, along with a five-year-old child. Tywanza Sanders, the youngest person killed in the massacre, reportedly died while trying to shield his 87-year-old aunt Susie Jackson, but both were killed.
"We welcomed you Wednesday night in our Bible study with open arms," said Sanders, speaking to Roof. "You have killed some of the most beautiful people that I know," she said. "Every fiber in my body hurts, and I'll never be the same. Tywanza Sanders was my son, but Tywanza was my hero."
She said, "May God have mercy on you."
Bethane Middleton-Brown, sister of the Rev. DePayne Middleton-Doctor, said: "I'm a work in progress and I acknowledge that I'm very angry. She taught me we are the family that love built. We have no room for hate. We have to forgive."
Meanwhile, NAACP president Cornell Brooks on Friday underscored the growing call for the Confederate flag to come down from South Carolina Statehouse grounds.
As the Charleston City Paperexplained:
The NAACP has been calling for tourists and businesses to boycott the state for years due to the flying of the flag. In 2000, activists won a small compromise by having the flag removed from the Statehouse dome and placed atop a memorial to Confederate soldiers on the Statehouse grounds. However, the flag remains highly visible; it is the first thing you see as you approach the Statehouse from the north on Main Street.
"We cannot have the confederate flag waving in the state capital," Brooks said at a press conference in Charleston. "Some will assert that the Confederate flag is merely a symbol of years gone by, a symbol of heritage and not hate. But when we see that symbol lifted up as an emblem of hate, as a tool of hate, as an inspiration for hate, as an inspiration for violence, that symbol has to come down."
"As a movement, we must say what our President cannot or will not say. This was an undeniable act of terrorism intended to strike fear into the hearts of Black communities at a time when we have bravely stood together declaring that #BlackLivesMatter everywhere."
--Movement for Black Lives
Brooks went on: "The fact that this shooting took place in a church, in a Bible study, where the shooter asked for the pastor by name, it says to us we have to examine the underlying racial animus and racial hate. This was not merely a mass shooting, not merely a matter of gun violence. This was a racial hate crime and must be confronted as such."
Echoing Brooks' argument, a coalition of groups under the Movement for Black Lives banner--including Ferguson Action, Black Lives Matter, and Black Youth Project 100--issued a statement on Friday speaking to the scourge of racism that extends far beyond South Carolina.
"Whether its the murder of four schoolgirls at a Birmingham church in 1963, the killing of twelve-year-old Tamir Rice by Cleveland police officers, or the suicide of Kalief Browder after years of being unjustly imprisoned and tortured as a teenager at Rikers Island jail--our communities continue to suffer the many strains of a cancerous racism allowed to flourish in this country," the statement reads. "While the arrest of this shooter must come as a small comfort to the families of those killed, we know we cannot arrest our way out of this country's history or its present."
It continues: "Therefore, as a movement, we must say what our President cannot or will not say. This was an undeniable act of terrorism intended to strike fear into the hearts of Black communities at a time when we have bravely stood together declaring that #BlackLivesMatter everywhere."
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