Two articles in today's Washington Post address hate and racism in American politics. Interestingly, the Post never relates the articles, but they are intertwined -- and underscore the reality that hate could play in the 2008 elections. We can't address these issues if we don't admit they exist.
First, Hate groups are using the Obama candidacy as a recruiting tool:
Sen. Barack Obama's historic victory in the Democratic primaries, celebrated in America and across much of the world as a symbol of racial progress and cultural unity, has also sparked an increase in racist and white supremacist activity, mainly on the Internet, according to leaders of hate groups and the organizations that track them.
Neo-Nazi, skinhead and segregationist groups have reported gains in numbers of visitors to their Web sites and in membership since the senator from Illinois secured the Democratic nomination June 3. His success has aroused a community of racists, experts said, concerned by the possibility of the country's first black president.
"I haven't seen this much anger in a long, long time," said Billy Roper, a 36-year-old who runs a group called White Revolution in Russellville, Ark. "Nothing has awakened normally complacent white Americans more than the prospect of America having an overtly nonwhite president."
As Sen. Barack Obama opens his campaign as the first African American on a major party presidential ticket, nearly half of all Americans say race relations in the country are in bad shape and three in 10 acknowledge feelings of racial prejudice, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll.
Lingering racial bias affects the public's assessments of the Democrat from Illinois, but offsetting advantages and Sen. John McCain's age could be bigger factors in determining the next occupant of the White House.
This is disturbing. Not surprising, but disturbing. How many of those Americans with "feelings of racial prejudice" have strong enough feelings to foster the hate movement? And, how many other Americans have those feelings but won't admit it?
The other question is how closely the GOP are willing to be allied with the racist/hate group crowd in America. We've already seen the GOP leaders in North Carolina and Tennessee are more than willing to go there -- with no ramifications from McCain or the RNC. The GOP does have a "win at any cost" mentality. Since Nixon's "Southern Strategy," they've played the race card.
John McCain and his campaign can reject racism -- or embrace it. And, without a complete rejection of the ugly racial politics every time it rears its head, McCain is embracing it.
(UPDATE: SF Chronicle quotes hate group as legit expert saying gas are bad parents, likely to molest kids, just as city of SF prepares pro-gay adoption ad blitz.)
This is an unbelievably sloppy, offensive, and dangerous gaffe by the San Francisco Chronicle and their reporter Ilene Lelchuk. Not to mention, an incredibly stupid one for a paper headquartered in San Francisco.
Ilene Lelchuk, a reporter with the San Francisco Chronicle, quoted the leader of a known hate group (without identifying him as such) as a scientific expert on gay issues (he claimed that gays molest kids) in a story just published Monday. The "expert" in question is none of than Paul Cameron. You may recall that I've been writing a lot about Cameron in the past few weeks (as has Pam Spaulding), as the lead religious right groups keep pushing his hate "science."
What's the problem with Cameron? He's a man who has suggested that the extermination of gays might be necessary. Per the Southern Poverty Law Center:
He told the 1985 Conservative Political Action Committee conference that "extermination of homosexuals" might be needed in the next three to four years. He has advocated tattooing AIDS patients in the face, and banishment to a former leper colony for any patient who resisted. He has called for gay bars to be closed and gays to be registered with the government.
He was kicked out of the American Psychological Association, and was publicly rebuked by the Nebraska Psychological Association and the American Sociological Association. And he has been called the leader of a "hate group" by the Southern Poverty Law Center, America's number one civil rights organization for tracking the klan, neo-Nazis and white supremacists. The Southern Poverty Law Center went so far as to say that "Cameron's 'science' echoes Nazi Germany." And the SPLC tracks actual Nazis, so they have the right to make the comparison.
This is the "expert" quoted by the San Francisco Chronicle. And to make matters worse, not only did the Chronicle quote a known hate group as an expert on civil rights, but they didn't even identify who Cameron really is. Nope. They don't tell their readers anything at all about Cameron, simply that he's an expert on gays molesting children. Do you think it's relevant that the man's "science" has been debunked? Not according to the "journalists" at the Chronicle.
One wonders if the Chronicle would quote the grand wizard of the Klan and not tell its readers that he is in fact with the Klan. Unlikely. And they certainly wouldn't go to the Klan for a scientific analysis of the black genome. Then why do they turn to a known hate group that is lumped together with the Klan, white supremacists and neo-Nazis by the Southern Poverty Law Center? Oh I'm sure they'll try to say that the reporter screwed up. How so? If you Google "Paul Cameron," the first thing to turn up is a detailed analysis of just how nutty this guy is.
And if that wasn't enough. Apparently the Chronicle also missed the time that Cameron appeared to endorse Nazi Germany's approach to dealing with gays (they gassed us along with the Jews and people with disabilities and gypsies and the rest). I'm not kidding. Cameron wrote an article about how the Nazis apparently had the right idea about how to treat gays. The article was so offensive that one of the lead academics of the religious right even disowned Cameron over the horrid thing (link above).
It's one thing for a newspaper to say that they're going to cite a gay critic and we just have to accept that fact. Fine. But you don't quote a critic who runs the Klan, the neo-Nazis or a white supremacist organization unless you are going to identify him as such. You don't quote that critic's "science," unquestioned, when the lead scientific associations in America have called it intentionally misrepresented junk. To do otherwise legitimizes the critic and their hate. To quote Cameron at all, let alone as just another guy who thinks that science proves that gays molest kids, is beyond contemptible. It is the lowest form of journalism. And what's more, the Chronicle has now, for the first time in years, put Cameron's name back in play in the mainstream media. Some other lazy reporter, some other TV station, some other radio show, will see Cameron quoted as an expert in the Chronicle and they'll reach out to him, having no idea that they are helping to promote a known hate group. The Chronicle should be ashamed of itself.
You can contact Ms. Lelchuk here (you have every right to chew her ear off, but please realize that there's a fine line between righteous indignation and simply being rude - she deserves the former).
Also contact the Chronicle's Reader Rep, i.e., the ombudsman, here.
What will it take for these hateful extremists to stop promoting known hate groups? And how can Republicans in Congress, and the White House, stand to be associated with people who would promote an organization whose hate-writings "echo Nazi Germany?" And finally, why won't the media, who is all too happy to quote these groups, report on the fact that they are promoting known hate groups?
It's time the media asked the American Family Association, the Family Research Council, and the Concerned Women for America why they are promoting a known "hate group" on their Web sites.
Who says they are promoting a known hate group? Why, none of than the same expert on American hate groups just interviewed on ABC's World New Tonight: the Southern Poverty Law Center. ABC reports that the number of hate groups has risen 40% since the year 2000. One of those hate groups, as documented by the Southern Poverty Law Center, is Paul Cameron's "Family Research Institute." Cameron's specialty is concocting phony "science" that dehumanizes gays. Cameron has discussed the extermination of all gay people. The Southern Poverty Law Center lists Cameron's Family Research Institute alongside the neo-Nazis and the Klan - that's how bad he is.
So with hate groups on the rise in America, why are 3 of the top 4 religious right organizations in America - the American Family Association, the Family Research Council, and the Concerned Women for America - promoting Cameron and his research on their Web sites as I write this? They are promoting a known hate groups that has been likened to the Klan and neo-Nazis. The Southern Poverty Law Center says that "Cameron's 'science' echoes Nazi Germany." America's lead religious right organizations are using their Web sites to promote "science" that "echoes Nazi Germany." Think about that. And these aren't fringe groups. These are THE groups - the people who meet with George Bush, who pull the Republicans' strings in Congress. They aren't the fringe of the religious right - they ARE the religious right.
How in God's name are these organizations quoted by American media, welcomed into the offices of Republicans in Congress, and invited to meet with George Bush's White House staff when they cavort with hate?
And why do the American Family Association, the Family Research Council, and the Concerned Women for America continue to promote on their very public Web sites the Nazi science of a known "hate group"? Is their hatred for gay Americans so great that they would promote the work of a group akin to the Klan?
You can read much more about this, including links to all the original sources I cite above, here. Rest assured we will continue to document how long the religious right leaders continue to promote this known hate group. It's a fact that every member of Congress should discuss during their floor speeches about the hate crimes bill tomorrow in the House. These are the faces of the people who oppose the hate crimes bill. These are the faces of hate enablers. It makes me sick as a Christian that these extremists claim to speak for me.
YouTube has suspended the account of the white supremacist filmmaker whose work was promoted earlier this week by a spokesman for the Concerned Women for America. The racist film maker's works included such titles as "Black Intelligence," "Keep America White," and an ode to Hitler in honor of his birthday. Unfortunately, the Concerned Women for America continues to promote on its Web site a known "hate group" whose bigoted "'science' echoes Nazi Germany," according to the Southern Poverty Law Center, America's foremost civil rights organization tracking hate groups. The Family Research Council and the American Family Association also promote the "echoes [of] Nazi Germany" science of the same hate group.
UPDATE: More from Pam Spaulding on the Paul Cameron hate group here.
How sad that the far-right Republicans are now embracing known hate groups in order to further their homophobic agenda.
"CAMERON'S 'SCIENCE' ECHOES NAZI GERMANY"
Yes, they're now promoting extremists who have been labeled "hate groups" by THE expert on hate, the Southern Poverty Law Center. Amazing. SPLC lists religious right hatemonger Paul Cameron's Family Research institute as one of the lead hate groups in Colorado - SPLC lists Cameron's FRI alongside the Klan and white supremacists. SPLC says that "Cameron's 'science' echoes Nazi Germany." That's how bad it is. Here is SPLC's "hate group" map:
Now, why does the Southern Poverty Law Center label Cameron and his Family Research Institute a "hate group"? Look at what Cameron espouses, per the SPLC:
He told the 1985 Conservative Political Action Committee conference that "extermination of homosexuals" might be needed in the next three to four years. He has advocated tattooing AIDS patients in the face, and banishment to a former leper colony for any patient who resisted. He has called for gay bars to be closed and gays to be registered with the government.
(Note that Cameron made the speech at CPAC, the same conference at which Ann Coulter called John Edwards a "faggot" - nice long history of hate at the top conservative conference of the year.)
Uh huh, this is who the lead religious right organizations are using to buttress their anti-gay cause, to lobby Congress and the White House. This is how these self-proclaimed voices of God show their love for Jesus. By embracing someone who called for the extermination of gays - someone who was kicked out of the American Psychological Association and the American Sociological Association for being an unethical extremist. And these people are in the senior ranks of the Republican party and the Bush administration.
FORMER FRC AND CWA EMPLOYEE PROMOTES HATE GROUP
But, oddly, Peter LaBarbera, a former employee of both the Family Research Council and the Concerned Women for America, is pushing Cameron's hate research to this day (LaBarbera was also, until recently, the lead "family values" advocate in the state of Illinois). In an online screed blasting the gay organization Human Rights Campaign, LaBarbera cites the research of Paul Cameron.
"THE HILL" CAUGHT PUBLISHING HATE SCIENCE
Even more troubling, far-right activist Armstrong Williams published Cameron's hate research on the respected inside-the-beltway publication "The Hill" - a publication not known for promoting the Nazi-esque science of known hate groups (well, at least not until now). The study Williams' cites is Cameron's most recent study that LaBarbera pushed above.
AFA, FRC, AND CWA ALL ARE CURRENTLY PROMOTING CAMERON AND HIS HATE SCIENCE
Equally sad, and disturbing, three top religious right organizations, the American Family Association, the Family Research Council, and Concerned Women for America all promote Cameron's Nazi-esque research on their Web sites (examples: AFA in 2005, FRC in Oct. 2006, and CWA in 2002 examples - there are many more).
We exposed AFA's promotion of this known hate group over a year ago, to no avail. AFA continues to promote the hate group on its Web site. It's one thing for the religious right to be a bunch of anti-gay bigots, but it's quite another to embrace science that echoes of Nazi Germany. It's time for the American Family Association, the Family Research Council, and the Concerned Women for America to publicly rebuke Paul Cameron and their former employee Peter LaBarbera.
(More on Cameron here. And note that this is not the first time FRC's Tony Perkins has had a disturbing tie-in to white supremacists.)
