Latest news with #Klansmen
New York Times
24-04-2025
- Politics
- New York Times
Leonard Zeskind, Who Foresaw the Rise of White Nationalism, Dies at 75
Leonard Zeskind, a dogged tracker of right-wing hate groups, who foresaw before almost anyone else that anti-immigrant ideologies would move to the mainstream of American politics, died on April 15 at his home in Kansas City, Mo. He was 75. The cause was complications of pancreatic cancer, Carol Smith, his wife, said. Long before Donald J. Trump's nativist rhetoric in 2023 accusing immigrants of 'poisoning the blood' of the United States, Mr. Zeskind, a single-minded researcher, spent decades studying white nationalism, documenting how its leading voices had shifted their vitriol from Black Americans to nonwhite immigrants. His 2009 book, 'Blood and Politics: The History of the White Nationalist Movement From the Margins to the Mainstream,' resulted from years of following contemporary Klansmen, neo-Nazis, militia members and other right-wing groups. His investigations earned him a MacArthur 'genius grant' in 1998. 'For a nice Jewish boy, I've gone to more Klan rallies, neo-Nazi events and Posse Comitatus things than anybody should ever have to,' Mr. Zeskind said in 2018. Recently, 'Blood and Politics' was one of 381 books removed from the U.S. Naval Academy library in a purge of titles about racism and diversity ordered by the Trump administration. One of Mr. Zeskind's central themes was that before the 1960s, white supremacists fought to maintain the status quo of segregation, especially in the South. But after the era of civil rights victories, he maintained, white nationalists began to see themselves as an oppressed group, victims who needed to mount an insurgency against the establishment. Their principal adversaries were immigrants from the developing world who were tilting the demographics of the United States away from earlier waves of Northern Europeans. Despite the subtitle of Mr. Zeskind's book, asserting that white nationalists had moved 'from the margins to the mainstream,' many reviewers in 2009 were skeptical, treating his work as a backward look at a fringe movement led by racist crackpots whose day was over. The United States had just elected its first Black president, and extremist movements such as Christian Identity, which preached that white Christians were entitled to dominate government and society, seemed antiquated. The Los Angeles Times waved away those hate groups as questing after 'an impossible future.' NPR noted that 'while a handful of bigots' were still grumbling about the South's defeat in the Civil War and spreading conspiracies about Jews, 'some 70 million others have, in a testament to the overwhelming tolerance of contemporary American society, gone ahead and elected Barack Obama president.' Mr. Zeskind insisted that white nationalists should not be underestimated, and he was especially concerned about their influence on Republican politics. He identified those influences in the candidacies of David Duke, a former Klan leader who won a majority of white voters when he ran for statewide office in Louisiana in 1990, and in Pat Buchanan, who fared well in presidential primaries in the 1990s, running on a platform of reducing immigration, opposing multiculturalism and stoking the culture wars. Mr. Buchanan's issues offered a template for Mr. Trump, who leveraged similar ideas to wrest control of the Republican Party from centrists. Mr. Zeskind spoke about Mr. Trump in a 2018 town hall speech in Washington on the one-year anniversary of the march in Charlottesville, Va., by young white supremacists, whose zealotry the president had minimized. Mr. Zeskind said that Mr. Trump hadn't created an upsurge in hatred of nonwhite people — he was a product of it. 'White supremacy and white privilege have been dominant elements of our society from the beginning,' he said. 'It breeds a whole set of behaviors in people, and it should be deeply and widely discussed in every level of our society.' Leonard Harold Zeskind was born on Nov. 14, 1949, in Baltimore, one of three sons of Stanley and Shirley (Berman) Zeskind. His parents, who ran a pension management business, moved the family to Miami when Leonard was 10. He graduated from Miami Senior High School, and then studied philosophy at the University of Florida and the University of Kansas, though he did not graduate. Ms. Smith, his wife, said he was expelled from college in Kansas after taking part in a 1960s campus protest of the Reserve Officers Training Corps. Mr. Zeskind earned a welding certificate from the Manual Career and Technical Center in Kansas City, and for 13 years worked as a welder and ironworker and on assembly lines. He was also a community organizer on Kansas City's East Side, seeking to lower tensions between white working-class families and their Black neighbors. He met Ms. Smith in 1979. She had grown up on a dairy farm in Kansas, and through her he became aware that during the farm crisis of the 1980s, a conspiracy movement known as Posse Comitatus had spread among economically ravaged farmers, who were convinced that they had been targeted by Jewish bankers and others because they were white Christians. Mr. Zeskind was invited to speak about Posse Comitatus to a group of progressive farmers in Des Moines, and he mobilized Jewish groups nationally to counter the conspiracy movement. From 1985 to 1994, he was the research director at the Center for Democratic Renewal (previously the National Anti-Klan Network). In 1983, he founded the Institute for Research and Education on Human Rights, a study and watchdog group focused on hate groups. Besides Ms. Smith, he is survived by a brother, Philip. His first marriage, to Elaine Cantrell, ended in divorce. At the 2018 town hall meeting in Washington, Mr. Zeskind called on Democrats in Congress to vehemently oppose a little-noticed bill sponsored by Representative Steve King, Republican of Iowa, to end birthright citizenship, the post-Civil War guarantee that anyone born in the United States is a citizen. The cause had become a focus of anti-immigrant groups warning of threats to the 'white race.' 'They want to smash up the 14th Amendment,' Mr. Zeskind said, addressing Democratic officials, 'and I think you guys should scream about it.' The following year, in an article in The New York Times about how Mr. King, a backbencher in his party, had anticipated many of Mr. Trump's anti-immigrant stances, the congressman said in an interview, 'White nationalist, white supremacist, Western civilization — how did that language become offensive?' Republican leaders in the House stripped Mr. King of his committee assignments over the remark, and he lost re-election in 2020. But the issue did not die. One of President Trump's first moves in January was an executive order to end birthright citizenship. Last week, the Supreme Court agreed to hear arguments over Mr. Trump's order.
Yahoo
03-04-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Youth program leader shares story
MASON Mich. (WLNS) – As an Air Force veteran, author, advocate for the youth and more, Lashaunta Waller puts service before herself. Waller has a calling for investing in communities and is always looking to create more impact. She attributes her strength and perseverance to her grandmother. 'This woman never complained. No matter how it was presented to her, she just understood that we take the punches and we just keep moving,' said Waller. Originally from Ohio, Waller has spent the past 16 years living in Michigan. While she has gotten more comfortable in the Great Lakes State, she said moving to Mason was not a welcoming experience for her family. 'Someone had broken in and busted out all of the drywall. There was graffiti, all kinds of profanity throughout. They egged the home,' Waller said. Waller said the graffiti included racial slurs, and she said that incident wasn't the end of it. 'We had the Klansmen in the front yard. They followed us to flag football practices and would bang on our windows,' Waller continued, 'I'm thinking, 'They don't even know us. How do you hate us and don't know us?'' Waller is not the type to let hate win, though, and she knew she had to rise above it. So, they stayed. 'I wanted to show my kids that we didn't see the faces of the guys, but we saw their arms and a part of their hands, and that everyone with that skin color isn't a bad person,' said Waller. She took that message and expanded it, creating the nonprofit organization Garden of Hope. 'To give back to the same community that didn't want us,' Waller said. The youth program teaches kids self-sufficiency while giving them a deeper understanding of the world around them. This is accomplished through activities involving art, music, community service, STEM, and agriculture. Anything that helps them grow their confidence, like learning how to budget and make money. 'We've helped many get into Harvard, Yale, and some of the local colleges,' Waller continued. 'Just to help them achieve their goals has been our biggest success.' Waller said the after-school program also offers scholarships for students. She said that in the last year and a half, Garden of Hope has erased more than $3 million dollars of student loan debt. Garden of Hope has become a national program as well, now in 5 different states with hundreds of members. 'We just want to be able to be a resource for many,' Waller said. Waller joined the Air Force when she was 17 years old and said her decades of service played a big part in shaping her and her nonprofit. 'You see there's a problem and you either be a part of the problem or you be a part of the change,' said Waller. In 2024, she was honored with a Governor's Service Award for National Impact. A month before that, her family received a Presidential Lifetime Achievement Award from the Biden Administration. Not to mention, Waller is also an author with 5 children's books so far that share messages of strength. 'If you can build a foundation of hope, it gives not just today a fair chance, but it gives our future a brighter chance as well,' said Waller. Knowing she can't change the past, but she can change the future, Waller focuses on the youth with the hopes of creating a kinder, more understanding generation. A goal for Waller is to have Garden of Hope available in every state, and with her Grandma's work ethic motivating her, there's nothing that can stop her remarkable ways. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
28-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Demonstrations against Jared Taylor speaking engagement at CMU
GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. (KREX) — The speaking engagement of Jared Taylor at Colorado Mesa University (CMU) sparked controversy across the Grand Valley, with two demonstrations taking place in response. 'We had Jared Taylor speaking on a microphone for at least 50 minutes about how we need to be racially segregated,' said TikTok star Dean Withers. WesternSlopeNow was not able to attend the speech but was able to reactions from attendees as they left. 'Because as soon as I opened my mouth to express how I feel to counter how he felt,' said Withers. 'Guess what, I was told if I opened my mouth again, I'd be kicked out. So, I'd ask this, not only about the university administration, but the sponsors of the WCC (Western Culture Club, who invited Taylor to CMU), tell me why. If you value free speech enough to let a white supremacist be platformed and speak at your school, how come I can't speak?' Outside the University Center, two separate demonstrations were taking place, both in protest to the speaker. A march, organized by Mesa County Democratic Socialists of America, started at the corner of North Avenue and 12th Street and began its march just after 5 p.m. Media liaison of the group, Bishop Walden, provided several examples of Taylor's statements that influenced her to stand against his ideals. 'It has concerned me a lot to read the kinds of articles that are published in American Renaissance. Honestly, any public figure that rubs shoulders with neo-Nazis and known Klansmen, I believe, has no place on a college campus.' Richard Crespin was a member of the march. Crespin shared some words about CMU President John Marshall and the university's decision to allow Taylor to speak. 'If you have to have the university center packed and surrounded with police officers and snipers on the rooftops, that the content of the speech… If you have to go to those greatest of security measures, then there is something inherently wrong with the content of the speech.' The second demonstration on campus was organized by the Campus Unity Organization and Club. This demonstration was a university-sanctioned event. Vice President of the club Sam Hartley talked about why their demonstration needed to happen. 'What we wanted to do with this event is show what this community can be when everybody stands together. I think that was really important to provide for students so that they had a safe option to show what this community is really about.' WesternSlopeNow will be reaching out to CMU President John Marshall for comment on the speech's aftermath. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
The Guardian
27-03-2025
- Politics
- The Guardian
It took an Oscar winner's ordeal for the west to see the truth of settler violence. This is how to stop it
Imagine a group of a dozen armed men storming your village at nightfall. They assault you and your neighbours, throw stones at your house, beat you. If you try to defend yourself, or document the violence, they attack you. When the military arrive, they detain you. Some of them join in with the violence. This harrowing scene is not a story from Tsarist Russia or Jim Crow America. Last Monday, this was exactly what occurred in the Palestinian village of Susya in the occupied West Bank. The attackers who arrived in Susya were neither Cossacks nor Klansmen but Jewish-Israeli settlers accompanied by soldiers. Indeed, when the attacks commenced, three Palestinians were seized by the Israeli military, detained, and then subjected to police interrogation. Such violent raids are far from unique in West Bank, especially in the areas of South Hebron Hills, Masafer Yatta and the Jordan river valley. Since the start of this year, the Centre for Jewish Non Violence has documented more than 40 violent settler attacks in the village of Susya alone. Most go unnoticed by the rest of the world. But this time was different. One of the Palestinian victims was the award-winning director Hamdan Ballal, whose film, No Other Land, which covers the destruction of Palestinian communities in the occupied West Bank, won best documentary at the recent Academy Awards. For hours, the military didn't officially disclose his whereabouts, and attempts to locate him failed. When the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) finally issued a statement, they absurdly labelled him and his fellow villagers terrorists. This facade of justice, when law is nothing but an empty shell, is typical of how the Israeli occupation works. Under its veneer of legality, the most brutal savagery is legitimised and the role of criminal and victim inverted. In the past three years I have submitted numerous complaints to the Israeli Ministry of Defence and Israel's attorney general about settler violence. Nothing has ever happened. My experience is only one of many that indicates how the Israeli legal system makes a farce of justice and allows settlers to terrorise Palestinian communities with impunity. After the attack on Gaza began in 2023, the reign of terror in the West Bank has only intensified. According to B'Tselem (the Israeli Information Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories), settlers have forced at least 18 Palestinian communities – more than 1,000 people – to flee their homes since October 2023. The UN's Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs has found that settler violence, intimidation and harassment have displaced at least 300 Palestinian households, including hundreds of children. Benjamin Netanyahu's government hasn't just stood by passively and allowed this to happen. It has actively allocated funding and weaponry to illegal settlers. Last June, the Armed Conflict Location & Event Data initiative (Acled) found that armed settlers, some of whom have formed their own quasi-military forces, had received a 'considerable amount' of weapons and munitions, including thousands of pistols, M-16 semi-automatic rifles and machine guns from the Israeli military, while regional councils had coordinated with the IDF and the national security ministry to buy hundreds of additional rifles. As that report put it: 'the lines between settlers and the military are increasingly blurring', and 'the difference between civilian aggressors and the Israeli state apparatus is fading even further'. While civilian security squads are supposed to act only in self-defence, the truth remains that Israel is unwilling to tackle those vicious gangs, and that senior government ministers advocate in their favour. Only last week, Israel's security cabinet approved a plan to recognise 13 Jewish settlements in the West Bank as independent. 'We continue to lead a revolution of normalisation and regulation in the settlements. Instead of hiding and apologising – we raise the flag, build and settle,' said the Israeli finance minister, Bezalel Smotrich. The atrocity that happened in Susya is only one example of the countless injustices committed under this criminal occupation. It shouldn't take an Oscar winner for international audiences to notice these acts of violence. The Palestinian people deserve safety and liberation from the occupation, and sovereignty and independence. The international community must play its part in pursuing this. In recent months, a number of governments have issued sanctions against Israeli settlers. This is a good start, but these sanctions must be far stronger if they are to have an effect. The sanctions should include established illegal settler municipalities. Those imposed by the UK, for example, only target three illegal settler outposts and four organisations that have supported the settlers. The established municipalities, such as Shomron regional council, which oversees 35 settlements that are home to an estimated 47,200 people, are the driving force behind violent attempts to take control of more Palestinian territories. Personal sanctions against government ministers who block counter-terrorist measures against violent settler groups are also essential. The UK can play a leading role in coordinating this response, particularly given the moral depravity of Donald Trump's administration. As Washington DC cancels sanctions against violent settlers, London could present the world with a different and more righteous path. When I arrived in Susya on Tuesday after the attack, I knew exactly what I wanted to tell its people. I said that we want to live together, Arabs and Jews, as brothers and sisters. That we are not the enemy of one another, as we struggle together for freedom. A mere day after a gang of criminal Israeli settlers terrorised this village, its villagers welcomed me, an Israeli member of the Knesset, and my message for peace. This proves that the real conflict is not between nations, but between those who seek justice and those who vow bloodshed. The government of Israel has chosen the path of bloodshed, ethnic cleansing and war. It is up to all of us – and to you – to choose a different path. Dr Ofer Cassif is a member of the Knesset, representing the Democratic Front for Peace and Equality (Hadash) since 2019
Yahoo
27-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
White supremacist's talk draws backlash at Colorado Mesa University
A flyer on the Colorado Mesa University campus in Grand Junction advertisers an appearance Thursday by white supremacist Jared Taylor. (Sharon Sullivan for Colorado Newsline) Some Grand Junction community members, including Colorado Mesa University students and alumni, are angry about a white supremacist speaker scheduled to talk at the University Center on Thursday. The Southern Poverty Law Center describes the speaker, Jared Taylor, as the 1990 founder of the New Century Foundation, 'a self-styled think tank that promotes pseudo-scientific studies and research' that purports to show the superiority of white people. The Foundation is known for its American Renaissance magazine and website, which often features proponents of eugenics, as well as anti-Black racists. The New Century Foundation also sponsors conferences attended by Klansmen, neo-Nazis and other white supremacists, according to the SPLC. Students and community members have planned a protest prior to the event, at 4 p.m. on the corner of 12th Street and North Avenue in Grand Junction. The group will gather there before marching through CMU campus to the University Center. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX Max Applebaugh, a 21-year-old CMU junior majoring in business, founded the Western Culture Club with five members about a month ago, after another club had cut ties with him over personal disagreements, he said. One of the Western Culture Club's first actions was to invite Taylor to campus to speak. Applebaugh is president of the club. He is also secretary of the conservative CMU-Turning Point USA club. 'I've been wanting to bring Jared Taylor for a few months now,' Applebaugh said. 'I had a personal connection — a lawyer friend named Jason Lee Van Dyke, based in Texas, who made it possible. He paid for Taylor's flight, accommodations and stay.' Van Dyke is a former member of the Proud Boys extremist group and is known for representing far-right defendants in court, according to Fifteen CMU students who are opposed to Taylor coming to their campus attempted to quash the invitation by joining the Western Culture Club and electing new members. They had hoped to rescind the invitation but the college administration refused to recognize the election, several members said. One of the students, senior Tahirah Pedro Bochmann, said they asked the club's faculty advisor — business instructor Georgann Jouflas — to recognize the election, which Bochmann said Jouflas declined to do. 'She said we should 'just let it go,'' Bochmann said. Freedom of speech is easy to support when you agree with what is being said. It becomes much more difficult when you do not. – CMU business instructor Georgann Jouflas Jouflas said she had become acquainted with Applebaugh when he was her student the prior semester. She said she was impressed that he was always reading before class, typically a history book, as opposed to being on his phone or computer. She said she enjoyed their conversations and his intellectual curiosity, so when he asked if she'd sponsor his club, she agreed. She said her role was not to approve or disapprove of the club's speakers but to guide it through the process of securing approval from CMU's Student Life, which she said she did. Jouflas said she wished the club had chosen a different speaker. 'I do not support white supremacy in any form,' she said. 'Freedom of speech is easy to support when you agree with what is being said. It becomes much more difficult when you do not.' University President John Marshall did not respond to phone or email requests for comment by the time of publication. Director of Student Life Trey Downey also did not respond to a request for an interview. Applebaugh, who said he grew up in Frisco, acknowledges that Taylor's ideas about race make some people feel uncomfortable. '(Taylor) describes himself as a white advocate,' Applebaugh said. 'And that people should have the option to their own spaces.' Applebaugh said he considers himself a white nationalist and libertarian. 'I do believe strongly in advocating for the interests of white people, because there are forces in America that are anti-white,' he said. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
