Tim "RaHoWa' May.

[mattd]

CALL TO ANTI-RACISTS TO CONVERGE ON YORK, PA, JANUARY 12TH: SHUT DOWN THE 
WHITE SUPREMACISTS' RECRUITING DRIVE! This coming January 12, at 12 noon in 
York, PA, three white supremacist groups with ties to racist terrorism -- 
the World Church of the Creator, the National Alliance, and the Eastern 
Hammer Skins -- are planning a public meeting to capitalize off racial 
tensions which have been brought out recently by the prosecution of York's 
mayor for his role in the 1969 race riots in that town. Mayor Robertson, 
then an officer on the York City police force, is accused of encouraging 
white kids to "kill as many n----rs as you can" during the riots, and 
giving them ammunition which was used to kill a black woman driving through 
a white neighborhood. We are calling all concerned anti-racists to come out 
and help shut down these nazis. NEVER GIVE THE NAZIS SPACE TO ORGANIZE! No 
matter how radical they claim to be, white supremacists always show their 
true colors by siding with the police when things get heavy. The National 
Alliance targeted York earlier this year for a stickering campaign 
supporting Mayor Robertson's actions during the riots. And now three 
well-known fascist organizations are planning to hold a public meeting with 
the same message. The World Church of the Creator has been on the rise 
since the shooting spree undertaken by one of its members, Ben Smith, in 
July of 1999 (Smith targeted Asian, Black and Jewish people, killing 2 and 
wounding 9). After exploiting the media attention in the wake of the 
shooting for all it was worth, WCOTC leader Matt Hale began a campaign of 
holding public meetings in libraries around Central Illinois to spread his 
fascist ideology. These meetings are a bid to appear respectable and to 
bring white supremacy into the mainstream. Hale's usual language of racist 
slurs and calls for RaHoWa (Racial Holy War) are toned down and buried 
behind smooth-talking claims that the WCOTC is only interested in helping 
white communities. The WCOTC's shock troops of violence-prone thugs are 
encouraged to dress sharply to present a good public image and to refrain 
from violence ... for the time being. The National Alliance tends to 
organize more 'respectably' -- in Maryland, one of their most prominent 
members is a correctional officer at Hagerstown -- and are somewhat slicker 
about using popular white racism to build a mass movement along the lines 
of the original Nazi Party. They claim to have more than doubled their 
numbers in the past year, and were quick to turn the September 11th tragedy 
to their advantage, both blaming Jews and the U.S.'s support for Israel for 
the attack, and exploiting anti-immigrant sentiment to their own ends. In 
Florida, the NA recently commissioned a billboard saying, "Stop Immigration 
Now", and in DC, they've held two rallies at the Israeli embassy, trying to 
turn anti-imperialist sentiment against Israel into white-supremacist 
organizing here. And the fact that these two groups are now coming together 
with Hammerskins is especially cause for alarm. A loose organization of 
white supremacist "skinheads" (we put the word in quotes out of respect for 
anti-racist skinheads, who have often been in the front lines confronting 
them), Hammerskins are well-known for tracking down anti-racist organizers 
and beating them up (thankfully plenty of times they've more than met their 
match!) but generally shy away from any political organizing. While 
Hammerskins have often served as "security detachments" at the World Church 
of the Creator's events, historically the Hammerskins didn't have a lot of 
respect for the NA, seeing them as being too uptight, disciplined, and not 
active. But this has changed as the Hammers have seen the massive growth 
that the NA has claimed, and the energy that anti-racist activists have 
devoted to countering the NA's recent efforts. At a recent nazi rally in 
Washington, DC, a leader of the Eastern Hammer Skins yelled to the 
anti-racist counter-demonstrators, "Any of you gotten your asses kicked in 
Baltimore lately? If so, that was us!" Indeed. Whatever their game plan, 
none of these groups have anything whatsoever to offer, and we refuse to 
allow them space to spread their racist fantasies. Previous WCOTC meetings 
-- in Wallingford, CT and Peoria, IL, to name two -- have met with massive, 
determined, and forceful community opposition. The National Alliance has 
been consistently outnumbered, beaten with crowbars, and pelted with 
balloons filled with urine at their recent rallies in Washington, DC. We 
hope that anti-racists will similarly rise to the occasion in York and show 
up to stand in the way of these nazis. We insist that public humiliation is 
the best medicine for these fools suffering from delusions of supremacy! 
THE PROBLEM IS THE POLICE AND INSTITUTIONAL RACISM. The race riots began as 
a confrontation between a few neighborhood crews, who, following the "laws 
of gravity" came to pick sides along racial lines. Nothing new, gangs fight 
all the time. But as long as cities are divided by race and racism, 
conflicts based on race and racism are gonna happen. The issue at stake is 
that the police used the white gangs, as they had for some time, as shock 
troops against blacks who were turning the everyday fighting into an 
opportunity to make a stand against decades of abuse and oppression that 
showed no sign of relenting. By rallying white opposition to black 
insurrection, the police deflected attention and anger directed at them and 
kept the conflict largely in the realm of a "race war". Class war was, and 
is, the order of the day. At that time, few whites were ready to recognize 
that, but things change. WE DEMAND THAT ALL CHARGES BE DROPPED against the 
eight men accused of shooting Lillie Belle Allen and the two men accused of 
shooting officer Henry Schaad. While the outcome of the 1969 riots is still 
felt by many in York, especially the families of the victims, the healing 
process won't be helped by dragging these people through trials at this 
point. They were, all of them, really just kids caught up in fighting a war 
they had no part in making. Why is it that the only "justice" the state 
offers is the chance to ruin more lives? But Mayor Robertson's role is 
something completely different. He (and how many of his fellow police 
officers?), armed and provoked a group of white teenagers to kill blacks. 
Lillie Belle Allen, an unarmed black woman in the wrong place at the wrong 
time, became their victim. By all acounts, the city's police force was (and 
largely still is) up to its neck in white-supremacist attitudes. THE ONLY 
WAY FOR YORK TO DEAL WITH THE PAST IS TO FULLY INVESTIGATE POLICE AND CITY 
GOVERNMENT INVOLVEMENT IN THE RIOTS, AND TO EXPOSE ONGOING RACIST PRACTICES 
AND POLICIES BY THE CITY AND THE POLICE. Until this is done, we have no 
guarantee that this situation will not happen again. The social barriers 
that separate whites, blacks, and Puerto Ricans can be and are being broken 
down, but only if the people are allowed to deal with their own conflicts 
without being played against each other by a racist police force which 
maintains its own power by "dividing and conquering." If there was one 
lesson to be had from the riots it was "Don't trust the po-lice." NEVER 
MIND THE BUREAUCRATS! The Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission, the same 
state agency which has called Anti-Racist Action a "hate group" in the 
past, seems to feel that the best way to deal with groups like the World 
Church of the Creator is ignore them at the same time that they provide 
them space to meet, organize and recruit, even when that means closing the 
town library to residents and spending tax money on a massive police 
presence to protect a small and irrelevant group of neo-nazis from the 
consequences of their hate. The Pennsylvania state government is the last 
place we'd look for advice on fighting racism. The state has no real 
interest in stopping nazis from organizing. They're happy just as long as 
everything stays in the bounds of "law and order". But government officials 
don't have to deal with nazi attacks or the effects of racist organizing in 
their communities. WE BELIEVE THE EVERYDAY PEOPLE OF ALL RACES AND 
NATIONALITIES face similar problems, and can work through those problems 
together when the racist government and their fascist supporters don't 
interfere. White power groups are free to preach their cross-eyed idiocy 
and we're free to stand in their way. WE WILL SHUT DOWN THE NAZIS!