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HATE VIOLENCE IN THE UNITED STATES
By
Floyd I. Clarke
Deputy Director
Federal Bureau of Investigation
On October 8, 1988, members of the Confederate Hammerskins
(CHS) vandalized a Jewish community center, the Temple Shalom
Synagogue, and an Islamic mosque in Dallas, Texas. These
Skinheads broke windows, shot into walls, and spray painted
racist graffiti on the buildings. Crime scene evidence,
collected by the Dallas Police Department, established Daniel
Wood as a suspect. After being arrested and convicted in State
court, Wood asked to speak with Federal authorities concerning
CHS activities. A joint FBI/Dallas Police Department
investigation was initiated in an attempt to corroborate Wood's
information.
As a result of his information, more than 25 former CHS
members and 15 active CHS members were identified and
interviewed, and over 75 subpoenas were served. On September
28, 1989, a Federal grand jury indicted Daniel Wood, Sean
Tarrant, Michael Lawrence, Jon Jordan, and Christopher Greer on
two counts of violating Title 18 of the U.S. Code, Section 241,
Conspiracy to Violate Civil Rights. Twelve other former and
active CHS members pleaded guilty to misdemeanor charges
involving civil rights violations and agreed to testify as
Government witnesses.
The trial began on February 20, 1990, and by March 1, 1990,
Wood, Tarrant, Lawrence, Jordan, and Greer were found guilty.
In addition, 12 other CHS members were convicted of various acts
of racial violence.
RISE IN HATE VIOLENCE
Unfortunately, this case is not an isolated incident. With
the renewed increase in hate violence activities by white
supremacist groups, racial tensions have escalated across the
country. Such groups use the latest in today's technology, such
as cable television and computer bulletin boards, to spread
their message of hate to anyone who will listen. And, just as
these organized terrorist groups practice hate violence daily,
individuals or small groups have also contributed to the
increase in these types of crimes. Even so, hate crimes have
been largely ignored, and oftentimes, repressed by those who
would rather not open their eyes to the danger that these crimes
present.
Hate violence should be recognized as a nationwide problem
that must be confronted. According to Attorney General Dick
Thornburgh, "Violent interference with freedoms guaranteed by
the Constitution will continue to be a Federal law enforcement
priority. Acts of racial and religious hate...are simply
intolerable in a free society. Let the word go out that the
federal government intends to bring to bear the full force of
the law on every such act that comes to its attention." (1)
Even though hate violence crimes often fall under Federal
jurisdiction, their successful prosecution is becoming
increasingly dependent on close cooperation with State and local
law enforcement. Therefore, law enforcement agencies nationwide
must renew their commitment to eradicate both domestic terrorist
groups and malicious individuals who violate the civil rights of
others. This article focuses on the FBI's activities and
responsibilities with regard to the investigation of hate
violence crimes.
COMBATING HATE VIOLENCE
Currently, the FBI is the lead Federal agency responsible
for investigating incidents of racial and/or ethnic violence.
Reported cases of racially motivated violence receive top
priority attention in the FBI's Civil Rights Program. This has
been true since the 1960s, when the FBI actively investigated the
Ku Klux Klan. Today, with the recent prosecutions of white
supremacist organizations, such as the Aryan Nations, the White
Patriots Party, and the Skinheads, as well as individuals
involved in civil rights violations, the FBI continues its
tradition of stopping hate violence.
By law, the FBI is mandated to combat hate violence, to
prevent such incidents (if and when possible), and to react
swiftly when an incident does occur. In this regard, the FBI
confronts hate violence in two distinct criminal investigative
programs--domestic counterterrorism and civil rights. Domestic
counterterrorism cases focus on investigations of organized
groups that employ hate violence. Civil rights investigations
of hate violence, on the other hand, focus on individuals or
small, unorganized groups.
Domestic Counterterrorism Investigations
Hate violence investigations under the Domestic
Counterterrorism Program concentrate on the unlawful use of
force or violence by terrorist groups for political or social
ends. These groups include such organizations as The Order,
Aryan Nations, the White Patriots Party, and the racist
Skinheads, to name a few. Most notably, these white supremacist
groups target blacks, Orientals, Mexicans, Jews, and various
other ethnic and racial groups. Once reliable information has
been gathered that gives evidence to their criminal activities,
the FBI can legally investigate violent groups such as these to
determine their structure, scope, and membership. This
intelligence information, in many cases, helps to prevent a
tragedy before it occurs.
In order to anticipate terrorist attacks by these groups,
the FBI makes full use of its undercover Agents and informants
and uses court-authorized electronic surveillance. These
tactics have proven successful on several occasions, most
notably during an incident at the U.S. Penitentiary at
Leavenworth, Kansas.
Case Study
In December 1988, U.S. Bureau of Prisons (BOP) officials at
the U.S. Penitentiary in Leavenworth received information
indicating that three inmates were planning an escape for early
January 1989. All three were members of the white
supremacist/terrorist organization, The Order, a violent
splinter group of the white supremacist organization, Aryan
Nations, and all were in prison on charges stemming from their
relationship with the white supremacist movement. According to
the plan, weapons were going to be smuggled in through a
contact in the prison laundry room and hidden there until the
escape took place. The three inmates, Bruce Carroll Pierce,
Richard Scutari, and Randall Evans, were then planning to shoot
their way out at a time when the prison yard would be crowded
with inmates. Fortunately, their escape plan was discovered by
a former FBI source who was an inmate at the prison. FBI Agents
in Kansas City discussed the planned escape with BOP officials
at Leavenworth, and the three inmates were transferred to the
U.S. prison at Marion, Illinois, thus avoiding a possibly
violent domestic terrorist situation.
Rise of the Skinheads
However, despite efforts to counter the threat from groups
such as The Order, right-wing terrorism has increased since the
mid-1980s, especially in the recruitment of racist Skinheads.
Originally, the Skinheads arose in England during the 1970s
to protest poverty and unemployment. However, out of this
relatively benign group developed a separate group consisting of
both white supremacist and nonracist Skinheads, who began to
appear in the United States in the early 1980s. The Skinheads
movement has evolved into such a persistent threat that the
Department of Justice's Civil Rights Division has formed a
special task force to confront the problem.
Currently, there are more than 3,000 violence-prone
Skinheads in the United States. This figure represents a
three-fold increase in the number of Skinheads since 1987. (2)
These Skinheads are known for attacking minorities, homosexuals,
and anyone who opposes them by using such items as steel-toed
boots, knives, and baseball bats. In fact, one Skinhead
described his gang as "a subculture army....Instead of verbally
assaulting people, we physically assault them....We've all had
our part in bashing people. We'll assault anybody." (3) In
addition, these Skinheads are being openly recruited by other
white supremacist organizations, such as the Aryan Nations and
the White Aryan Resistance.
Investigating these violent, white supremacist groups can
be very arduous. These terrorists organize themselves into
tightly knit brotherhoods that are extremely difficult to
penetrate. As a result, information can be difficult to obtain.
Despite these difficulties, great progress has been made in
dissolving white supremacist groups. The Department of Justice
and the FBI are constantly working with local and State law
enforcement organizations to collect evidence and to prosecute
these groups. Many groups, however, still rally, recruit, and
spread their messages of racial hatred.
The Civil Rights Program
Unlike the Domestic Counterterrorism Program, which focuses
on organized groups, the FBI investigates hate violence
committed by individuals or small, unorganized groups under its
Civil Rights Program. Examples include racially and/or
ethnically motivated acts of violence resulting in violations of
such Federal laws as the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the
Discrimination in Housing Act, the Equal Credit Opportunity Act,
the Federal Revenue Sharing Act, and the Civil Rights of the
Institutionalized Persons Act. The FBI's ultimate goal is to
reduce civil rights violations and to ensure that the rights of
U.S. citizens and inhabitants are protected.
This task is accomplished by responding to the thousands of
criminal civil rights complaints received each year. Each
legitimate complaint is then thoroughly investigated by the FBI
and a report is forwarded to the Civil Rights Division (CRD) at
the Department of Justice. It is the CRD that has prosecutive
authority for all Federal civil rights statutes because of the
sensitive nature of the constitutional issues involved and the
need for uniform application of Federal law in this area.
Case Study
When a black couple moved into a predominantly white,
working class neighborhood of Baltimore, Maryland, they were
subjected to a series of acts of vandalism directed against
their residence. Rocks, bricks, and bottles were thrown at the
windows, causing extensive damage. The couple was also subject
to racial taunting, slurs and threats. When the Baltimore
Police Department received information that a plan had been
made by several conspirators to fire-bomb the couple's home, the
police department requested assistance from the FBI in its
investigation.
Using information obtained from consensually monitored
conversations between a cooperating witness and several of the
conspirators, the FBI and the police department built a case
against two individuals responsible for these hate crimes. Gary
Merryman and Joseph Chilcote were charged with Conspiracy to
Violate Civil Rights (Title 18, U.S. Code, Section 241) and
Interference with Housing Rights (Title 42, U.S. Code, Section
3631). The two individuals were convicted and sent to prison
for their crimes in March 1989.
CONCLUSION
Racism, bias, bigotry, and violence are on the upswing. In
view of the ever-increasing threat of hate violence perpetrated
by both white supremacist groups and racist individuals, law
enforcement agencies across the country must work together to
combat these crimes. In the words of Dr. Benjamin Hooks,
Executive Director of the NAACP, "Now is the time to turn to one
another, not to turn on one another."
All in law enforcement--including Federal, State and local
authorities--must combine their efforts to remove the blight of
racial violence and discrimination. Law enforcement must also
work more closely with the public to discourage racial hatred
and bigotry wherever it is found. It is the duty and
responsibility of everyone in law enforcement to ensure that all
Americans, regardless of race or ethnic origin, can live in
freedom, with dignity.
FOOTNOTES
(1) See Department of Justice Press Release dated March 1,
1990, regarding the convictions of the five CHS members involved
in the Dallas, Texas, case.
(2) "Hate Violence and White Supremacy," The Klanwatch
Project of the Southern Poverty Law Center, December 1989, p. 17.
(3) Ibid, p. 1.