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To fully grasp
American politics and culture and where it may be headed, it is
sometimes necessary to examine not only what is going on in the
mainstream of the culture, but at its furthest margins. Fringe
organizations or movements with even small memberships can have an
impact if they possess a sufficient intensity and single-mindedness in
purpose. Moreover, their existence reflect tensions within the body
politic in their most extreme form. To understand these organizations
is to prevent their growth, which is why I am examining the World
Church of the Creator. The World Church of
the Creator (WCOTC) is a white-supremacist organization based in
Peoria, Illinois. It considers itself a religious organization that
does not worship a God, but celebrates the white race. Its adherents
are guided by a philosophy called Creativity, which holds that the
greatest cause one can adhere to in this world is the advancement of
the white race. Their primary slogan is that "what is good for
the White Race is the highest virtue, and what is bad for the White
Race is the ultimate sin." An ex-church member,
Benjamin Smith, made national headlines in 1999 by going on a shooting
rampage against minorities in the Midwest that led to two murders and
ultimately his own suicide before police captured him. Ben Smith's
story can be read at http://chicagotribune.com/news/metro/chicago/article/0,2669,2-32081,FF.html
The World Church of the Creator gained a great deal of notoriety and
press from this incident, but its leaders denied that his behavior was
within the teachings of the church. Lisa Turner, the head of the
Women's Frontier of the WCOTC, described the shootings in this way: "I absolutely
attribute his behavior to frustration over Rev. Hale's law license
denial, as well as his frustration with the "system"
ignoring White people's legitimate legal grievances (i.e. continued
illegal immigration, hate crimes against Whites, etc.)
Ben Smith did commit a crime and under the precepts of Ben
Klassen's (the founder of the WCOTC) teachings, he was completely
outside our teachings of peaceful, legal change.
We have made clear that we do not condone Ben Smith's
actions." However, Lisa Turner
said in a different interview "we
neither condone nor condemn the use of violence. Just as we would not
condone nor condemn it with Brother Smith…If the alternative is
falling into the hands of the enemy, as in the case of Hitler and our
Brother Ben Smith, suicide is a noble act which robs the jew (sic)
masters of their power to further degrade our People…" Clearly,
Turner's position is that while Smith's actions were outside of the
WCOTC's code, his actions were understandable when viewed through the
prism of the ongoing persecution against whites. My personal opinion is
that this organization's views are abhorrent. However, I also believe
that to condemn the organization out of hand without examining its
positions is to actually give members and potential supporters of the
World Church of the Creator a sense of aggrievement that would
strengthen its organization after all is said and done, and actually
fuel the very violence that the World Church of the Creator officially
rejects but refuses to condemn. Many individuals, of
course, would disagree and find my willingness to give this group a
platform to be almost as controversial as the group itself. I do not
seek to antagonize or hurt anybody or stir up controversy for its own
sake by printing the material that follows. So if you believe that any
content that follows will be sufficiently upsetting, please desist
from reading further. I contacted Pontifex
Matthew Hale, the leader of the World Church of the Creator, as well
as the aforementioned Lisa Turner for this article. I told both of
them that I was not a supporter of their group, but that I would make
every effort to ensure that their position was fairly represented in
the article. Both Matthew and Lisa
struck me as articulate, driven and polite individuals during the
interviews. Matthew struck me as being particularly media-savvy, and
had gone to great lengths to ensure that his views maintained an
internal logic. Their positions were not espoused in paroxysms of
rage, but in a level-headed tone that could only come with a sense of
deep conviction that I found chilling. The content of the conversation follows below: © Scott D. Gillette, 2001 Today's featured
columns: View expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Political USA.
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