Obama Called a "Visual Aid" for White Supremacist Recruiting

SPLC Intelligence Report. Posted January 26, 2009.

President Obama may have smashed the ultimate political barrier to African Americans, but his presidency and the deepening economic crisis are creating the perfect storm for white supremacists intent on swelling their ranks.

Racist extremists have been energized by Obama's election, hoping to exploit an Obama backlash among whites who resent having a black man in the White House.

Neo-Nazi David Duke says Obama will be a "visual aid" for angry white Americans and will provoke a backlash among relatively mainstream whites that will "result in a dramatic increase in [the] ranks" of extremists. Many other hate group leaders agree.

That backlash was evident in the aftermath of the election as scores of racially charged incidents – beatings, effigy burnings, racist graffiti, threats and intimidation – were reported across the country.

"There's a real fury out there in certain quarters," said Mark Potok, director of the SPLC's Intelligence Project.

White supremacist groups boasted of a post-election surge of new members as well as overwhelming traffic to their websites. At least two hate groups – Stormfront and the Council of Conservative Citizens – said their websites crashed because of heavy traffic. Stormfront also claimed to have gained thousands of new members immediately after Obama was elected on Nov. 4. The League of the South, a neo-secessionist group, said it saw a surge in phone calls from potential members and that its web traffic increased sixfold.

Even before the election, racial rage began to break out across the country. Effigies of Obama appeared hanging from nooses on university campuses. And angry supporters of John McCain and Sarah Palin reportedly shouted "Kill him" and "terrorist" at a campaign rally. Racist graffiti targeting Obama abounded.

Law enforcement agencies say Obama has received more threats than any previous president-elect. Two suspected assassination plots already have been broken up – one involving two racist skinheads in Tennessee – and, just before Obama's Jan. 20 inauguration, a Wisconsin man was arrested for threatening to kill Obama in an Internet posting.

At the same time, the economic meltdown is helping to create the conditions in which racist extremist and militia groups typically thrive, often by scapegoating minorities and by stoking fear and division among those who are harmed by events beyond their control or understanding.

Neo-Nazi Jeff Schoep may have offered the clearest vision of how the economy can be exploited.

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