Anti-gay myths die hard. Or maybe they never die at all. Over the weekend, a leading figure in the Southern Baptist Convention recycled a number of the most egregious lies about LGBT people to reach the conclusion that they’re working to bring about the “outright sexual paganization of society.” Whatever that is. ( continue to full post… )

A Mississippi man has been convicted in the 2010 murder of a white supremacist leader. Vincent McGee was charged with capital murder in the death of Richard Barrett, the founder of the neo-Nazi Nationalist Movement. McGee claimed that Barrett made sexual advanced towards him, while the prosecution claims the motive was robbery.

A plea deal has been made in the case of a Montana white supremacist teen accused of threatening a Native American man with a gun. Allen Goff, 19, had been charged with felony assault and obstruction as well carrying a concealed weapon, and was previous charged and acquitted in the shooting of a Hispanic teen. Goff has been reported as the leader of the Montana Creators Assembly, an offshoot of the white supremacist Creativity Movement.

The saga of the Alaska Peacekeepers Militia murder conspiracy trial continues as the judge announced a delay in the bail hearing of one of the defendants. Coleman Barney, 27, asked the court to release him as he awaits trial, after his bail was reduced from $2 million to $100,000 dollars. Barney stands accused, along with five other militia members, of plotting to kill state officials and law enforcement officers.

Warren Jeffs, leader of the polygamist FLDS Church, appeared in court today to answer charges of sexual assault of a child. Jeffs told the judge that he is representing himself, addressed the court in a 25-minute rant, and repeatedly interrupting the prosecutor, forcing the judge to call a recess. Jeffs faces a maximum of life in prison if convicted.

White supremacist Richard Barrett enthusiastically denigrated gays and blacks.

In 1994, he led an anti-gay rally in Boston after a St. Patrick’s Day parade was cancelled in response to a court order that forbade the exclusion of homosexual marchers. Six years earlier, he signed “The Forsyth County Covenant,” which asserted that “all efforts to make us a bilingual, bisexual or biracial society must be defeated.”

But Barrett, who died after allegedly propositioning a black man, may also have been gay. Rankin (Miss.) County Undersheriff Bryan Bailey testified in court today that Vincent McGee, who is accused of murdering Barrett last month, told investigators that the 67-year-old lawyer made sexual advances toward him, according to The Associated Press. Bailey said at McGee’s arraignment that McGee gave multiple statements about why he went to Barrett’s house in Pearl, Miss. The 22-year-old neighbor said both that he’d gone to Barrett’s home to use the computer so he could access his Facebook account and that he’d gone there to complain that Barrett owed him money for yard work he’d done. In one statement, McGee claimed he beat and stabbed Barrett after “Barrett dropped his pants and asked him to perform a sexual act,” the AP reported.

McGee could face the death penalty if convicted of Barrett’s murder. Prosecutors announced at the arraignment that the charges against him were upgraded to capital murder — murder while committing another crime — because McGee allegedly stole a wallet and gun from Barrett’s home. Firefighters found Barrett’s body in his home on April 22 after neighbors reported a fire there. McGee, who told the AP he didn’t know about Barrett’s racist activism, also faces arson charges in connection with the killing. Three people have been charged as accessories after the fact.

Some who study the white supremacist world said that Barrett’s alleged homosexuality, while ironic, is not that unusual.

“As remarkable as it may seem, the fact is that the radical right is thick with characters who exhibit the most extreme hypocrisy,” said Mark Potok, director of the Intelligence Project of the Southern Poverty Law Center, which publishes this blog. “It’s quite common to find savage gay-bashers like Richard Barrett who are secretly homosexual, Klan leaders who hide their black girlfriends, white supremacists who turn out to be biracial, and neo-Nazi ideologues who were raised as Jews. A good many of those who are most violent in their attacks are actually hiding what they see as a terrible and embarrassing secret.” ( continue to full post… )

Update: Police announced that they arrested Barrett’s neighbor late Thursday afternoon and charged him with murder in connection with Barrett’s slaying. Rankin County Sheriff Ronnie Pennington told The (Jackson, Miss.) Clarion-Ledger that Vincent McGee, 22, had done yard work for Barrett. Barrett was stabbed to death and his body set on fire. Though McGee is black, police have not revealed whether Barrett’s racism played a role in the killing.

Richard Barrett, a longtime white supremacist leader who generated more publicity than influence, was found dead this morning in his Pearl, Miss., home, apparently the victim of a homicide.

Firefighters discovered his body in a bathroom after neighbors reported a fire at Barrett’s home around 8 a.m., according to news reports. Few details have been released about the incident, which is under investigation by local, state and federal authorities.

Though Barrett, a lawyer, never became a major leader in white supremacist circles, he drew substantial press attention by organizing rallies and filing free speech lawsuits. “He was known not only for being one of the hardest of the hard-core haters but a gadfly as well, because of his limited legal knowledge,” said Brian Levin, director of the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism at California State University, San Bernandino. “And he was notorious for claiming legal victories, some of which he never actually won.” ( continue to full post… )

Mississippi lawmakers have short memories.

That, at least, may be the kindest explanation for their latest decision to laud an occasion organized by a staunch white supremacist. In what has become an absurd yearly tradition, the Mississippi House voted last month to approve a resolution honoring high school student athletes who took part in “The Spirit of America Day” on March 1. As in the past, the resolution does not mention that the day’s events — which have traditionally included an awards ceremony and other activities at the state Capitol — are hosted by Richard Barrett, a Learned, Miss., lawyer who leads a white supremacist organization.

“The thing that is so bizarre about embracing one of the most longstanding and notorious neo-Nazis for a civics lesson is that they keep doing it repeatedly,” Brian Levin of the Center for the Study of Hate & Extremism at the California State University, San Bernardino, told Hatewatch. “To make a mistake of that nature once, I don’t know if it’s forgivable, but twice is downright reprehensible. It would be funny if it weren’t disgusting.”

House Rules Committee Chairman Joe Warren told The Associated Press that he had talked to some black legislators, who weren’t opposed to the resolution if it didn’t include Barrett’s name. “They didn’t seem to have any problems with it as long as it was geared just toward these young people, who evidently are great kids academically and athletically,” he said.

Now in its 40th year, “The Spirit of America Day” recognizes exceptional male athletes in Mississippi. It most recently was hailed by the Mississippi Legislature last year, when both the state House and Senate approved resolutions declaring March 2, 2009, “The Spirit of America Day.” However, the resolution later died in the House after some lawmakers argued it was unacceptable to promote an occasion sponsored by an avowed racist. ( continue to full post… )

In what amounted to a reversal, the Mississippi House has killed a resolution commemorating an occasion hosted by a white supremacist.

The move came one month after House lawmakers adopted the resolution designating March 2, 2009, “The Spirit of America Day” in recognition of exceptional male student athletes in Mississippi. The resolution was held for reconsideration after some House lawmakers argued that it was unacceptable to promote “The Spirit of America Day” events because they’re organized by Richard Barrett, an attorney in Learned, Miss., who heads a white supremacist hate group called the Nationalist Movement. Representatives ultimately let the resolution die when they recessed this week.

Among those advocating the resolution’s demise was Rep. Robert Johnson (D-Natchez). “When we give validation to something, we need to be careful about who we give it to,” he said, according to The Clarion-Ledger of Jackson, Miss. (However, a similar resolution commemorating “The Spirit of America Day” successfully passed the Senate in late February.)

In another defeat for Barrett, an appeals court upheld a judge’s decision related to his group’s protest against six black teenagers in Jena, La., who were subjected to unusually harsh prosecutions. The Nationalist Movement wanted the judge to rule on the case of two protesters who weren’t allowed to carry firearms during the protest, but the judge refused to do so because they didn’t belong to Barrett’s organization, according to The Associated Press. For years, Barrett has organized white power marches throughout the United States.

The Mississippi Legislature has voted once again to honor an occasion organized by a staunch white supremacist.

Lawmakers in the House and Senate approved resolutions last week designating March 2 “The Spirit of America Day” to commemorate the achievements of standout male high school athletes in Mississippi. What the resolutions fail to mention is that “The Spirit of America Day” events are hosted by Richard Barrett, an attorney in Learned, Miss., and the head of the Nationalist Movement, a white supremacist organization that advocates striking down civil rights laws and organizes white power events nationwide.

He’s also chairman of the board of America’s Foundation, the Mississippi sports organization that’s sponsoring “The Spirit of America Day.” The day involves bringing the chosen students to the Mississippi capital of Jackson for an awards ceremony and other activities. This year, seven teenagers were selected on the basis of their athleticism, leadership and citizenship.

“The endeavors of these individual students to be productive and contributing members of society provide the model example for other students to pattern themselves after, in efforts of becoming notable and model citizens for future generations to come,” states the resolution adopted by the House.

That resolution passed on a voice vote even after Democratic Rep. Robert Johnson told his fellow representatives that Barrett was “an avowed racist,” according to the Associated Press. “He’s not ashamed of it; he doesn’t apologize for it,” Johnson said.

Some lawmakers seemed to feel that the resolution was acceptable because it honored the students rather than Barrett. “I’m not concerned about this individual,” Democratic Rep. Joe Warren told the AP. “I’m concerned about these young people being honored by this.”

The resolution is expected to be reconsidered this week; some lawmakers have suggested omitting the “The Spirit of America Day” references from the resolution as a way to avoid helping Barrett while still commending the teenagers.

Nonetheless, Barrett sounded pleased about the resolutions’ passage in an interview with the AP on Friday. “I think that’s a good lesson of how patriotism and Americanism depend on majority rule,” he said. “It’s a great lesson in democracy that we’re learning.”

This isn’t the first time lawmakers have hailed “The Spirit of America Day,” now in its 39^th year. “The Mississippi government’s repeated recognition of him [Barrett] would be a comical Ground Hog Day parody but for the vitriol of his bigotry,” Brian Levin, director of the Center for the Study of Hate & Extremism at California State University, San Bernardino, told Hatewatch.

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Hollywood writers may be on strike but the characters in front of the LaSalle Parish Courthouse in Jena, La., on Monday, Martin Luther King Jr. Day, were straight out of Central Casting. Klansmen and other white supremacists wore nooses, toted weapons and chanted, “If it ain’t white, it ain’t right.” Beret- and sunglasses-wearing members of the New Black Panther Party marched in military formation and faced off with police. And a loose leftist confederation — so-called Black Bloc anarchists, anti-racist skinheads, African-American activists and college students from Chicago and Houston, to name just a few — shouted, “KKK go away,” middle fingers thrust upward into the air.

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Constitutional law attorney Richard Barrett has led several marches in opposition to Martin Luther King, Jr. Day and hosted a “warrior weekend for skinheads” at his Mississippi home since his racist group was founded in 1987 in a Georgia chicken coop.
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Mississippi white supremacist Richard Barrett filed a lawsuit contending the town of Jena is violating his constitutional rights by placing restrictions—including a prohibition against firearms—upon his group’s planned “Jena Justice Day” march.
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