Four of five self-proclaimed anarchists – calling themselves the Revolutionary People’s Party – have now confessed to involvement in a conspiracy in late April to use C-4 explosives to blow up an interstate highway bridge near Cleveland. ( continue to full post… )

One of five self-proclaimed anarchists has pleaded guilty to three federal “weapons of mass destruction” charges in a conspiracy to blow up a bridge, a Ku Klux Klan gathering spot and a Federal Reserve Bank in Ohio.

Anthony M. Hayne, 35, of Cleveland, pleaded guilty Wednesday to conspiracy to use weapons of mass destruction, attempted use of weapons of mass destruction and malicious use of an explosive device to destroy property used in interstate commerce.

Hayne entered his pleas before U.S. District Judge David Dowd in Cleveland and agreed to testify against the other defendants. Prosecutors said he could have received life in prison, but under the plea deal he could lower his sentence to 15 to 19 years. No date for sentencing was set. ( continue to full post… )

Five self-proclaimed anarchists are in federal custody in Cleveland for taking steps to blow up a highway bridge after discussing bombing other targets, including a Ku Klux Klan gathering spot and a Federal Reserve bank.

The arrests came Monday evening after three members of the group “planted what they thought were two C-4 based explosive devices” at the base of the Route 82 bridge crossing from Brecksville to Sagamore Hills over the Cuyahoga Valley National Park, south of downtown Cleveland, the FBI said in a statement.

Court documents say the planned act of terrorism was intended to coincide with May 1 antigovernment, anti-establishment protests planned today in Cleveland and other U.S. cities. But there does not appear to be any connection with any international terrorist groups or the anniversary of the killing of Osama bin Laden, the Cleveland Plain Dealer reported. ( continue to full post… )

Ron Edwards has seen his once-sprawling Imperial Klans of America (IKA) dwindle to nearly nothing since the Southern Poverty Law Center won a $2.5 million verdict against him and a lieutenant in 2008. Now, Edwards sits in a federal prison on unrelated gun and drug charges. This week, he got more bad news. The Kentucky Supreme Court refused to hear his appeal, meaning the $1.3 million portion of the verdict assessed against him personally will stand. The ruling closes the book on the SPLC case, which was filed on behalf of a Latino teen who was brutally beaten by IKA members at a county fair.

Envision this: Dress up in a Ku Klux Klan robe for Halloween. Pound on your neighbors’ doors, yelling racial slurs, demanding candy. Carry a spray bottle of bleach to “make everyone white.”

What will that get you? A 42-year-old woman in Spokane, Wash., just found out: Four felony charges of malicious harassment and the possibility of a prison term if convicted. ( continue to full post… )

After a four-year legal battle, a black Baptist church in South Carolina now is the legal owner of a building housing the infamous Redneck Shop, which operates a Ku Klux Klan museum and sells KKK and other racist clothing.

The Rev. David Kennedy, a long-time civil rights activist and pastor of New Beginnings Baptist Church in Laurens, S.C., told Hatewatch today he can’t wait to turn the racist landmark “into a place of diversity.”

“I don’t want that business there,” Kennedy said. “When our church takes over in full, that’s when that business will end. Basically, we just think it’s a matter of time – but soon.” ( continue to full post… )

An African pastor in Concord, N.H., said a hate-filled message was written on his home in black marker. Two other homes in the neighborhood, also occupied by African immigrants, were targeted. Each message referred to the families as “subhuman” and said the victims were getting a free ride. Concord is a major hub for the International Resettlement Program, which places refugees seeking political asylum in American communities.

Residents of a Sand Springs, Okla., neighborhood say they were shocked when they woke up Sunday morning to fliers in their yards from the United White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan. The literature said the group does not burn crosses or lynch people and urged flier recipients to “Support your local Klan.”

The Harris County, Texas, District Attorney plans to prosecute the case of a self-proclaimed white supremacist accused of beating a black man at a downtown Houston bus stop last month as a hate crime. According to a local activist, this is the first time charges have been upgraded to a hate crime in Harris County.
Brooklyn, N.Y., police are investigating an alleged hate crime after discovering two swastikas in the lobby of a Williamsburg neighborhood apartment building earlier this week.

Billy Roper, one of the country’s leading professional racists, says he’s closing the doors of his 9-year-old White Revolution organization, which he concedes has been a failure, and will join forces with long time Klan leader Thom Robb.

“As the leader of the organization, I am solely responsible and accept full responsibility for White Revolution’s lack of success as a membership organization,” Roper writes in “an open letter to the white nationalist movement.”

Effective immediately, Roper says, “White Revolution will cease to accept new membership applications and will suspend all recruitment activities as a membership organization while we undergo a period of reorganization and dismantlement …”

His organization may be disbanding, but he’s still a racist, Roper says. “This is not really an occasion for sadness, because I am not retiring from the movement. I am just putting aside my pride and my ego and doing what is best for my family, my race and our cause.” ( continue to full post… )

Residents in New Castle County, Del., have reported that the Ku Klux Klan is actively recruiting new members by targeting predominantly white neighborhoods in Newport, an area southwest of Wilmington. According to reports, a Klan group is leaving calling cards in sandwich bags filled with rocks that they throw out of car windows onto lawns and driveways.

A Miami-Dade County Fire Rescue employee alleges he is the victim of a hate crime. Upon arriving for work Aug. 28, 2011, Miguel Rodriguez alleges he found an unsigned note on his locker.  The note contained anti-black and anti-Latino racial slurs and a threat if Rodriguez were to return to his shift. Rodriguez reported several other incidents of harassment last year. County authorities are investigating the alleged incident.

Jury deliberations resumed Monday in the trial of a California teen accused of murdering a gay classmate three years ago. Seventeen-year-old Brandon McInerney is charged with first-degree murder in the slaying of 15-year-old Larry King at E.O. Green Junior High School in Oxnard. McInerney has pleaded not guilty to one count each of murder and a hate crime.

A Stockton woman was arrested for allegedly assaulting her child’s principal over a dress code violation by punching her in the face. Police say Pami Gibbs also is accused of making references to ethnicity during the attack on Evangelina Ramos. Gibbs was booked on two felony charges of battery, criminal threats, and three misdemeanors, including hate crime.

Police in Staunton, Va., are investigating an incident where an expletive and “KKK” were burned into a person’s yard last week.  Police do not consider the incident a hate crime because the home is occupied by a white family. No arrests have been made.

Police are continuing to investigate an attack against a 21-year-old transgender woman who was beaten with a baseball bat in the Ballard neighborhood of Seattle, Wash. According to police, who have stopped short of labeling the assault as a bias crime, the victim reported that she was attacked when a woman with a baseball bat, and a man, started following her and hit her. If an arrest is made, prosecutors will decide whether to pursue bias-crime charges against the attacker.