Mainstreaming Hate

For more than a year, the Council of Conservative Citizens (CCC), a group that includes many Southern politicians in its ranks, has denied that it is racist.

It has been defended by a Mississippi governor, touted by conservative black radio show host Ken Hamblin and glorified by its founder, Gordon Baum, who publicly claimed the group had plenty of black members but never did manage to produce one.

Despite an extensive exposé in the Intelligence Report detailing the CCC's white supremacist views over a year ago, the group has continued to insist it is merely a mainstream conservative organization.

Now, once again, the mask is off.

After an extensive campaign in favor of leaving the Confederate battle flag flying over South Carolina's capitol building — and angry attacks on the NAACP for calling a boycott of the state until the flag comes down — the CCC recently put up a rather remarkable advertisement for South Carolina on its Internet site.

"South Carolina Now Has Whiter Beaches!" the CCC said. "Now that the African-Americans are boycotting South Carolina over the Confederate Flag, Whites can enjoy a civil liberty that has been denied to them for many years at hotels, restaurants and beaches: the freedom to associate with just one's own people."

"College students," the squib concluded, "when considering your spring break or summer vacation this year, choose South Carolina and get a taste of the freedom that your generation has been denied but your grandparents enjoyed."