Former LOS Member Peroutka Denounces President Michael Hill

Peroutka opened the meeting by referring to Hill’s recent pledge “to be a white supremacist, a racist, an anti-Semite, a homophobe, a xenophobe, an Islamophobe and any other sort of 'phobe' that benefits my people" as "outrageous" and "inappropriate."

While Hatewatch and other publications long warned of the dangerous implications of Hill’s rhetoric and the League’s bent toward militancy, in 2014 Peroutka responded to alarm over his affiliation with the League by stating that “he had dropped his association with the League of the South over the summer, although he was vague about his reasons and said he ‘didn’t have any problem with the organization.’”

Whether or not Peroutka’s denunciation was sincere, his timing in seeking office was, to say the least, providential. Shortly after Peroutka distanced himself from LOS while campaigning for office, Hill’s writing and speeches took an alarming turn toward unprecedented militancy, racism and anti-Semitism.

Michael Peroutka speaking at the 2004 LOS “national” conference. Photo by Greg Wilson.

Peroutka’s rebuff comes just as the League is preparing for its annual conference this weekend in Wetumpka, Alabama. The conference, which Peroutka sang “Dixie” at in 2012, generally consists of members sitting through hours of speeches from LOS higher-ups before lining the intersection of US Highways 231 and 14 for a protest. This year, the published schedule indicates the conference will be titled “Redeeming the Time: Preparing for the Inevitable Conflict” and contains no mention of a protest, but rather indicates that Hill has finally given up on hiding his rabid desire for a violent race war.

David Duke, the notorious ex-Klansmen whose association was long seen as the kiss of death for far right groups seeking mainstream credibility, is slated as keynote speaker. Duke’s attendance comes along with speeches from long time LOS affiliates such as John Weaver, who will speak on “Gun Safety and Self Defense.” Weaver has offered gun training to the League and other far-right groups and has preached on slavery as a biblically ordained institution.

Duke’s appearance comes on the back of League involvement in a series of high-publicity events with other far-right groups in Pikeville, Kentucky, New Orleans, Lousiana  Auburn, Alabama, Charlottesville, Virginia, and Gainesville, Florida.

Hill has boasted that the League has attended these events under the guise of its “Southern Defense Force,” a paramilitary wing of the LOS established this year to put combat the ‘leftist menace to our historic Christian civilization.' 

Hill and the Southern Defense Force gathered in Pikeville, Kentucky.

Hill recently signed the League onto a far-right alliance known as the “Nationalist Front,” composed of various American and European far-right groups such as the Swedish Sveriges Nationella Förbund, National Socialist Movement (NSM), Texas Rebel Knights, Racial Nationalist Party of America, SS Action Group, Pacific Coast Knights of the KKK, Scottish National Socialist Party, White Nationalist Front (Canada), the Traditionalist Workers Party (TWP), White Lives Matter, Blood & Honour Social Club, and American Vanguard.

While the League formerly eschewed any relationship with Klansmen such as Duke, his presence at the League’s conference, the League’s entry into the NF, as well as rumors that Hill is now admitting Klansmen into LOS as dual-members, show that Hill’s past statements were either disingenuous, hypocritical, or downright lies.

Regarding Peroutka’s denunciation, Hill issued a statement today to the League’s Facebook page decrying his former comrade:

“Y'all will have to be tough-minded and thick-skinned to be a member of The League. Here is one of our former prominent members who just didn't measure up . . . Now, he is denouncing me in order to curry favor with the left and the c---servatives. So, if you cannot take the heat, be warned: The League may be a place that's much too hot for you.”