In this week's Reporter,
founder Justin Argabright explains how white supremacist dogma is changing with the times, particularly on the issues of President Barack Obama's citizenship, immigration reform and gay rights [
].
Here are a few more contemporary issues Argabright tackled during out hour-long interview.
SFR: Have you followed the Judge Sotomayor hearings at all and the race issues that have been brought up?
JA: I have to a degree been watching what's developing with that. I think it's comical. Yeah, a lot of people were in an uproar about her saying the whole crack that her being a 'wise latina' versus a white man, something to that effect, and her making better decisions. They're still going through [with the confirmation]. They didn't shove it under the carpet right away and it's OK for her to still continue. Had it been a white man saying something to that effect but going in the opposite direction, I think they would've booted him out right away. I have a strong hunch they would find him unfit. Yeah, she may have a good record with all her cases, but I believe that she's probably got a racist bone in her. You don't just say something like that without some sort of meaning behind it, you know? That's how I feel about it. I think everyone should say what they mean and mean what they say.
Note: The Senate voted to confirm Sotomayor while SFR conducted the interview.
And then there was the so-called 'Beer Summit' after Harvard Professor Henry Louis Gates was arrested by a white officer. I imagine you have some thoughts on that. What was your interpretation of what happened and how it was resolved?
I believe that Gates is a friend of his, but that's on a local level. [Obama] needed to keep his nose out of it. He's got other things to worry about. I think that shows a racist bone in him. He's all about this tolerance thing and being the first black president, so I don't think it was a wise move on his part to stick his nose into that nest of snakes. After looking over several different articles I don't believe that the police had any reason racially motivated to arrest him. Granted it is [Gates'] home, but until the police the get the situation under control and know exactly who's who and what's what, the man should have just kept his mouth shut, shown his ID like every other citizen would have to and the president definitely shouldn't have made that remark. How does that look to other countries that the president steps in and says that our officials are acting 'stupidly?' I think the president acted stupidly with that. I don't believe the officer had to apologize. Trying to be as unbiased as I can, I believe Gates should apologize and the president definitely should apologize because it was not his business. What he said did come off really racial. As racist as [white supremacists] can be, everyone else can also be just as racist.
A few months back there was a high profile shooting at the Holocaust Museum in Washington, DC. You talk about nonviolence, but this is the intersection where racism and violence come together. What was your reaction when you heard about it?
I don't believe in promoting violence. I don't ask any of my members to do any violent tasks. There are other groups out there that promote this 'lone wolf' theory. I believe the lone wolf theory is a violent theory in itself. If you're supposed to act alone, you're doing something wrong. I do not applaud the behavior that was exhibited there. I don't applaud killing in any manner. I believe the Holocaust itself was trumped up quite a bit. There are groups out there that believe it never happened. I don't agree with that. I believe it did happen. Basically what it boils down to is I don't approve of that behavior. That behavior is the reason why I started my group. People like that make it hard for me to go out to stand in front of Wal-Mart and say 'White Pride!" Other people can say 'Brown Pride!' and the reason I would probably be attacked first is because of people like that. I don't know the motive exactly behind why the man did what he did, but I don't approve of what he did.
I notice you haven't mentioned Islam and Muslims in the Arab world. Can you tell me how that comes into it, especially your feeling in the war in Iraq and Afghanistan?
As far as the war, it all kind of kicked off with the whole 9-11 thing, and I believe, yeah, we needed to go in there and take some people out. We need to show we're not going to stand for that. I would've probably been a lot more disappointed had we just sat idly by. I do believe it was dragged out quite a bit, but that's not something I've really formed a hard opinion on right now.
Some people believe that the entire Islam needs to be wiped off the map or nuked off the planet, but you seem a lot more live and let live
You've hit the nail on the head there. I don't believe that any culture or race should be just smeared off the planet. I do believe let them do their thing, let the strongest survive. I think you should attack the people who are doing the wrong, not everyone in general. Not everyone needs to pay for everyone else's mess ups. If Islam or any other people, if they get wiped off the planet because of something they're doing, that's their problem, really. That's kind of what's happening with whites. It's becoming socially acceptable to intermingle, to interbreed, and we're kind of being wiped off.
Santa Fe Reporter