Hate groups have uneasy history with military base
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Published: August 7, 2012
A billboard along the main road into Fort Bragg, N.C., in the mid-1990s read: "Enough! Let's start taking back America." Below the slogan was the telephone number for the National Alliance, a white-supremacist group.
Wade Michael Page, who killed six on Sunday at the Sikh Temple of Wisconsin, must have driven by that billboard dozens of times while stationed at the base back then. It was paid for by an active-duty soldier at Fort Bragg who served as a recruiter for the hate group.
Page was at Fort Bragg in 1995 when two neo-Nazi soldiers from the 82nd Airborne killed a black couple in nearby Fayetteville, according to a former soldier who served with him.
At the time, Page was assigned to a unit that specialized in Latin American affairs. Many members were fluent in Spanish, but Page wanted only to learn German, said Fred Allen Lucas, 43, who served with him in A Company, 9th Psychological Operations Battalion.
Once, while on temporary duty in Germany, Page got drunk and started goose-stepping down the street Nazi-style.
more:http://www.stripes.com/mobile/news/us/hate-groups-have-uneasy-history-with-military-base-1.185075
Sikh temple shooter promoted extremist views during his Army years
OAK CREEK, Wis. — The gunman in the Sikh temple shooting here was steeped in white supremacy during his Army days and spouted his racist views on the job as a soldier, according to some who served with him.
“It’s kind of amazing he was able to stay in, especially given what was going on around base at the time,” said Fred Lucas, a former soldier who served with Page at Fort Bragg, N.C., in the 9th Psychological Operations Battalion.
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Page, a soldier from 1992 to 1998, did little to hide his white-supremacist beliefs, Lucas said, but he could not have predicted that Page would act out violently.
Among the open signs of Page’s extremism were his tattoos. Officials at Fort Bragg — where 21 soldiers were identified as white supremacists after a skinhead soldier was convicted of murdering a black couple in 1995 — conducted tattoo inspections to track down anybody with extremist markings. Yet a tattoo on Page’s left shoulder referencing the 14-word mantra of skinheads apparently went unnoticed.
The credo reads: “We must secure the existence of our people and a future for white children.”
Page drove a Volkswagen Thing, a boxy vehicle resembling a Nazi staff car, that he had repainted from orange to red. With white trim and black tires, it mirrored the colors of the Nazi flag, Lucas said.
more: http://www.stripes.com/mobile/news/sikh-temple-shooter-promoted-extremist-views-during-his-army-years-1.185085
Exclusive: Interview With Professor Who Extensively Studied Alleged Wisconsin Mass
Last edited Tue Aug 7, 2012, 09:43 AM USA/ET - Edit history (2)
Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism Advisory Board member and University of Nebraska at Omaha Criminology professor Pete Simi had extensive long term contact with alleged Wisconsin mass killer Wade Michael Page when he was conducting a multi-year study of the hate rock music scene in Southern California. Page was a prominent figure in the hate rock world who had links to different hate groups. Dr. Simi recently co-authored (with Robert Futrell, University of Nevada, Las Vegas) the book American Swastika: Inside the White Power Movement's Hidden Spaces of Hate. His research on extremist movements has been funded by the National Institute of Justice, Department of Homeland Security, and the Harry Frank Guggenheim Foundation. The interview was conducted this morning by Center director Prof. Brian Levin, who has also studied hate rock and was formerly the Associate Director of the Southern Poverty Law Center's Klanwatch and Militia Task Force in the 1990s. Both will appear on MSNBC's Hardball with Chris Matthews this evening at 7PM EST
When did you first meet Wade Page and what was he generally like at that time?
I met Page in 2001 while I was conducting fieldwork studying white supremacist groups in Southern California. Page had recently moved to Orange County, California and was living with another research subject I already knew. Wade was immediately friendly and didn't seem to have any problems with me hanging around doing research. He actually seemed to enjoy talking about his beliefs and at times I think he hoped to convert me. There were times when he was a little quiet and awkward but other times he seemed to loosen up and would joke around a lot. He definitely had a drinking problem and would pass out regularly. His heavy drinking made it hard for him to get to work.
Who was Page affiliated with and what types of activities was he involved in?
When I first met Page he was new to Southern California but he'd been around the white supremacist movement for a while. In Southern California he was spending time with a lot of different groups and was very involved in the white power music scene playing guitar in bands and trying to help promote shows. He had contacts with the National Alliance, Hammerskin Nation, different Klan groups, Volksfront and various other groups active in the white supremacist movement.
more: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/brian-levin-jd/exclusive-interview-with_b_1751181.html
In 1992 Fort Bragg was also a recruiting centre for white hate groups including the National
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But at the time Fort Bragg was also a recruiting centre for white hate groups including the National Alliance, once regarded as one of the most effective such groups and also among the most extreme because it openly glorified Adolf Hitler. The Military Law Review at the time reported that National Alliance flags were openly hung in barracks and, out of uniform, soldiers sported neo-Nazi symbols and played records about killing blacks and Jews.
"White supremacists have a natural attraction to the army," the Military Law Review said. "They often see themselves as warriors, superbly fit and well-trained in survivalist techniques and weapons and poised for the ultimate conflict with various races."
In 1995, two soldiers with the 82nd Airborne murdered a black couple in Fayetteville, the city neighbouring Fort Bragg, in a racially motivated attack.
Others serving at the base during the 1990s were arrested for hoarding ammunition in preparation for an attack on businesses, including media organisations, owned by African Americans and Jews. Soldiers were also arrested as members of skinhead gangs involved in assaults.
more:http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/aug/07/wade-michael-page-wisconsin-shooting?newsfeed=true
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