Date: Sat, 28 Sep 1996 16:21:44 -0600 (CST)
From: "Alan Spector" <spector@calumet.purdue.edu>
Sender: spector@calumet.purdue.edu
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To: revs@csf.colorado.edu
Note from Alan Spector, REVS Editor--
The following post is forwarded from Stephanie Shanks-Meile of Indiana
University Northwest.  She is a leading authority on "White Power"
organizations, having spent years doing extensive interviews with members
of those groups and is the co-author of an important book soon to be
published about these groups.

Forwarded message follows:
==================================================================
> Hello fellow revs folks.
     I do not send out general messages on a regular basis, but I
would like to make a few comments regarding the letter from the
former white power advocate and some of the criticisms that he has
received.  It seems that many are upset with  his mentioning the
shortcomings of the ADL, SPLC, etc.  As sociologists, we should know
to agree with his assessment that these  organizations are operating
from their own agendas and in many  instances serve as propaganda
tools.  From my research on the white power movement, I have been
struck numerous times when Klanwatch reports suggested that a rally
was twice the size of what I saw when I attended the event.  They
also tend to depict rallies as more virulent than what I have seen.
 In the most recent Klanwatch, they claimed that people attended
Aryan Nations in July who were not there.  Either their surveilance
if poor, or there is some other agenda.  Maybe, both.  I get at
least a letter a month soliciting funds for one thing or another.
How much money do they need?  There was a good article in the
progressive in the late 1980s which was highly critical of the SPLC
as a money making enterprise.
     As for the ADL, the San Francisco scam with Bullock and the
surveilance of Arab Americans makes them highly suspect.  They are
also not very supportive of progressives such as ourselves.  I know
many progressives who cannot even get literature that they need for
their research from the ADL.  You get shut out for being too
"Radical!"  I guess that I have a problem with all of this.
     As for the literature on movement recruitment, I have not found
much information to really explain why people are attracted to white
separatism.  I know that the general social movements literature is
extensive, but I have just finished co-authoring a book on the white
power movement and find a real void in the sociological literature
regarding the topic.  Most of what has been written has been by the
forementioned activist organizations or journalists, hence, there has
not been much real sociological understanding.  Lots of rhetoric.
        Let's not throw out what we can learn from this young man and
others like him because of the stigma of his past associations.  As a
researcher, I need to learn all that I can from many different
sources.  As a progressive, I like to think that I am completely
open minded, but we all need to remind ourselves to move beyond our
own biases and ideologies.

Peace and Justice-  Steph

>
>
> Stephanie Shanks-Meile, Associate Professor of Sociology
> E-Mail Address: SSHANK@IUNHAW1.INDIANA.EDU
> Telephone: 219-980-6787
>