At first glance, Matt Heimbach looks like a friendly neighbor, an always-smiling, 22-year-old college graduate who goes to church, and loves country music and drinking beer with his buddies.
But Heimbach is a white separatist who believes that the United States would be a better place if it were divided and went back to segregation. He has been called the future of organized hate in this country.
"Loving one's people is natural," he said. "Every other group is allowed to love their race for the best interest of their race. There's no reason why whites shouldn't."
When asked if he considered himself a racist, Heimbach said, "Sure. So what? I call it natural."
Last year, Heimbach launched a nationwide college recruitment campaign to spread his beliefs and has been on a cross-country trip to form all-white student unions on college campuses. He founded one at his alma mater Towson University, and has plans to visit George Mason University in Virginia, Indiana State in Terre Haute, Ind., and American University in Washington, D.C. this spring.
He is tapping into a growing and frightening discontent in the U.S. In the last decade, the number of hate groups has nearly doubled from 602 to 1,007, according to Mark Potok of the Southern Poverty Law Center.
"The election of Barack Obama ... has ginned up the anger and fury out there," Potok said. "The fact that a black man was elected president, not once but twice, has merely added to that fury."
Heimbach was raised in a middle-class Maryland suburb. His parents are schoolteachers who, Heimbach admits, did not teach him to be racist. Today, he is estranged from his family.
"People always say, 'Well, he was raised like that.' Well, no, I wasn't. I was raised [in a] moderate Catholic home," he said. "My parents are ... very, very moderate."
Heimbach said he loved history and the Bible, and in his reading both, he found a place of superiority. In high school, he played a Confederate soldier in Civil War battle reenactments. It's those days of slavery that Heimbach calls the good old days.
"We would be a lot better off if the South would have won," he said.
He fears white heterosexual Christians have fallen prey, as he puts it. Many white separatists note that U.S. Census trends show whites being a minority by 2043. Heimbach attributed the issues white people face today to the slaughter of Native Americans centuries ago.
"The cataclysmic end to this empire is fast approaching," he said. "Was what happened to the Native Americans horrible? Yeah. But that's what's happening to whites now in this country."
Heimbach is far from alone in these beliefs. This year, he was a speaker at a "Stormfront" convention, a sort of annual retreat for white supremacists, where he met David Duke, a former Grand Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan and former Louisiana state representative. He has since appeared as a guest on Duke's Internet radio show.
Heimbach sees the future of America as a place of extreme segregation "where there is no ill will, there is no hostility."
"We can still trade and get a visa," he said. A visa to visit, in his world, white Christians in the South, Jews in New York, blacks in Detroit, just to name a few of his examples.
Of course, Heimbach faces a lot of angry scrutiny for being so outspoken about his views. When he and his friend, Klansman Thomas Buhls went on a recruiting trip to Indiana University in Bloomington, a group of student protestors went after them with water hoses. It was at the same university where, a decade earlier, white supremacist Benjamin Nathaniel Smith went on a two-day shooting spree, eventually killing himself.
"When you become the most hated man on campus, that does put a strain on relationships, both romantic and family," Heimbach said. "It's one of those weird things where people hate me because I'm kind of like a bogeyman."
But Heimbach's recruiting efforts have led to unexpected alliances, such as with Dawah Bayn Yisrael, a militant black advocate who has called white people the devil and once praised the Boston marathon bombings as white America's getting what it deserved. Heimbach feels he has an ally in Yisrael, someone else who believes the races must be separate.
"I think it's really important to reach out to black nationalists," Heimbach said. "You can't work together if you don't ... sit down and have these discussions about issues, where we have common interest."
They are, in many ways, two sides of the same coin: Heimbach's views on race were shaped, in part, by reading history, whereas Yisrael's were shaped by his experience as a Gulf War veteran.
"When I was sitting there in Iraq ... the Arabs ... would be saying, 'Hey, you black soldier sitting in the corner, why are you here fighting the white man's war?" Yisrael said.
While on his outreach campaign, Heimbach also went to Indianapolis to meet with Reverend Mmoja Ajabu, a former Black Panther militia and Black Nationalist, who is now an ordained minister running for a seat in the United States Congress. Reverend Ajabu said his world view was crystallized when his son was convicted of murder, a crime which Ajabu insists his son didn't commit.
"That goes on every day [in] a courtroom," Ajabu said. "If they're white ... there is respect, but if the defendant is black, it is, 'Sit down, shut up, you ain't got nothing to say.' ... It's a whole different world."
Heimback and Ajabu found a common enemy in corporate America, with Heimbach suggesting during their meeting that they "hang a couple of bankers" and "get rid of the international elites."
Ajabu agrees with Heimbach's vision of the future, that after the races separate, and after their common enemies are dealt with, it will finally be time to deal with each other.
"That's why I can work, for instance, with a Black Nationalist," Heimbach said. "I can't stand working with white people that are traitors, because traitors, they have betrayed us, they're cowards. I see only one place for them -- in a ditch."
Showing posts with label racist. Show all posts
Showing posts with label racist. Show all posts
Thursday, January 16, 2014
Saturday, January 4, 2014
Hollywood couple stopped by police, say they were racially profiled
Hollywood actors Cherie Johnson and Dennis White say they were improperly stopped by police, put in handcuffs and harshly questioned during a recent weekend getaway in South Carolina. They claim the incident took place because of their race.
"It hurts me more that telling the story, other people are not surprised," Johnson said in an interview on HLN's" Showbiz Tonight" on Monday. "They're not shocked about what we went through. So many people have gone through it, too. I don't understand how come they haven't fought it and how come they just let it go."
Johnson, best known for her roles in TV shows "Punky Brewster" and "Family Matters," and White, from the movie "Notorious," are speaking out about their treatment by a Marion County sheriff's deputy on September 22.
"I've been stopped by the police before, but I've never been fearful for my life," Johnson said on Sunday. "They need some kind of sensitivity training."
The Marion County sheriff issued a statement on Monday promising to investigate the allegations of racial profiling.
The couple, who were in the area after conducting an acting workshop in North Carolina, shared White's account with freelance writer Krystol Diggs, who posted it to CNN iReport. CNN could not independently verify their account but spoke directly to Johnson and Diggs about the incident.
Johnson and White say they were on their way to Myrtle Beach for a quick romantic getaway when they pulled off the rural highway and parked by a cotton field. Johnson said she had never seen cotton before and told White she wanted to take a picture.
As the couple walked back to the car, they said, they noticed a police car with its lights on parked behind theirs. White and Johnson, who are both African-American, say the white officer harshly questioned them about drugs -- he found none -- and the cash he found in their bags.
Johnson was the national cheer representative for the Just Say No to Drugs campaign in the '80s.
According to White's account, Officer Shad Barfield told Johnson there was a warrant for her arrest, which she disputed, and the officer later recanted. He handcuffed White and then Johnson but did not arrest them.
"After he told me that I did not have a warrant for my arrest, and he started asking me about drugs for the third time, I said, 'Are you doing this because we're black?'" Johnson told HLN. "And that was when everything took a turn for the worst. He patted the car, he walked back to his car, he put on gloves. The next thing I knew, he was handcuffing Dennis."
"He told me ... I was being detained for his safety because he didn't know me," Johnson said.
"At this time I became distraught," White wrote in his account of the incident. "I have been racially profiled several times in my lifetime but it touched my core when my woman was included."
Marion County Sheriff Mark Richardson issued a statement on Monday in regard to the actors' claims: "Discrimination in any form, including racial profiling, is strictly prohibited by this department and as Sheriff of Marion County SC, I can assure you I will take immediate and appropriate action to investigate the allegations of racial profiling made by Mr. White and Ms. Johnson. This matter will be dealt with by an internal investigation within the department and I will also ask the State Law Enforcement Division to review the allegation made against Deputy Barfield."
It was Johnson's first experience being handcuffed. Several of her family members work in law enforcement, Johnson said, adding that she's "never been afraid of cops or had bad opinions of them."
This time was different.
After thoroughly searching the car, the officer removed the handcuffs and let the couple go.
"No apology, no nothing," White wrote.
White says he won't stop talking about the incident until "that racist cop" is reprimanded and punished.
"We've been conditioned to just think that it's OK -- that we have to just sweep it under the rug," White told HLN. "But we're not doing that no more. We're fighting."
By Monday morning, the story had received nearly 700,000 views -- making it the fourth most-viewed iReport of all time -- and hundreds of comments about racial profiling and law enforcement in South Carolina and elsewhere. Many readers said they had experienced similar situations.
Actress Kinnik Sky was among those who shared the story on her Facebook page. Sky, who was born and raised in Columbia, South Carolina, said she knew White and Johnson's account "to be absolutely true."
"I was like, 'Wow, boy can I relate,' because I am fearful of the cops as a whole, especially in South Carolina. My experiences have always been horrible."
The former "American Idol" finalist said whenever she returns from Los Angeles to her hometown she gets stopped by police "80% of the time" and questioned about drugs. On a recent trip she was "stopped, pulled over and questioned about every drug known to man," she said.
What's your reaction to White and Johnson's story? Sound off on iReport
Her account is strikingly similar to what Johnson and White said they experienced. Johnson said she contacted Marion County for an incident report but was told that one was never filed. In the meantime, she's voicing her views on Twitter and Facebook so others can know what she and White went through.
"I've always been a fan of speaking up and sharing your story," Johnson said. "We're way more powerful in numbers than we are alone."
"It hurts me more that telling the story, other people are not surprised," Johnson said in an interview on HLN's" Showbiz Tonight" on Monday. "They're not shocked about what we went through. So many people have gone through it, too. I don't understand how come they haven't fought it and how come they just let it go."
Johnson, best known for her roles in TV shows "Punky Brewster" and "Family Matters," and White, from the movie "Notorious," are speaking out about their treatment by a Marion County sheriff's deputy on September 22.
"I've been stopped by the police before, but I've never been fearful for my life," Johnson said on Sunday. "They need some kind of sensitivity training."
The Marion County sheriff issued a statement on Monday promising to investigate the allegations of racial profiling.
The couple, who were in the area after conducting an acting workshop in North Carolina, shared White's account with freelance writer Krystol Diggs, who posted it to CNN iReport. CNN could not independently verify their account but spoke directly to Johnson and Diggs about the incident.
Johnson and White say they were on their way to Myrtle Beach for a quick romantic getaway when they pulled off the rural highway and parked by a cotton field. Johnson said she had never seen cotton before and told White she wanted to take a picture.
As the couple walked back to the car, they said, they noticed a police car with its lights on parked behind theirs. White and Johnson, who are both African-American, say the white officer harshly questioned them about drugs -- he found none -- and the cash he found in their bags.
Johnson was the national cheer representative for the Just Say No to Drugs campaign in the '80s.
According to White's account, Officer Shad Barfield told Johnson there was a warrant for her arrest, which she disputed, and the officer later recanted. He handcuffed White and then Johnson but did not arrest them.
"After he told me that I did not have a warrant for my arrest, and he started asking me about drugs for the third time, I said, 'Are you doing this because we're black?'" Johnson told HLN. "And that was when everything took a turn for the worst. He patted the car, he walked back to his car, he put on gloves. The next thing I knew, he was handcuffing Dennis."
"He told me ... I was being detained for his safety because he didn't know me," Johnson said.
"At this time I became distraught," White wrote in his account of the incident. "I have been racially profiled several times in my lifetime but it touched my core when my woman was included."
Marion County Sheriff Mark Richardson issued a statement on Monday in regard to the actors' claims: "Discrimination in any form, including racial profiling, is strictly prohibited by this department and as Sheriff of Marion County SC, I can assure you I will take immediate and appropriate action to investigate the allegations of racial profiling made by Mr. White and Ms. Johnson. This matter will be dealt with by an internal investigation within the department and I will also ask the State Law Enforcement Division to review the allegation made against Deputy Barfield."
It was Johnson's first experience being handcuffed. Several of her family members work in law enforcement, Johnson said, adding that she's "never been afraid of cops or had bad opinions of them."
This time was different.
After thoroughly searching the car, the officer removed the handcuffs and let the couple go.
"No apology, no nothing," White wrote.
White says he won't stop talking about the incident until "that racist cop" is reprimanded and punished.
"We've been conditioned to just think that it's OK -- that we have to just sweep it under the rug," White told HLN. "But we're not doing that no more. We're fighting."
By Monday morning, the story had received nearly 700,000 views -- making it the fourth most-viewed iReport of all time -- and hundreds of comments about racial profiling and law enforcement in South Carolina and elsewhere. Many readers said they had experienced similar situations.
Actress Kinnik Sky was among those who shared the story on her Facebook page. Sky, who was born and raised in Columbia, South Carolina, said she knew White and Johnson's account "to be absolutely true."
"I was like, 'Wow, boy can I relate,' because I am fearful of the cops as a whole, especially in South Carolina. My experiences have always been horrible."
The former "American Idol" finalist said whenever she returns from Los Angeles to her hometown she gets stopped by police "80% of the time" and questioned about drugs. On a recent trip she was "stopped, pulled over and questioned about every drug known to man," she said.
What's your reaction to White and Johnson's story? Sound off on iReport
Her account is strikingly similar to what Johnson and White said they experienced. Johnson said she contacted Marion County for an incident report but was told that one was never filed. In the meantime, she's voicing her views on Twitter and Facebook so others can know what she and White went through.
"I've always been a fan of speaking up and sharing your story," Johnson said. "We're way more powerful in numbers than we are alone."
Richie Incognito files grievance to return to Miami Dolphins
NFL player Richie Incognito wants an expedited hearing on his suspension from the Miami Dolphins so he can return to the field soon.
Incognito filed a "non-injury grievance" against the Dolphins, who suspended him for conduct detrimental to the team earlier this month, according to the NFL Players Association.
Incognito said in an interview last weekend that his alleged bullying of Miami Dolphin teammate Jonathan Martin is misunderstood because "people don't know how Jon and I communicate to one another."
Martin, 24, left the team last month because of "harassment that went far beyond the traditional locker room hazing," Martin's lawyer said. Days later, Incognito, 30, was suspended.
"The grievance challenges his suspension for conduct which was alleged to have occurred while he was with the club," the association's statement said. "In the grievance, Incognito requests that the hearing be held on an expedited basis so that he can immediately resume playing for the team."
The Dolphins declined CNN's request for comment on the filing. "Our organizational policy is not to comment on grievance matters," a team spokesman said.
The NFL appointed veteran lawyer Ted Wells to investigate the controversy surrounding Martin's departure and Incognito's suspension.
Miami Dolphins owner Stephen Ross said he called for the independent investigation by the NFL because he knew the objectivity of a team investigation could be questioned.
"We need to look at ourselves," Ross said. "We have to examine everything internally. I know that this is so appalling to me."
But Ross also said he wanted to avoid overreacting. He formed a committee to help guide the changes, including former Dolphin coach Don Shula and quarterback Dan Marino.
"We all know that the football locker room is a different workplace than most of us are accustomed to," Ross said. "Basically, I don't want to make any excuses. I want to know that our workplace going onward will be the best workplace that you can find in the NFL."
Incognito acknowledged in an interview aired on "Fox NFL Sunday" that he used racist and vulgar language in voice mails and text messages to Martin but said it was "coming from a place of love."
"No matter how bad and how vulgar it sounds, that's how we communicate," he told Fox Sports reporter Jay Glazer. "That's how our friendship was."
"For instance, a week before this went down, Jonathan Martin text me on my phone 'I will murder your whole F-ing family,'" Incognito told Glazer. "Now, do I think Jonathan Martin was going to murder my family? Not one bit."
Dolphins owner delays meeting with Jonathan Martin
While Martin has not spoken publicly since the controversy erupted, his attorney David Cornwell broke the silence on his behalf with a prepared statement last week.
Martin tried "to befriend ... teammates who subjected him to the abuse with the hope that doing so would end the harassment" -- something Cornwell called "a textbook reaction of victims of bullying."
The taunting did not stop, however, the lawyer said. He cited "a malicious physical attack on him by a teammate and daily vulgar comments," and a threat of a group sexual assault against Martin's sister.
"Eventually, Jonathan made a difficult choice," Cornwell said of Martin leaving the Dolphins. "... Jonathan looks forward to getting back to playing football. In the meantime, he will cooperate fully with the NFL investigation."
"Right, wrong or indifferent, because of all this, you've become the face of bullying in America," Glazer told Incognito. "Someone thinks of a bully, they think of Richie Incognito."
"This isn't an issue about bullying," Incognito said. "This is an issue of my and Jon's relationship, where I've taken stuff too far, and I didn't know it was hurting him."
A profanity-filled voice mail from Incognito to Martin that has been made public was intended to shock him so "his buddy" would call him back, he said.
"I understand why a lot of eyebrows get raised," Incognito said, "when people don't know how Jon and I communicate to one another."
Incognito filed a "non-injury grievance" against the Dolphins, who suspended him for conduct detrimental to the team earlier this month, according to the NFL Players Association.
Incognito said in an interview last weekend that his alleged bullying of Miami Dolphin teammate Jonathan Martin is misunderstood because "people don't know how Jon and I communicate to one another."
Martin, 24, left the team last month because of "harassment that went far beyond the traditional locker room hazing," Martin's lawyer said. Days later, Incognito, 30, was suspended.
"The grievance challenges his suspension for conduct which was alleged to have occurred while he was with the club," the association's statement said. "In the grievance, Incognito requests that the hearing be held on an expedited basis so that he can immediately resume playing for the team."
The Dolphins declined CNN's request for comment on the filing. "Our organizational policy is not to comment on grievance matters," a team spokesman said.
The NFL appointed veteran lawyer Ted Wells to investigate the controversy surrounding Martin's departure and Incognito's suspension.
Miami Dolphins owner Stephen Ross said he called for the independent investigation by the NFL because he knew the objectivity of a team investigation could be questioned.
"We need to look at ourselves," Ross said. "We have to examine everything internally. I know that this is so appalling to me."
But Ross also said he wanted to avoid overreacting. He formed a committee to help guide the changes, including former Dolphin coach Don Shula and quarterback Dan Marino.
"We all know that the football locker room is a different workplace than most of us are accustomed to," Ross said. "Basically, I don't want to make any excuses. I want to know that our workplace going onward will be the best workplace that you can find in the NFL."
Incognito acknowledged in an interview aired on "Fox NFL Sunday" that he used racist and vulgar language in voice mails and text messages to Martin but said it was "coming from a place of love."
"No matter how bad and how vulgar it sounds, that's how we communicate," he told Fox Sports reporter Jay Glazer. "That's how our friendship was."
"For instance, a week before this went down, Jonathan Martin text me on my phone 'I will murder your whole F-ing family,'" Incognito told Glazer. "Now, do I think Jonathan Martin was going to murder my family? Not one bit."
Dolphins owner delays meeting with Jonathan Martin
While Martin has not spoken publicly since the controversy erupted, his attorney David Cornwell broke the silence on his behalf with a prepared statement last week.
Martin tried "to befriend ... teammates who subjected him to the abuse with the hope that doing so would end the harassment" -- something Cornwell called "a textbook reaction of victims of bullying."
The taunting did not stop, however, the lawyer said. He cited "a malicious physical attack on him by a teammate and daily vulgar comments," and a threat of a group sexual assault against Martin's sister.
"Eventually, Jonathan made a difficult choice," Cornwell said of Martin leaving the Dolphins. "... Jonathan looks forward to getting back to playing football. In the meantime, he will cooperate fully with the NFL investigation."
"Right, wrong or indifferent, because of all this, you've become the face of bullying in America," Glazer told Incognito. "Someone thinks of a bully, they think of Richie Incognito."
"This isn't an issue about bullying," Incognito said. "This is an issue of my and Jon's relationship, where I've taken stuff too far, and I didn't know it was hurting him."
A profanity-filled voice mail from Incognito to Martin that has been made public was intended to shock him so "his buddy" would call him back, he said.
"I understand why a lot of eyebrows get raised," Incognito said, "when people don't know how Jon and I communicate to one another."
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)