Platform : Skinheads: ‘People Want to Feel Connected’

Here’s what experts say about how widespread the skinhead problem is: RABBI ABRAHAM COOPER: Associate dean, Simon Wiesenthal Center

The good news is that skinheads are not a mass movement--that would only come about after an economic collapse. The bad news is that they don’t need (large numbers.)

The fact that those who blew up the World Trade Center have vowed to bring terrorism to America is also not lost on extremists.

The founder of the Church of the Creator (one of the groups tied to the recent Fourth Reich Skinhead plot against Rodney King and the First African Methodist Episcopal Church), who is himself an immigrant, has been pushing the same line of bigotry since 1973. Tom Metzger (leader of the White Aryan Resistance) has been making his pitch since 1979. They have worked long and hard to prepare the ground.

But now the rules of the game have changed. It started when David Duke took off his Ku Klux Klan hood and put on a suit and packaged his message to frustrated middle Americans. This gave the message an aura of creeping respectability.

How many other groups of 50 people (like WAR) get repeated media exposure? I recall a story about a year ago that Metzger hardly had the money to pay the rent on his mobile home. They (WAR) are kept afloat by getting on nationally syndicated talk shows like Larry King. That allows them to get their hate message out--sometimes unfiltered--without any kind of big budget.

These groups use the latest technology, E-mail and fax machines. (The hate message) can be found in rock bands and neo-Nazi computer games. We were just sent a slick, glossy comic book that speaks to the frustrations of high-school kids.

The attraction of these groups is a sense of belonging, empowerment, a sense of validity. Where are the parents, churches and schools?

The victimization crutch--when you say failure is not your fault--is as powerful as any drug. And we think, like the message about drugs, you can’t start too young to speak out against it and be role models.

JONATHAN BERNSTEIN: Regional director, Orange County office of the Anti-Defamation League

We figure there are 18 skinhead groups in Orange County, with some crossover between them. Nationally, we’ve found skinhead activity up. But I wouldn’t call it a movement, as these groups are loosely affiliated. The ideology of hate pulls the factions together.

Many (who join) have been abused and feel powerless in their families. These groups are an outlet for them to release their anger (because) it’s easy to rally around a scapegoat. Interestingly, these were some of the same motivations of the Nazis.

Economic (status) doesn’t necessarily seem to play a role. We see (people in these groups) from all economic levels: working class and upper class.

The thing to remember is that these people represent a very small percentage of the general population. The scary thing is that they are so violent, (accounting for) 22 murders in the last three years nationally. That’s up from six murders in the previous three years. We think they are the most dangerous group in America, more than neo-Nazis and the (Ku Klux) Klan, which has been losing members.

EUGENE MORNELL: Executive director, L.A. County Human Relations Commission

Skinheads are on the fringe, but they are acting out the feelings of a larger group. But to think there are hundreds of other (such hate groups) out there plotting (incidents similar to the Rodney King/First AME alleged scheme) is foolish.

The commission cites several reasons (for such crimes) in our annual hate crime report. Historically, we see a pattern of continued bigotry against traditional victims: blacks, Jews and gay men. Traditionally the perpetrators have been young white males, but now we are seeing women perpetrators as well.

Crime is up throughout the nation, hate crimes included. And then there’s the increasing diversity, the continuing change in the population in Los Angeles County. For example, Latinos might be resentful of newer immigrants.

External factors also play out locally. During the (Persian) Gulf War, there was a tremendous increase in tension (for those of Arab extraction). Congestion also makes people more irritable in general. In greater Los Angeles, there were fewer than 3 million people in 1940, while there were 9 million in 1990. That’s accompanied by a decrease in civility in society as a whole.

We also asked the public what makes these groups attractive to some: CHRIS CHABOT: Computer programmer/writer, West Hollywood

I grew up in a lily-white Northern town (in Michigan) with a population of 1,000. In 1970, the Urban League bused in 50 African-American kids from Detroit for two weeks, and except for TV and rap music that’s been about the town’s only exposure to any minorities. So a lot of people got the idea that all blacks drove Cadillacs and did drive-by shootings. But my parents were in the NAACP and Urban League and talked to me about racism and prejudice.

Here in L.A. I work in an office that’s fully integrated at all levels. In L.A. you can get a real understanding of how everyone is the same. But when I go to my hometown to visit, I find many of my white high school friends have gotten real prejudiced. I really hate it.

What’s happened to them is this: They work in Detroit where there’s a race-cold war going on now. All their co-workers are white and their white friends keep warning them that blacks are dangerous. They don’t know any blacks, just occasionally talk to an African-American cab driver or clerk. Next, they have some unpleasant episode with a black person, like their car radio is taken when they’re parked in a black neighborhood, or they’re the target of some hostility. Then they stereotype and blame every member of the black race. Believe it or not, during the L.A. riots, a few people in my home town 1,500 miles from here, were getting handgun permits. I guess they thought rioters were holding a map and saying: “First, Beverly Hills--then, Upper Michigan!”

As for the neo-Nazis and white separatist groups, it’s hard to take them seriously when they claim they have a big army behind them. Usually those guys have chronic arrest records, no education and emotional and social problems. Things go wrong in their lives and they want to blame someone. But there’s a big difference between griping about blacks and Jews and actually joining groups like those.

MARGARET MILLER: Community activist, Inglewood

I’m white, and in Inglewood where I live only about 8% of the population is white. About 30 years ago it was all white, and I remember when the first black child entered elementary school here. The whites started moving to the Valley as quickly as possible, but I stayed because I was a “good liberal” and felt races should get along, and I wanted to work toward that. About eight years later when my two daughters were in high school only about 7% of the students were white.

Part of the thinking behind integrating the schools was that when people of different races got to know each other they’d start to get along. But it doesn’t always work that way. My two daughters have said that as minorities in an almost all-black school they were damaged. They were taunted. They’re grown now but they’ve told me: “Mother, you don’t know what it’s like to be hated just because of your color.”

JEFFERY WALLACE: Entertainment industry professional, Culver City

I’m African-American. And I’ve always considered myself pretty unprejudiced. But you know, we all have racist tendencies to some degree. Years ago, when my son was 16 and brought home his new girlfriend for the first time, I surprised myself thinking: “Oh my gosh! She’s white!” But I don’t let my prejudices get any deeper than that. You can’t let yourself stoop to that kind of level. You can’t let people steal your joy.

The town I grew up in, Waxahachie, Tex., was one of the last in the country to desegregate its schools. That was in 1966, and I was one of only four black junior high school students who picked the all-white school. The teachers didn’t expect me to succeed academically. When I wanted to take French and Russian my teachers kept saying it would probably be too hard for me. I made straight A’s in both languages, to their chagrin, so they started saying I was an “exception”--when really I’m just like everyone else.

CARL SCHATTEN: Radio programmer, Riverside

Perhaps people join because there has been a buildup of resentment due to things like quota hiring, tough economic times and coverage of (last year’s) riot, which was slanted to make you feel sorry for these people who were throwing bricks.

But this latest incident (involving the Fourth Reich Skinheads) is not part of a hate campaign. Radical fringe groups have existed from the time I was a kid in Washington, D.C. I think (the arrests) were because the FBI is under pressure and needed some publicity.

MARCI GOLLIS: Executive director, National Conference of Christian and Jews, Newport Beach

People want to feel connected to a greater whole. Though not a wise choice, these groups seem to provide leadership and strength to people who want to fill a void in their lives.

Southern California is the ultimate melting pot. This could be overwhelming to people who are not open to those who have different cultures, religions, opinions.

We try to be pro-active by sponsoring diversity awareness programs in college, high school and now even for children in kindergarten through fifth grade in which we teach self respect as well as respect for others.

ALBERTO MAHECHA: Gypsy poet, Downey

These groups are based on ignorance. You don’t know me, my culture, my values so you can put it all together in one package and say I am not worthwhile. I am a Gypsy myself, born in Spain, where we’ve faced the same problem of discrimination for many years because we look white but are not blond. Ignorant people associate Gypsies with theft, black magic and flamenco dancing. But Gypsies are worthy people too.

These poor kids (in these groups) have an identity problem and poor self-esteem. They are afraid of what they don’t know. When people really get to know other people, their backgrounds, they discover treasures.