The murderous attack on a Sikh temple in Wisconsin this past Sunday by neo-Nazi skinhead Wade Michael Page was just the latest in a series of terrorist incidents and plots by the radical right in recent months and years. It comes in the midst of explosive growth on the radical right – growth fueled by America’s increasing diversity, its economic problems and the election of the nation’s first black president.
More than a year ago, the Southern Poverty Law Center described in a federal lawsuit how students in Alabama’s Mobile County public schools are suspended for minor infractions for months at a time without the constitutionally required notice and hearing.
This past spring, one of my friends at Hardin County High School in Savannah, Tenn. wore a T-shirt on the Day of Silence – a national observance to raise awareness of anti-gay bullying and harassment.
The Mississippi Agriculture & Forestry Museum and the state’s attorney general have recognized the right of same-sex couples to hold commitment ceremonies at the museum after the Southern Poverty Law Center demanded the facility end its unlawful policy of refusing to rent the facilities to same-sex couples for such an event.
Last month, I stood before 300 Sikhs at a Gurdūārā in Roswell, Ga. I stood there representing the Southern Poverty Law Center as part of an ongoing effort to curb the bullying of Sikh school children across the South.
We know little about the motives of the gunman who opened fire yesterday in a Sikh temple in Oak Creek, Wisconsin. Many of us will monitor the news during the day, hoping to learn more about what the shooter thought he was doing, sure to hear more about the heroism and horror inside the building.
Morris Dees, co-founder of the Southern Poverty Law Center, was recognized Tuesday for a legal career dedicated to seeking justice and equality for all when the American Bar Association presented him with the ABA Medal – the organization’s highest award.
Message boards and forums across the racist radical right have erupted in the days following Wade Michael Page’s deadly rampage at a Sikh temple in Wisconsin, with some racists calling the skinhead gunman “brother,” commending his actions on behalf of the white man and excoriating those who have tried to distance themselves from the racist cause.
When 11-year-old J.B. was caught with a cell phone in class, the student received a five-day suspension. The school district in Okaloosa County, Fla., meted out the harsh punishment because the incident was considered “inappropriate behavior.”
The man who allegedly murdered six people at a Sikh temple in suburban Milwaukee yesterday, identified in media reports as Wade Michael Page, was a frustrated neo-Nazi who had been the leader of a racist white-power band.
