IREHR vice president, Devin Burghart, expressed concern about Richard Mack speaking at a Washington State Republican Lincoln Day Dinner.  

As IREHR documented in Tea Party Nationalism, Mack, the former Graham County, Arizona sheriff popular in white supremacist and militia circles during the 1990s, found his speaking career rejuvenated with the emergence of the Tea Party.

The full article in the April 27, 2013 issue of The Columbian, “Tea Party reigns at GOP dinner: Stand up to government, event’s speakers implore” is available here - http://www.columbian.com/news/2013/apr/27/tea-party-reigns-at-gop-dinner/

IREHR's Leonard Zeskind gave a workshop on "White Nationalists and neo-Nazis in the Kansas-Missouri Region" at a Day of Discovery held at the Jewish Community Center in Overland Park, Kansas.  Among those white nationalists he highlighted in his talk were the National Socialist Movement, the Council of Conservative Citizens, Alex Linder's website Vanguard News Network website, and Jamie Kelso's radio program.  He cited Eric Bishop's refusal to follow in his father's Tim Bishop's "stormtrooper" path, and other signs of opposition to white nationalism.  Around 50 people attended the workshop.

• CNN: Temple killings put spotlight on 'hate rock' (Watch Below)
• New York Times: Hatecore Music Is Called White Supremacist Recruiting Tool
• National Memo: The Milwaukee Shootings and White Noise. 
• CBC Radio Interview

On Saturday, August 18, IREHR conducted a three-hour training on the Tea Parties for over twenty members of Kansas City 99, an organization that grew out of the Occupy movement. The training covered the size and structure of the Tea Party movement, the racism and bigotry embedded in it, and productive ways to counter the movement. Hand-outs included a chart on Tea Party numbers in the two-state area: Kansas has 4,126 enrolled Tea Party members with eleven Tea Party Patriots chapters; Missouri has 9,177 enrolled members with 35 Tea Party Patriot chapters.

The training can be duplicated in other regions and around specific issue areas. If you would like a training in your area, please notify IREHR.

Leonard Zeskind gave a workshop about Tea Party bigotry at a Occupy Kansas City "Education Day" on October 23.  About 30 people attended the session, and a spirited discussion followed his presentation.

Markos Moulitsas, "Anti-immigrant nativists show their true colors," Daily Kos, September 23, 2011.

Albor Luiz, "Foes of 'illegals' move to end ALL immigration," New York Daily News, September 28, 2011. 

We begin with an optimistic, yet un-blinkered understanding of our situation. The political landscape in the United States has changed considerably since IREHR's founding in 1983. Our long-held dreams for social and economic justice have become imbued with new hope in the future.  More, the drive towards a truly multi-racial, multicultural democracy and individual human rights have gained new and powerful adherents.

Meeting for a week in Los Angeles for its 102nd national convention, the NAACP marched in solidarity with the United Food and Commercial Workers Union, heard rousing oratory from Chairman Roslyn Brock and President Benjamin Todd Jealous, took a history lesson on the meaning of the current battle from North Carolina State President Rev. William Barber, and met in dozens of workshops that covered topics from "Why we must overcome homophobia" to "Environmental and climate justice" to "Reviving the prophetic relationship with communities of faith."

"The state of the NAACP is strong," Jealous told a plenary session.  He cited three years in a row of growing membership numbers, an end to fiscal crisis at the national headquarters, and an on-line activist base--"starting primarily with young people"--of over 510,000.  Close to 2,500 voting delegates and alternates registered for and attended the convention, but approximately 10,000 walked through the doors at one time or another, according to an NAACP spokesperson. Many went to the NAACP's commerce expo, and the annual Freedom Fund dinner was packed wall to wall.  This writer sat at Table 127, and the numbers went up from there.

IREHR president Leonard Zeskind was featured in the new television documentary, "White Power USA," which aired on the Riz Khan program on January 12. The entire program is available for you to watch after the jump.