Modern day hate groups still exist in Southwest Ohio

Modern day hate groups
still exist in Southwest Ohio
By Anna Hoffman
In 2013 there were 939 active hate groups in the United States, the Southern Poverty Law
Center (SPLC) reports. Of these 939, 31 are in the state of Ohio, five in the southwest region,
including ones in the Cincinnati and Dayton areas.
The closest “hate group” is called the Nation of Islam Dayton Study Group or NOI.
According to its website mission statement, the Nation of Islam is “dedicated to spreading the
Life Giving Teachings of the Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad as taught by the Honorable
Minister Louis Farrakhan
“Basically we are a organization that is committed to improving the lives of
humanity…especially the humanity of black people” said Tyrone Muhammad who picked up
the phone in the Dayton Office of NIO, listed as Dixon Wellness Center, located at 4415
Dayton-Liberty Rd.
However, according to the SPLC, NOI’s “bizarre theology of innate black superiority over
whites … the deeply racist, anti-Semitic and anti-gay rhetoric of its leaders, including top
minister Louis Farrakhan, have earned the NOI a prominent position in the ranks of
organized hate.”
When asked about it’s labeling as a hate group, NOI’s Muhammad responded: “The hatred is
on their end; they hate the truth that we preach.
“What we are saying is, at the end of the day, when a person is labeled as a hater there is a
track record to bring validity to that statement.” Said Muhammad, who identified himself
simply as an NOI member. “We have been in existence for 83 years. Our meetings are not
used to incite hatred to an audience, our meetings are on the Internet; they are open to the
public. The world can tune in to what it is that we preach, and what it is that we teach. There
is nothing documented that brings reality to that statement.”
However, the NOI Dayton website currently has no meetings or minutes posted.
“However when we look at them, and what they have done to us in particular, they are the
haters.” Muhammad said referring to the SPLC.
According to
Muhammad, the SPLC is
irrelevant.
Morris Dees and Joseph
Levin Jr. founded the
Southern Poverty Law
Center in 1971. Their aim
was to fight against
racism, bigotry and
inequality. Through
education, litigation and
various other forms of
activism the SPLC strives
for equal opportunity
between all people.
Map depicting locations of active hate groups in Ohio
“We really don’t care about the treatment by the Southern Poverty Law Center,” said
Muhammad. “There is nothing they can do.”
Minister Louis Farrakhan, as he is known, has been the leader of NOI since 1977. Originally
named Louis Eugene Walcott, born May 11, 1933, in the Bronx, in New York. Farrakhan has
on numerous occasions voiced his anti-Semitic opinions.
"We can now present to our people and the world a true, undeniable record of the relationship
between Blacks and Jews from their own mouths and pens,” Farrakhan said in a letter to the
SPLC in 2010. “…starting with the horror of the trans-Atlantic slave trade, plantation
slavery, Jim Crow, sharecropping, the labor movement of the North and South, the unions
and the misuse of our people that continues to this very moment."
“I agree with everything.” Muhammad said of some of the controversial teachings of
Farrakhan. “He challenges the listener to not just be a surface dweller, and he challenges the
person to do his or her own research and to research for ourselves, then we can see what
Minister Farrakhan says.”
Although the Nation of Islam can be traced back to anti-Semitic and black separatist origins,
such as previous leader Elijah Muhammad and Malcolm X, according to Muhammad, the
NOI is not about skin color.
“It’s not about white people and black people, It’s about righteousness and wickedness.” he
said. “We are not bent on color. What we are after is improving the actions of individuals
because our teaching goes to the root of problems and the root of solutions, and unfortunately
the root of problems goes back to Caucasian people, but we do not stay there. Our greatest
enemy is not Caucasian people; it is us.”
While the civil rights movement dates back to even before 1960s, numerous groups still
promote segregation and racial tensions.
One example: Sundown Towns, a phenomenon researched by James W. Loewen, Professor
of African-American Studies at University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign, American
sociologist, historian, and author of “Lies My Teacher Told Me: Everything Your American
History Textbook Got Wrong”, a book about factual mistakes made in textbooks.
Sundown Towns were towns that excluded African-Americans from living within city limits
or entering the town after dark. Chinese Americans and other minorities were also excluded
from some purposely all-white towns.
After the Fair Housing Act of 1968 prohibited racial discriminations when selling property or
housing, the number of sundown towns decreased.
According to Loewen’s database, the closest former sundown town to Miami University is
Middletown, Ohio.
“If a town is not listed, that doesn’t mean that it wasn’t one. Maybe a town five miles away,
there is no possibility that I have studied every town in Ohio.” Loewen said.
A group called Against Racist Action also monitors race issues. It collects and publishes
phone numbers and addresses of suspected members of the United Northern and Southern
White Knights of the Klu Klux Klan.
The list alleges that five members of the United Northern and Southern White Knights of the
KKK reside in Ohio.
Brandon Wesley Springer, whose name appears on the list as a supposed Klan member,
claimed he knew nothing about the group and hung up when contacted.
Another name on the list, Ron Beaver, turned out to be a former Sheriff in Cabarrus County,
in Concord, N.C.
“I’m a retired law enforcement officer. I don’t know if I made one of my clients unhappy.”
Beaver said by phone from N.C. “I don’t know if it was someone that I sent to prison that
tried to mess me up”
During his time with the sheriff’s office, Beaver investigated cases he believed were Klan
related.
“My specialty was actually child abuse, that was my forte, and I was also a hostage
negotiator.” Said Beaver. “The only thing I know of is that I had an unsolved homicide in
which I thought there was Klan involvement, Klan/skinhead involvement, and we were never
able to prove anything”
That case, in Concord N.C., remains open 11 years after Beaver retired.
A more recent case dating to October 2013, involves the KKK trying to recruit new members
in Cincinnati OH. Fliers were distributed on car windows in Hillsboro, a town of 6,605 near
Cincinnati.
The fliers read: “"Help Save Our Race: Everything we cherish is under assault by ZOG".
ZOG is an acronym for "Zionist Occupied Government." An anti-Semitic conspiracy theory
stating Jewish people actually run the U.S government.
Other hate groups surrounding Miami University are Mystic Knights Of The Ku Klux Klan
located in Dayton. Black separatist NOI’s in Cincinnati and Dayton, New Empire Knights of
the Ku Klux Klan in Dayton, and Red October, a white nationalist party in Hamilton.
Active hate groups in Ohio, information provided from Southern Poverty Law Center.
Name
American Nazi Party
Aryan Strikeforce
Aryan Terror Brigade
Blood and Honour U.S.A.
Christ or Chaos
Church of Jesus Christ
Christian/Aryan Nations
Type
Neo-Nazi
Racist Skinhead
Racist Skinhead
Racist Skinhead
Radical Traditional Catholicism
Christian Identity
City
Council of Conservative
Citizens
Council of Conservative
Citizens
European-American Unity and
Rights Organization
Fraternal White Knights of the
Ku Klux Klan
Geauga Constitutional Council
International Keystone Knights
of the Ku Klux Klan
ISD Records
Loyal White Knights of the Ku
Klux Klan
Mission: America
Mystic Knights Of The Ku Klux
Klan
Nation of Islam
Nation of Islam
Nation of Islam
National Alliance
National Socialist Freedom
Movement
White Nationalist
Springboro
West Chester
Bainbridge
White Nationalist
White Nationalist
Cleveland
Ku Klux Klan
Amelia
General Hate
Ku Klux Klan
Mayfield Heights
Cleveland
Racist Music
Ku Klux Klan
Lancaster
Anti-LGBT
Ku Klux Klan
Columbus
Black Separatist
Black Separatist
Black Separatist
Neo-Nazi
Neo-Nazi
Dayton
Cincinnati
Dayton
Parma
National Socialist Movement
New Empire Knights of the Ku
Klux Klan
Non-Universal Teaching
Ministries
Red October
Sadistic Souls Motorcycle Club
SonnyThomas.com
Supreme White Alliance
The Creativity Movement
Vinlanders Ohio
Neo-Nazi
Ku Klux Klan
Dayton
Christian Identity
Fostoria
White Nationalist
Neo-Nazi
General Hate
Racist Skinhead
Neo-Nazi
Racist Skinhead
Hamilton
Springboro
Covington

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