On the other hand, maybe it's also worth remembering that these kinds of organizations seem to enjoy a vampiric half-life long beyond their normal lifespan. When a leader or even an entire group falters, there are always others ready to fill the vacuum.
Consider, for instance, the case of the National Alliance, which many of us who follow the extremist right were hoping was finally headed for history's trashbin after the 1992 demise of its founder and avatar, William Pierce. After all, this was the man who brought us both The Turner Diaries and the trail of bodies that followed its blueprint, as well as inspiring a host of "lone wolf" shooters like Buford Furrow with his sniper novel Hunter. Pierce's NA was also behind a number of far-right recruitment tactics such as promoting heavy-metal "white power" music. But in the years leading up to his death, the NA had been declining in energy, profile and ultimately membership, and many hoped that Pierce's passing would mean its final dissolution.
Instead, as I've reported previously, the National Alliance is staying alive if not thriving outright. A Chicago-area suburban paper recently ran a piece explaining that the NA's strategy for doing so involves changing its image in a way geared toward white-collar professionals who quietly harbor racial animosities:
- The next face of hate?
Dave Neesan leans forward in the booth of an Elmhurst cocktail lounge, pulling copies of white separatist fliers out of a faux-leather portfolio.
He is a 46-year-old engineer who wears a suit and tie. He went to college. He just bought a home in Schaumburg.
And his organization, the National Alliance, is one of the fastest growing white nationalist groups in the country, a kind of Ku Klux Klan for the next generation.
Its ultimate goal is to create a place where only whites will live together in peace. A place where they can be proud of their European heritage.
He speaks of that world in derogatory stereotypes, without concern or acknowledgment of the offense his words may cause.
"A clean, white place, where you wouldn't see a lot of cops because you wouldn't need them," he says.
In one of his milder statements about minorities, he continues: "Where there wouldn't be any lip-flappin', chicken-wing slappin' rap music ... where you'd have meaningful art by white artists ... and children would be raised from an early age to respect their culture and society."
As the story explains, even though Hale is behind bars and the WCOTC apparently defunct, the NA is moving forward to fill the same niche in the ideological marketplace:
- According to the Chicago-based Center for New Community, which tracks hate groups and helps communities organize against them, the KKK has chapters with varying degrees of activity in Prospect Heights, Carpentersville and West Dundee.
Many of Hale's former followers also have moved to a chapter of the National Socialist Movement in Schiller Park, said Devin Burghart, a researcher with the Center for New Community, the anti-hate organization.
With some members fearful of government prosecution like that against Hale, all of the groups are looking for ways to bring in new, young recruits to replace those who may have pulled back on activity, Burghart said.
That leaves the door open for one of the local leaders -- perhaps Neesan -- to take Hale's place as the state's most visible white activist.
"The (groups) are groping around for a new generation of haters and new avenues for recruiting people," Burghart said.
Of course, as I've recently discussed, there are many signs beyond even Hale's conviction that the WCOTC -- which already has enjoyed one return trip from the land of the dead -- is finally on its last legs.
But don't be surprised if some ghoul finds a way to bring them staggering back into our streets and alleys late at night again sometime in the future.
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