Dangers of the 'Right Wing' Agenda?

By Margaret L. Kempf
The Washington Times, October 4, 1998, page B5
© Copyright 1998 News World Communications, Inc.

I am concerned about right-wing organizations. One such group is the Council of Conservative Citizens in St. Louis. Their "Citizens Informer" newsletter featured a smiling Rep. Bob Barr addressing their conference and board meeting last June.

It is disgusting that Mr. Barr, a member of the House Judiciary Committee, would associate himself with the Council of Conservative Citizens.

The Council attracts some Republicans, but they are more than just conservative! They are so right-wing that they are first cousins to the Ku Klux Klan. For example, they revere the Confederacy and its values ("values" which tortured African-Americans). A pet project seems to be restoring the Confederate battle flag to respectability. They stubbornly reject any opposition to this idea. Southern Patriots and Sons of Confederate Veterans flock to the Council as they pursue their agendas.

The Council's newsletters contain repulsive articles. Many smear Martin Luther King as a lecherous communist, and Abraham Lincoln as a tyrant. Civil rights, interracial marriage, affirmative action, etc., are on their hit list. Their most recent newsletter (which featured the photos of Bob Barr and an article by Trent Lott) contained one especially galling piece. A column by Robert Patterson glorified white civilization and urged that it not be polluted by black men marrying white women. In other words, the usual David Duke drivel that African-American males are sub-human and violent (German stormtroopers weren't).

How can Mr. Barr claim moral superiority over President Clinton, when he himself is friendly with such an ugly, white-power group? Is Mr. Barr ignorant of their true agenda? Is he comfortable with Rebel flags, reverencing of slavers and butchers like Nathan Bedford Forrest, and a callous disregard for the horrors of slavery and segregation?

Twice I called Mr. Barr's office, and twice I received the same denial of his association with this group. Since the Council is but one step above the Klan, Mr. Barr should explain his involvement, lest his own integrity be compromised.