Mississippi Legislature Honors Event Hosted By White Supremacist

The Mississippi Legislature has voted once again to honor an occasion organized by a staunch white supremacist. Lawmakers in the House and Senate approved resolutions last week designating March 2 “The Spirit of America Day” to commemorate the achievements of standout male high school athletes in Mississippi.

What the resolutions fail to mention is that “The Spirit of America Day” events are hosted by Richard Barrett, an attorney in Learned, Miss., and the head of the Nationalist Movement, a white supremacist organization that advocates striking down civil rights laws and organizes white power events nationwide. He’s also chairman of the board of America’s Foundation, the Mississippi sports organization that’s sponsoring “The Spirit of America Day. This year, seven teenagers were selected on the basis of their athleticism, leadership and citizenship.

“The endeavors of these individual students to be productive and contributing members of society provide the model example for other students to pattern themselves after, in efforts of becoming notable and model citizens for future generations to come,” states the resolution adopted by the House.

“The Mississippi government’s repeated recognition of him [Barrett] would be a comical Ground Hog Day parody but for the vitriol of his bigotry,” Brian Levin, director of the Center for the Study of Hate & Extremism at California State University, San Bernardino, told Hatewatch.
In his 1982 autobiography, The Commission, he called for resettling non-white Americans to “Puerto Rico, Mexico, Israel, the Orient and Africa,” according to the Anti-Defamation League.
”Never one to miss an opportunity to exploit racial tension, Barrett marched on Martin Luther King Day last year in Jena, La.

In 2004, Barrett tried to sponsor a booth at the Mississippi State Fair backing Edgar Ray Killen, the former Klan leader who was found guilty of manslaughter in connection with the deaths of three civil rights workers. Although he suggested to the AP that he doesn’t share his racist views at “Spirit of America” events, the day isn’t Barrett’s only youth outreach effort.

Despite criticizing the violence encouraged by certain extremist groups, Barrett currently runs an online forum for skinheads, where last week he referred to Obama as “Chimpanzee-in-Chief.
” His racist message is a hit with the young men who post there. ”No matter how many laws you pass a white woman will always be the ultimate prize and target of black men,” reads one recent post. “Long live you my brave brothers and thank God for this forum and the wise words of Richard Barrett.

Hate is an insidious cancer that eats away at the very fabric of our society year in and year out. State sponsored events that are hosted by hate groups tends to lend credence to these vicious impediments to the advancement of civilization and society. We cannot allow these practices of governmental legitimization of these groups. Hate is hate. Intolerance is intolerance. Hate and intolerance are killing mankind.

Please visit ReligiousTolerance.org and StandStrongAgainstHate.org
to see what you can do to stem the tide of this societal cancer.