Ásatrú

Ásatrú, also known sometimes as Odinism, has its basis in Germanic Neopaganism but sprouts tentacles off in many different directions with many different factions, many of whom don't always see eye-to-eye.

In very general terms, Asatru is a polytheistic faith, centered around worship of the ancient Norse Gods and Goddesses. Many of the names of these gods and goddesses remain part of our modern culture, such as in the days of the week: Wednesday is Woden's (Odin/Wotan's) Day, Thursday is Thor's Day, Friday is Freya's Day. Ásatrú - the true Ásatrú - is open to everyone, regardless of gender, race, color, ethnicity, national origin, language, sexual orientation, or any other divisive criteria.

The current leading Ásatrú organization seems to be Ásatrú Alliance, which succeeded something called the Asatru Free Assembly which was also succeeded by something else called the Asatru Folk Assembly. According to Wikipedia, the Asatru Alliance was founded by Michael J. Murray, the former Vice-President of something else yet again, called The Odinist Fellowship.

Confused? Me too. It's like trying to sort out a bucket of nightcrawlers. At night. Let's not even get into the more hardcore "Odinist" types like The Odin Brotherhood, The Odinic Rite, The Odinist Fellowship, Holy Nation of Odin, and Wotanism.

The problem with Asatru/Odinism is that it's too "open source" a concept - the danger with starting a religious organization that you can't maintain strict control over is that before you know it, all kinds of kooks are starting rogue versions of your religion, and using it for unsavory purposes that you didn't intend. And so we have people out there calling themselves Odin worshippers who couldn't be more different from one another, ranging from young left-wing hippie girls to ultra-right-wing shaven-headed nutcases. Still others are merely attracted to the swords and the costumes and the mead, and would probably be better off visiting a Rennaissance Fair than changing their religion.

Because of its anglo-centric nature, it has attracted both gentle Wiccans and psychotic "White Power" supremacists - neither of which, needless to say, want to have anything to do with each other. For the most part, the peaceful ones just want to be left alone, and it's the stupid skinheads with skulls tattooed on their necks who stir up trouble and give the larger body of Ásatrú a major PR liability.

It's enough to make an Ásatrú practitioner throw up their hands and say "to hell with it, I'm just going to go over here and start my own personal Scandinavian-flavored thing and stop using the names "Asatru" or "Odinist" entirely".

And many, in fact, are increasingly doing just that, preferring to keep it vague and unaffiliated, and just calling themselves "heathen" or "pre-Christian" and leaving it at that. Many keep their groups tightly-knit among a close circles of family and friends, and have moved past the idea of belonging to over-arching all-encompassing organizations where you end up side by side with people whose reasons for interest in all things Germanic may be more sinister than yours.

Kentucky has a local Ásatrú chapter located in Hazard, called the Kentucky Ásatrú Alliance. According to their website (which is currently offline for some reason):

"More and more people are moving away from universal religions that assert their path as the "one and only right way" for all humanity, and returing to the tribal paths of their own ancestors. These ancestral "folk ways" are after all, an expression of the totality of the people who developed [with] them as ways of understanding and expressing existence. Since much of our being (both physical and psychological) is passed on to us from our ancestors, their natural spirituality is surely the most compatible with our own instinctual being."

Another site of theirs, FrithNet, is still online but doesn't look to have been updated in over a year. And it in turn links to a worldwide Ásatrú auction site called FeeFum, which shows a little more activity, but not much, and the items being auctioned are predominantly jewelry. And yet another site, Samfelag, ostensibly for networking, also seems little-used.

Does this mean that the Ásatrú faith is in decline? No, far from it. I'd say it most likely means that the kind of people drawn to true Ásatrú would be the kind of people who don't spend a whole lot of time fiddling around on the internet - and for that, I say more power to 'em. Then again, they are on Facebook, which is unfortunate.)

Other Ásatrú organizations around the world seem to still exist - such as Asatru Alliance in Arizona, Asatru Folk Assembly (though their site still says 2008 at the bottom), The Troth in Connecticut, Irminsul Ættir in Washington state, and The Canadian Asatru Portal, who provide an exhaustive array of further Asatru links here.


Given that most seem to be sticklers for historical authenticity, something tells me they're not going to like the upcoming Thor movie, which bases itself on the highly off-model Marvel Comics version and takes it even further off-model.

Hutaree Militia-Cult in Kentucky?

I've got an article on Louisville Mojo now about the mysterious "Hutaree", a paramilitary religious-apocalyptic cult recently busted by the FBI in Michigan, Ohio, and Indiana.

With Ohio and Indiana being frighteningly close to home, and with reports that Hutaree was working hard on expanding its reach into all 50 states, the influence of the Hutaree cult and its sympathizers on Kentucky will bear closer investigation in the days and weeks to come.

Cathedral of the Assumption

I was up on the 6th floor of the Republic Building in downtown Louisville the other day, and took a few shots of the adjacent Cathedral of the Assumption from a hallway window.



The Cathedral was nearly destroyed during the Bloody Monday Riots of 1855. George D. Prentice, the openly racist and bigoted editor of the Louisville Journal (which later merged with the Louisville Morning Courier to form the Courier-Journal of today) used his paper to foment inflammatory anti-Catholic, anti-Irish and anti-German sentiments, and accused these groups of fixing elections. According to Wikipedia:

The rioters, led by Know-Nothing political figures who bolstered their ranks with paid thugs brought to Louisville for the express purpose of causing trouble, targeted Irish Catholics and Germans (primarily Catholics but Protestants and even German Jews were also caught up in the melee — the key being that they were German). By the time it was over, more than one-hundred businesses, private homes and tenements had been vandalized, looted and/or burned, including a block long row of houses known as Quinn's Row. Conservative estimates place the death toll at 22, while more realistic estimates, including those of Bishop Martin Spalding of Louisville, placed the death toll at well over 100 with entire families consumed in the fires. Citizens were dragged from their homes, attacked on the streets and in their place of work. Weapons, arms and later bodies of the dead, were stored in Louisville Metro Hall (the old Jefferson County Courthouse, now the Mayor’s Office), a Know-Nothing stronghold at the time. Sporadic violence and attacks had occurred in the year and months leading up to August 6 and continued for some time afterward...

Only by Louisville Mayor John Barbee's intervention — himself a Know-Nothing — was the bloodshed and property destruction brought to an end, including his personal intervention that saved two Catholic churches, the new German parish of St. Martin of Tours and the Cathedral of the Assumption from destruction by the mob. No one was ever prosecuted in connection with the riots. The legitimately elected Mayor of Louisville, James S. Speed, had been ousted in June by a court order. Speed, who upon his marriage, had converted to Catholicism, would leave Louisville for Chicago never to return.

The riots had a profound impact on immigration to Louisville, causing literally more than ten thousand citizens to pack and leave for good, most to St. Louis, Chicago and Milwaukee, and a large group who left in 1856 for Prairie City, Kansas).

Since 1988, the Cathedral has been undergoing extensive renovation, not only restoring it to its antebellum glory, but making it even more majestic than ever. The grand re-opening of the Cathedral of the Assumption was celebrated in 1994, with a completely renovated Cathedral space, and further improvements are still ongoing. You can check out an interesting audio tour of the building on their website.

They also operate the School of Spiritual Growth, which periodically deliver lectures on various topics of interest to Catholics and non-Catholics alike. This very evening, in fact, they're holding one entitled "What Are We Learning About God From Our Universe?" at 7pm in the Cathedral Undercroft for a $5 fee.


I'm increasingly interested in taking pictures from windows and rooftops of tall buildings and structures, getting seldom-seen views - especially using the zoom lens to catch high-up architectural details that are virtually invisible from the street. I'll use the high views tag to mark these in the future. Below's another shot from the same Republic Building window, but pointed down at 5th street.

Morris Dees ACLU Event

Received via email from the American Civil Liberties Union of Kentucky:

Despite regular death threats and a thwarted plot to end his life (originating in Kentucky), 2009’s Bill of Rights Dinner featured guest, Morris Dees, has fought for civil rights for the unheard for over thirty years.

Mr. Dees is the Co-founder and Chief Trial Counsel of the Southern Poverty Law Center, an organization that throughout its history has worked to make the nation's Constitutional ideals a reality.

The SPLC legal department fights all forms of discrimination and works to protect society's most vulnerable members, handling innovative cases that few lawyers are willing to take. Over three decades, it has achieved significant legal victories, including landmark Supreme Court decisions and crushing jury verdicts against hate groups.

Please join us on Thursday, October 1st at the Hyatt Regency Louisville, as this civil rights hero comes to share his thoughts on hate groups in Kentucky and across the nation. Buy your tickets today!

In his autobiography, Dees described a dark "night of soul searching at a snowed-in Cincinnati airport" in 1967, after which he vowed to devote the rest of his career to fighting injustice, bigotry and hate. He sold his book publishing business and with the revenue generated by that, he opened the Southern Poverty Law Center in Alabama in 1971.

Since then, Dees has successfully sued the Ku Klux Klan, Tom Metzger's White Aryan Resistance, The Aryan Nations, and The Imperial Klans of America, among others.

According to Wikipedia, "Over 30 people have been jailed in connection with plots to kill Dees or blow up the center. Most recently a July 29, 2007 letter allegedly came from Hal Turner, a white supremacist talk show host, after the SPLC filed a lawsuit against the Imperial Klans of America (IKA) in Meade County [Kentucky]. During the IKA trial a former member of the IKA said that the Klan head told him to kill Dees."

Woodrow Wilson's Turkey Fight

From the Washington Post, Nov 23, 1920:

"President's Turkeys Battle: Kentucky Bird Defeats Texan In White House Grounds Fight."

The White House grounds were the scene yesterday of a spirited battle between the turkey gobblers sent President Wilson for Thanksgiving by South Trimble, of Kentucky, and the chamber of commerce of Cuero, Tex.

The turkeys were released from their crates, and Texas leaped upon Kentucky, but in the fighting the turkey from Kentucky emerged victorious, although not unscathed. Then with bloody comb and bedraggled feathers it engaged in a strut of pride over its victorious battle.

Government-sponsored animal fights on the White House lawn?? Where was PETA when we needed them? Times were different then indeed. The article doesn't specify what became of the winner, but I'm sure he was eaten just like the loser.


Such behavior from Woodrow Wilson doesn't surprise me, though. Wilson was a sociopath, and openly and unapologetically a white supremacist, and his public endorsement of the Ku Klux Klan was quoted in Kentuckian D.W. Griffith's controversial film The Birth of a Nation.

Glencoe Gun Shop's Obama Sign

Reported on WLWT-TV:

GLENCOE, Ky. -- A racially charged sign that takes aim at President Barack Obama is raising eyebrows in northern Kentucky.

The sign is located along Main Street in Glencoe at the Eagle Hill Armoury gun store.

The sign reads, "Obama complains Americans are fat, police act stupid, U.S.A. is a bully, the president is a nagger." However, at some point over the weekend, the last word was changed to be a racial slur.

The store owner said that he changed the sign immediately after being told about the slur and that he reported the issue to police.

The man who owns the sign, Bryan Roach, said that vandals changed the sign.

"It was basically vandalized, and we didn't appreciate it," Roach said. "Somebody had actually taken one of the letters out of one of the other words. I think it was in 'complains,' and put it in a place that made a word that we don't advocate or condone at all."

Sounds awfully disingenuous to me. I find it extremely hard to believe that the gun shop's choice of the word "nagger" to describe President Obama was perfectly innocent and had no pun intended. Furthermore, WLWT says Mr. Roach is refusing to change the sign even though all the media attention will surely encourage further racist vandalism.

Hate Group Adopts Florence Highway

From the New York Times:

Kentucky officials were surprised to learn from reporters this year that the National Alliance, a white separatist group, had adopted a highway. The group’s sign honored its late founder, William Pierce, whose novel The Turner Diaries inspired Timothy J. McVeigh to bomb the Oklahoma City federal building in 1995.

Chuck Wolfe, a spokesman for the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet, said officials initially hoped they could terminate the contract, but determined that doing so would open them to costly litigation that might fail.

And from WCPO-TV:

"Diversity and multiculturalism is simply not in any way good for our people, not good for our nation," said Robert Ransdell, Cincinnati coordinator of the National Alliance. "We do believe that essentially the best way is separation, we believe that multiculturalism is essentially death for our people."

The head of Kentucky's Adopt-A-Highway program, Nancy Wood, said she didn't know what the group stood for until 9News brought it to her attention Monday.

"We did not know what this group was about," said Wood. "The KY Transportation Cabinet and the Adopt-A-Highway group doesn't condone racist ideology, so we will take the matter up with our attorney on how to best address the issue."

The KKK pulled a similar PR stunt a few years back in Missouri, and actually fought it all the way to the Supreme Court, which determined that even psychotic organizations have the right to take part in Adopt-a-Highway programs. And if you think that's an unfair characterization, or that such hate-groups are totally marginalized and obsolete nowadays, think again: the Anti-Defamation League warns that the National Alliance is growing in strength. Read this:

A new ADL investigation reveals that the neo-Nazi National Alliance (NA) is the single most dangerous organized hate group in the United States today. In the past several years, dozens of violent crimes, including murders, bombings and robberies have been traced to NA members or appear to have been inspired by the group's propaganda...

The National Alliance is the largest and most active neo-Nazi organization in the nation, with 16 active cells from coast to coast, and a reported membership of 1,000. In the last three years, there has been evidence of NA activity in no fewer than 26 states nationwide.

The NA is led by former Oregon State University physics professor and veteran anti-Semite William L. Pierce, 66. Using the pseudonym Andrew Macdonald, Pierce wrote the novel The Turner Diaries, which details a successful world revolution by an all-white army, and the systematic extermination of Blacks, Jews, and other minorities. Many extremists regard The Turner Diaries as an explicit terrorism manual...

The ADL has even more detailed and disturbing data about the National Alliance here.

Berea College v. Kentucky

It never fails to weird me out just how different a world this was, not so long ago. The story of Berea College v. Kentucky is a reality-check we all need occasionally.

In July 1904, the state of Kentucky passed the mind-bogglingly unconstitutional "Day Law", which prohibited any person, any group of people, or any corporation from teaching black and white students in the same school. Further, it forbade a school running "separate but equal" black and white branches within 25 miles of each other.

The law was specifically cooked up to put a stop to Madison County's Berea College, which was the only racially integrated school in Kentucky. Berea College fought back hard, and took their case to the Kentucky Court of Appeals. They lost. The Court asserted that "the purity of racial blood" was "deeper and more important than the matter of choice".

Then Berea appealed it further, to the U.S. Supreme Court. And that's the really weird part... they lost.

The vast majority of the Supreme Court ruled against Berea College, with only John Marshall Harlan and William R. Day dissenting.

Thanks to this ruling, the door became wide open for all states to forbid integrated schooling in all public and even private institutions. It wasn't until 1950 that Kentucky amended the Day Law to allow integration. 19-freakin'-fifty. Unbelievable. And in 1954, Brown v. Board of Education put an end to Government-enforced racial segregation - at least officially, since many refused to accept it for years to come.

And that's precisely when the whole country turned upside down.


In 1957, Arkansas Governor Orval Faubus called out the Arkansas National Guard to prevent black children from entering the Little Rock High School building. President Eisenhower sent the 101st Airborne Division from Fort Campbell, Kentucky to Arkansas to force the National Guard to stand down, essentially creating a momentary literal civil war.

In 1963, Alabama Governor George Wallace stated in his inaugural address, "Segregation now, segregation tomorrow, segregation forever!" to great applause. He then personally went to the University of Alabama and stopped two black students from enrolling. (Wallace considered Happy Chandler, Governor of Kentucky, as his running mate in his 1968 Presidential campaign, but dropped him when it was realized Chandler had been an ardent supporter of Jackie Robinson.)

Subsequently, civil rights crusaders Martin Luther King Jr., Malcolm X, John F. Kennedy, and Bobby Kennedy were all shot and killed. Wallace himself was also shot in 1972, though he survived confined to a wheelchair until 1998.

And to think the whole mess began because State Representative Carl Day of Breathitt County proposed the Day Law, which passed 73 to 5 in Kentucky's House of Representatives and 28 to 5 in Kentucky's Senate.


Photo above: George Wallace with NASA head James Webb and Operation Paperclip ex-Nazi Wernher Von Braun.

D.W. Griffith

Early this morning I happened to be driving in Oldham County towards LaGrange, KY on Highway 22, and noticed a cemetery I'd never investigated before. It was a fairly sizable place, adjacent to the Mount Tabor Methodist Church in a small spot-in-the-road called Centerfield. I had my camera in the car, so I pulled over and checked it out.

I've always been a fan of coffin-sized above-ground crypts, so I immediately gravitated to a large one nearby and started taking photos of it.

"Hmmm...David Wark Griffith", I thought to myself as I snapped the pics, "and he died in Hollywood ? Huh. That's interesting."

Gradually it sunk in on me that I was standing at the grave of D.W. Griffith, the famous/infamous silent film director. I had no idea he was even buried in Kentucky, and had sort-of assumed in the back of my mind that he was at Forest Lawn or something.


Then I noticed the Kentucky roadside marker alerting me to what I had already stumbled onto completely by dumb luck. So I'm not the most observant mug on the planet sometimes.; I still hadn't finished my morning Starbucks.


Griffith's entire life was marred, ironically, by his greatest success: the film Birth of a Nation, which caused considerable controversy by giving the KKK an almost heroic treatment, and presenting a highly stereotyped view of African-Americans. So glowing was the film's handling of the subject, that the KKK even used the film as a promotional recruiting film for their cause for the majority of the 20th century. Griffith attempted to make up for the negative publicity and to show that he was no racist, by making the epic film Intolerance.

It wasn't enough, and the bad karma from the previous film dogged him to his grave, and well beyond. In 1953, the Directors Guild of America instituted the D.W. Griffith Award as its highest honor, but then rescinded the name in 1999, changing it simply to the "DGA Lifetime Achievement Award".


Griffith's grave can plainly be seen on Google Maps - notice the large squarish plot at nine o'clock in the above image.

Sonny Landham

Submitted for your consideration, the puzzling case of Sonny Landham of Ashland, KY:

1974-1979: Sonny was in Z-grade porno films such as Slippery When Wet and Big Abner (an X-rated parody of the hillbilly comic strip Li'l Abner.) "I made those movies, and did I make the wrong choice," he later told the Cincinnati Enquirer. "Yeah, I did. But at the time I was trying to make it as an actor, and I needed the money, and those movies paid well."

1979: Sonny makes a transition to more serious films, starting with a small part in the cult classic The Warriors.

1980s: Throughout the Eighties, Sonny racks up a pretty respectable climb to minor stardom. He scores small roles in big films like 48 Hrs., Southern Comfort, Poltergeist, and Action Jackson. He even obtains substantial roles in Firewalker with Chuck Norris, Lock Up with Sylvester Stallone and Predator with Arnold Schwarzenegger. He also guest stars in such big TV shows as The A-Team, Hardcastle and McCormick, Miami Vice and The Fall Guy.

1990s: The next decade wasn't so kind to Sonny. Although he lands roles in films that are technically much higher quality than his 80s output, there are no commercial smashes. In 1996, he directs and stars in the well-made "Billy Lone Bear" alongside Frank Stallone. In 1998, he is convicted of three counts of making threatening telephone calls to his ex-wife during a bitter custody fight.

2000: While in prison, Sonny sues toymaker Galoob for personal identity infringement because of a toy "Micro Machines" figurine of his "Billy" character from Predator. He lost the suit for several legal reasons, not the least of which being that Twentieth Century Fox indisputedly owns the character of "Billy". The judge noted "Because the toy is only 1.5 inches tall and has no eyes or mouth, it bears no personal resemblance to Landham."

2001: After almost three years of being wrongly incarcerated in Federal prison, Sonny was victorious in getting his conviction quashed on appeal. The Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals, in reversing the conviction, scolded the prosecutor by stating in its decision, "Landham committed no crime.....This matter should not have been brought to trial."

2003: Sonny ran - but lost - in the Republican Party primary for Governor of Kentucky, apparently hoping lightning would strike a third time after his Predator co-stars Jesse Ventura and Arnold Schwarzenegger went on to political careers.

2005: Sonny forms the Sonny Landham Foundation with Roger Thoney. (Landham and Thoney both would later attend the controversial Council of Conservative Citizens meeting in Louisville, and also put out a truly frightening ultra-right-wing DVD called America Under Attack.)

2006: Sonny lost control of a rented 2006 Chrysler PT Cruiser and crashed into a taxicab while driving in downtown Ashland. Police said Sonny was not wearing a seat belt, which caused his head to strike his windshield even though the air bag had deployed. He was treated at King’s Daughters Medical Center for his head injuries.

2008: On June 25, Sonny announced his Libertarian candidacy for Mitch McConnell's U.S. Senate seat. Just one month later, he made extreme racial slurs against Arabs.

Sonny Landham: If I had my way, I would stop Arabs coming into this country. And I would take all, uh, non citizens of the United States, finger printing them, and having a complete background check before they set foot into this country.

Matt Cavedon: How about Lebanese Christians and Arabs who aren’t Muslims?

Sonny Landham: What did I just say? All people. I said no Arabs into this country.

Three days later, Kentucky Libertarians voted unanimously to withdraw Landham's nomination, citing his comments were not in keeping with the party's values.


It's unclear what Sonny's future plans are at this point. Part of me feels sorry for him, because of the raw deal he got by being unfairly imprisoned, and because he really is a charismatic actor and coulda been a contender in Hollywood if only he'd gotten the chance to do more leading roles. However, there's just no getting around the massive atrocity of his ultra-right-wing statements against minorities. If I were in charge of his PR campaign, I would advise him to claim temporary insanity caused by the head injury, and then make the mother of all public apologies for his racist remarks.

Apologizing just doesn't seem like Sonny's style, though.

Kentucky KKK ordered to pay $2.5 Million

A few days ago, the Southern Poverty Law Center won a $2.5. million dollar verdict against a Kentucky-based Ku Klux Klan group for the brutal beating of 16-year-old Jordan Gruver.

Gruver was attending the Meade County Fair in Brandenburg (a small town located right outside Fort Knox) when he was attacked by IKA (Imperial Klans of America) Klansmen who were there to hand out KKK recruiting leaflets. According to the SPLC's website:

The jury deliberated for nearly seven hours before delivering the verdict against IKA Imperial Wizard Ron Edwards and two former IKA members, Jarred Hensley and Andrew Watkins, both of whom served two years in state prison for assaulting Gruver. The SPLC earlier reached settlements with Watkins and one other Klansman.

The verdict included $1.5 million in compensatory damages — apportioned among Edwards, Hensley and Watkins — and $1 million in punitive damages against Edwards.

The SPLC argued in court that the Edwards and the IKA incited the racial hatred that led to the attack at the Meade County Fair in Brandenburg in July 2006.

Several Klansmen were at the fair on a recruiting mission when they spotted Gruver, who is a U.S. citizen of Panamanian descent. They threw whisky in his face and called him a "spic." Gruver, who stood 5-foot-3 and weighed just 150 pounds at the time, was surrounded, beaten to the ground and kicked by the Klansmen, one of whom was 6-foot-5 and 300 pounds. He was left with a broken jaw and arm, two cracked ribs and multiple cuts. He now suffers from post-traumatic stress syndrome and has permanent arm and jaw injuries.

During the trial, the SPLC demonstrated how the IKA and Edwards fostered an atmosphere of hate and violence. The IKA's compound in Dawson Springs, Ky., is home to Nordic Fest, an annual music festival that brings together Klansmen, skinheads and members of other violent hate groups.

Edwards and Hensley's numerous tattoos were visible during the courtroom proceedings, including "Fuck S.P.L.C." [Southern Poverty Law Center], "Death to ZOG" [Zionist-occupied government] and "Aryan Justice." Hensley has the word “violence” tattooed on his knuckles, “murder” on his neck, and a swastika on his arm.

According to their own websites, the Kentucky IKA has taken part in Louisville meetings with the Council of Conservative Citizens, a frightening group which are somewhere to the right of Attila the Hun:

"Members of the IKA including an Imperial Officer attended the June 16-17 Council of Conservative Citizens conference in Louisville, Kentucky. There were many exemplary speakers at this event (Don Black, Paul Fromm, Sam Dickson, Col. Robt. Slimp, Dr. Ed Fields, James Edwards, Dr. Brent Nelson, Kevin Lamb, and others) and there was music to enjoy as well. Don't let the word "Conservative" or the formal attire give you the wrong idea – these gentlemen aren't your typical conservative buffoons. The speeches given were absolutely revolutionary and quite informative. The IKA made many important contacts networking at the conference which will prove beneficial to future endeavors."

The IKA's Kentucky compound had previously been raided in 1999 by the FBI, the ATF, and the Kentucky State Police, and Edwards made a bizarre rant about it on his website here.

The Southern Poverty Law Center was founded in 1971 as a small civil rights law firm. Today, SPLC is internationally known for its tolerance education programs, its legal victories against white supremacists and its tracking of hate groups. You can help support them with your donations by clicking here.

Obama effigy hung from noose on UK campus

From polwatchers.typepad.com:

University of Kentucky police are investigating who hung an effigy of Democrat Sen. Barack Obama from a tree on the Lexington campus Wednesday morning.

UK President Lee Todd said that UK police have notified federal authorities of the incident. Todd said a professor saw the effigy on the tree near the Rose Street parking garage across from the Mining and Mineral Resources building this morning and called police. The professor then sent Todd an email notifying him of the incident.

UK police took down the effigy and have it as evidence, Todd said. He called the act "deplorable" and says that type of behavior is not tolerated on UK's campus.

The effigy had a mask of Obama on it and there was a noose around the effigy's neck, Todd said.

And:

Ed Donovan, a spokesman for the Secret Service, confirmed that the federal agency charged with protecting presidents and presidential candidates had been notified and were working with UK police to determine who was responsible.

Donovan said he couldn't go into the specifics of the investigation.

"We take any threat against any of our protectees very, seriously," Donovan said.

Meanwhile, just over the river from Louisville, in Clarksville, IN:

A Clarksville man expressed his opposition to Barack Obama’s presidential candidacy by hanging an inflatable doll made to look like the Democratic nominee from a tree on his front lawn – until his son took it down as reporters gathered at the scene.

“It is not racially motivated,” Kirk Deddo said today as he stood under the tree outside his Potters Lane home. Deddo is white; Obama is the first black to be nominated for president by a major political party.

Gary Leavell, president of the Clark County chapter of the NAACP, said after the scene was described to him, “That’s a direct threat on the life of Obama as far as I’m concerned.”

Leavell said he would ask Clark County Prosecutor Steve Stewart to look into the matter.

Stewart could not be reached for comment. But Jeremy Mull, chief deputy prosecutor, said after making a brief legal search that “it does not appear to be in violation of any Indiana criminal statute.”

But Mull added, “Personally, I find such conduct to be deplorable.”

Rainey Bethea

Ever seen a film or read a story where everyone on both sides, both the so-called good guys and the so-called bad guys, are unlikable and unsympathetic?

This is one of those.

A young African-American tobacco farm worker from Owensboro, Bethea was free on parole from a prior theft conviction in 1936 when, it is said, he climbed into a window of an apartment belonging to a 70-year-old woman named Lischia Edwards. Bethea later confessed to raping her, strangling her to death, and robbing her.

It was a peculiarity of Kentucky law in 1936 that unlike other capital crimes which carried a sentence of electrocution in Eddyville, rape carried a sentence of local public hanging. The prosecuting attorney chose not to pursue the more obvious murder charges and only charged Bethea with rape, to insure that he would be publicly executed and an example made of him in Owensboro.

Bethea expressed doubt in court whether Edwards was still alive during the rape, and this was a considerable point of contention during the trial, since at that time there was no law regarding sex with a corpse. Because of this, the prosecution very nearly risked the entire case by pushing for a rape conviction rather than murder.

Bethea’s lawyers called no witnesses and cross-examined no one. According to Bethea, they urged him to plead guilty against his better judgment. A new team of lawyers later tried to call for a new trial, but it was too late. Their request was denied by both the Kentucky Court of Appeals and the U.S. District Court.

As so often happened with public hangings, throngs of sightseers and rubberneckers showed up for the spectacle, giving it an ambience not unlike a carnival or a county fair. The current sheriff was female, so there was a perverse excitement in the crowd about getting to see a woman killing a man live onstage. However, she ultimately chickened out and delegated the onerous task of pulling the trap door switch on the gallows to a police officer from Louisville.

There was so much ugliness - on both sides of the law - in this incident that it was directly responsible for the end of public executions in Kentucky.