White supremacists hope Obama win prompts backlash
Posted by Kiran | Under Politics, Society and People Tuesday Aug 12, 2008
PEARL, Miss. (AP) — They’re not exactly rooting for Barack Obama, but prominent white supremacists anticipate a boost to their cause if he becomes the first black president. His election, they say, would trigger a backlash — whites rising up, a revolution of sorts — that they think is long overdue.
He’d be a “visual aid,” says former Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke, in trying to bring others around to their view that whites have lost control of America. Obama’s election, says another, would jar whites into action, writing letters, handing out pamphlets rather than sitting around complaining.
While most Americans have little or no direct contact with white supremacists, organizations such as the Anti-Defamation League and the Southern Poverty Law Center keep close tabs; the law center estimates some 200,000 people nationwide are active in such groups. These observers think the prospect of a white revolution is fantasy.
