"The Fourteen Words" (also abbreviated14; also combined with 88 to form1488) is a reference to two slogans originated by the Americandomestic terroristDavid Eden Lane,[1][2] one of nine founding members of the defunctwhite supremacist terrorist organizationThe Order,[3] and are accompanied by Lane's "88 Precepts". The slogans have served as a rallying cry for militantwhite nationalists internationally.[4]
The primary slogan in the Fourteen Words is:
We must secure the existence of our people and a future for white children,[1][5][6][7]
It is followed by the secondary slogan:
because the beauty of the White Aryan woman must not perish from the earth.[8]
The two slogans were coined after Lane was sentenced to 190 years infederal prison for planning and abetting the assassination of theJewish talk show hostAlan Berg, who was murdered by another member of the group in June 1984. They were popularized heavily after Lane's imprisonment.[9][10] The slogans were publicized through print company14 Word Press, founded inSt. Maries, Idaho, in 1995 by Lane's wife, Katja, to disseminate her husband's writings,[10] along with Ron McVan who later moved his operation toButte, Montana, after a falling-out with Katja.[11][12]
Lane used the14-88 numerical coding extensively throughout his spiritual, political, religious, esoteric, and philosophical tracts and notably in his "88 Precepts" manifesto. According to theSouthern Poverty Law Center, inspiration for the Fourteen Words "are derived from a passage inAdolf Hitler's autobiographical bookMein Kampf".[13] The Fourteen Words have been prominently used byneo-Nazis,white power skinheads and certainwhite nationalists and thealt-right.[14][15] "88" is used by some as a shorthand for "Heil Hitler", 'H' being the 8th letter of the alphabet,[16] though Lane viewed Nazism along with America as being part of the "Zionist conspiracy".[17]
Being bitterly opposed to the continued existence of the United States as a political entity, and labeling it the "murderer of the White race",[10] Lane further advocated domestic terrorism as a tool to carve out a "white homeland" in theNorthern Mountain States. To that end, Lane issued a declaration called "Moral Authority", published through now-defunct 14 Word Press and shared through the publications ofAryan Nations,World Church of the Creator, and other white separatist groups, in which he referred to theUnited States as a "Red, White and Blue traveling mass murder machine", while asserting that "true moral authority belongs to those who resist genocide".[20]
After Lane's publication of the Fourteen Words, they were adopted bywhite supremacists[3] andneo-Nazis,[3]white nationalists,identitarians, and members of thefar-right andalt-right. The most widely used variation is "We must secure the existence of our people and a future for white children";[1][5][6][7] a less commonly used variation is "Because the beauty of the White Aryan woman must not perish from the earth".[21] They are sometimes combined with the number88 to form the abbreviations "14/88" or "1488". The 8s represent the eighth letter of the alphabet,H, with "HH" standing forHeil Hitler, according to Neo-Nazis who use the code.[7] The number 88 was used by Lane as a reference to his "88 Precepts",[22] along with a secondary reference to his "88 Lines and 14 Words". "88", when combined with "14", refers to numerology in Lane's white supremacistneo-pagan religion,Wotanism.[23]
Although there is a strong resemblance between the primary slogan and a statement inAdolf Hitler'sMein Kampf, neither Lane, nor Fourteen Word Press, noted any connection. Scholars including Barry Balleck have stated that Lane was almost certainly influenced by Hitler, specifically by the following statement inMein Kampf.[3]
What we must fight for is to safeguard the existence and reproduction of our race and our people, the sustenance of our children and the purity of our blood, the freedom and independence of the fatherland, so that our people may mature for the fulfillment of the mission allotted it by the creator of the universe. Every thought and every idea, every doctrine and all knowledge, must serve this purpose. And everything must be examined from this point of view and used or rejected according to its utility.
According to scholarMattias Gardell, Lane decoded what Gardell termed the "Pyramid Prophecy",[27] which included the concept that theKing James Version of theBible wasencoded bySir Francis Bacon and the concept that Lane was the "man of prophecy", described as the "666 Sun Man",[28] incarnated to "warn and save the White Aryan Race from near extinction" – a view that was censored by Ron McVan and others who found the "messianicAntichrist" claims counterproductive.[29]
Gardell's bookGods of the Blood states "The number1776 appears in thenumeric square of Mars in which is found theStar of David and its 741 formula, 741 also being the value of the 14 Words insimple English gematria." Lane claimed that both 14 word slogans came to him whilst he was asleep and that each contained 61 letters, 20 syllables and 74 characters, along with the 741 value.
Nick Griffin, a British politician, a formerBritish National Party leader and anMEP, has stated that his politicalideology can be summed up in the 14 Words.[30] He has claimed "everything I do is related to building a nationalist movement through which [...] those 14 words can be carried out."[31]
Colin Jordan (1923–2009), a leading figure in post-warneo-Nazism in Great Britain and a longtime supporter of the 14 Words; contributed to Lane's bookDeceived, Damned & Defiant.[32]
Millennial Woes, a Scottish alt-right, neoreactionary political activist and a YouTube personality, supports the slogan and in 2017, he stated that the "14 words used to be more controversial than they are nowadays."[33]Faith Goldy has claimed that he had encouraged her to recite the slogan during an interview.[34]
The British far-right, fascist,National Front political party supports the slogan.[35][36]
Andrew Anglin, an American white supremacist and the founder ofThe Daily Stormer website, frequently uses, references, and supports the slogan,[37] and has claimed, "We care not for our own egos or lives. We care only about the agenda, which is: We must secure the existence of our people and a future for white children."[38]
Baked Alaska, an American alt-right/far-right social media personality, supports the words[39] but he does not support their creator, and he has stated that there's "nothing wrong" with the slogan. Distancing himself from its creator, he claimed, "Just because others have used them doesn't change the meaning."[40] He has frequently promoted the slogan on social media including with monetary receipts, polls, questions and memes.[41][42][43][44]
Craig Cobb, an American white nationalist and separatist, created the video sharing website Podblanc and started a business which he named after the 14 Words,[45] as well as tried to start a church named afterTrump which later burned to the ground.[46]
April Gaede, an American white nationalist and neo-Nazi stage mom, whose daughters (Prussian Blue) used to sing forResistance Records; distributed David Lane's cremated remains in "14 pyramids" in order to symbolize the 14 Words.[50][51][52]
William Daniel Johnson, an American white nationalist,attorney, and the chairman of theAmerican Freedom Party, is an advocate of the 14 word slogan. He has stated that he and his organization "embrace principles that will secure the existence of our people and a future for our children".[13][55][56] He has claimed thatRon Paul withdrew his endorsement of him for ajudgeship in California, after media reported that he was an advocate of the 14 Words.[57]
David Lane (1938–2007) was an American white supremacist leader and a key member of the terrorist organizationThe Order. He is credited with creating and popularizing the 14 Words.[58] TheADL have described Lane's slogan as reflecting "the primary white supremacist worldview in the late 20th and early 21st centuries".[15]
Stephen McNallen, an American neo-pagan leader and the founder of theAsatru Folk Assembly, quoted the 14 Words verbatim[59] and based his own slogan "The existence of my people is not negotiable" as a simplified 14 Words.[60]
Tom Metzger, an American white separatist leader and the founder ofWhite Aryan Resistance, promoted the 14 Word writings of imprisoned David Lane; he accused the United States government of murdering Lane after Lane died in 2007.[61][62]
Jack Posobiec, an American alt-right conspiracy theorist and a formernaval intelligence officer, has repeatedly published information which is related to "1488" and as a result, he has been described as a supporter of the slogan.[63][64]
Billy Roper, an American white supremacist who corresponded with David Lane and founded a White power group which he named "White Revolution" and based on the 14 Words.[65]
Vox Day, an American writer, video game designer, and alt-right activist, supports the 14 Words,[39] promoting the slogan in hisSixteen points of the Alt-Right,[66] which placed the sentence "we must secure the existence ofwhite people and a future for white children" as the 14th point.[67]
weev, an American computer hacker and an Internet troll, has shown his support for the slogan, referencing "1488" in numerous computer transactions,[68] as well as more explicitly discussing the topic on social media.[69][70]
Faith Goldy, a Canadian far-right writer and commentator, has recited[71] and supported[72] the 14 Words,[73][74] saying "I don't see that as controversial... We want to survive."[33] After being banned byPatreon for her advocacy of the slogan, Goldy defended her views, and gathered petition signatures in public on a document which replaced "white children" with "aboriginal children", to supposedly prove the slogan was not hate speech.[34]
Marian Kotleba, a Slovak politician and leader of the far-rightKotleba – People's Party Our Slovakia political party, has been accused of demonstrating support for the slogan,[75] with reference to the 14 Words by making a €1,488 donation to three families.[76][77] The donations were used as an evidence in the court in which he was found guilty of supporting and propagating sympathies towards movements oppressingfundamental human rights and was sentenced to four years and four months in prison.[78] The ruling is not valid yet and may be appealed.[79]
The slogans and the numerology of "14" and "88" have been used by many white supremacists, both before and after committing acts of violence (such as inmanifestos), as well as in symbols which have been left at the scenes of criminal acts. These include Order-memberDavid Lane, assassination attempters Paul Schlesselman and Daniel Cowart, and murderersDylann Roof[83] andCurtis Allgier.[82] Allgier has "14" and "88" tattooed on his forehead above and to the sides of the words "skin" and "head" above his eyes in his mugshot.[82]
"14/88" numerology was symbolically included in theBarack Obama assassination plot in October 2008.[24] Both Neo-Nazis, Schlesselman and Cowart were introduced to each other online by a mutual friend who shared their white supremacist beliefs.[84] Within a month of meeting, they had planned to kill the Democratic Party nominee by driving at their target and shooting from their vehicle. This was to be followed by a killing spree in which the men planned to kill 88African Americans, 14 of whom were to be beheaded. They were targeting mostly children at an unidentified, predominantlyblack school.[25][85] Shortly after their arrest, their vehicle was discovered to have "14" and "88" written onto it.[22]
Mass-shooterWade Michael Page, who killed six and wounded four members of theSikh community in August 2012, had been a supporter of the Fourteen Words, and was found with "14" onto aCeltic Cross tattooed on his arm,[86] after committing suicide at the scene of the crime.[87][88] About a year before the shooting, Page wrote on the Internet regarding the slogan, "Passive submission is indirect support to the oppressors. Stand up for yourself and live the 14 words."[89]
After the Charleston mass-murder shooting in June 2015,Dylann Roof's ideology and apparent manifesto emerged in the media with multiple references to "1488";[90] these included several photos of Roof pictured alongside the numbers.[91] He symbolically brought 88 bullets to theEmanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church to carry out the shooting, in which nineAfrican Americans were killed.[92][93]
Robert Bowers, the gunman suspected of killing 11 people and wounding 6 at the Tree of Life Synagogue inPittsburgh, Pennsylvania, included the numeric code "1488" in the header image of hisGab social media account.[94][95] Bowers also expressedChristian Identity rhetoric declaring "the lord jesus christ is come in the flesh" while espousing anti-Semitic views that "jews are children of satan".[96]
Brenton Harrison Tarrant, the Australian shooter responsible for the attacks on two mosques inNew Zealand, posted images onTwitter of firearms and published his manifesto "The Great Replacement" which both had theneo-Nazi symbolBlack Sun and the slogan (as "14" or "14 Words") written on the weapons and also in the manifesto.[97][98][99]
Finnish Atomwaffen members plotted assassinating Prime MinisterSanna Marin, derailing trains and killing members of ethnic minorities, and multiple men fromKankaanpää andLahti were convicted of terrorism offenses and for possessing illegal weapons and explosives.[100][101][102] One man is also suspected of a string of letter bombs sent toSocial Democrat,Green andLeft party offices.[103][104] Finnish AWD members ended communiques with "14/88".[100]
^abcdefBalleck, Barry (2018).Modern American Extremism and Domestic Terrorism: An Encyclopedia of Extremists and Extremist Groups. United States:ABC-CLIO. p. 4.ISBN978-1440852749.
^"The murder of Alan Berg in Denver: 25 years later".The Denver Post. 17 June 2009. Retrieved18 November 2019.Federal authorities tried four suspects in 1987 and the two found guilty were convicted of violating Berg's civil rights. Lane, then 49, was sentenced to 150 years.
^abc"David Lane".Southern Poverty Law Center. Retrieved18 November 2019.In 1987, Lane was additionally accused of violating Berg's civil rights by helping to assassinate him, a federal charge. While Lane did not pull the trigger, prosecutors said he drove the getaway car and played a large role in the planning of Berg's murder. He was sentenced to 150 years in prison.
^ab"The American Freedom Party".Southern Poverty Law Center.The American Freedom Party (formerly American Third Position) is a political party initially established by racist Southern California skinheads that aims to deport immigrants and return the United States to white rule.
^"Swedish Academic Mattias Gardell Discusses the Rise of Neo-Paganism in America".Intelligence Report.Southern Poverty Law Center. 21 March 2001.Lane says that from the very beginning, America was part of the Zionist conspiracy. To him, that is why the American military has been engaged in all these wars ever since the country's foundation. All these wars, in Lane's view, were fought to force the nations of the world to submit to the Zionist dictatorship.
^Michael, George (2016). "Chapter 3: This is War! Tom Metzger, White Aryan Resistance, and the Lone Wolf Legacy". In Morgan, Joshua B. (ed.).Focus on Terrorism. Vol. 14. Nova Publishers.ISBN978-1-63484-352-2.
