 | |
| Abbreviation | CofCC or CCC |
|---|---|
| Predecessor | Citizens' Councils |
| Formation | 1985; 40 years ago (1985) Atlanta,Georgia, U.S.[1] |
| Type | 501(c)4 |
| 36-3354434[2] | |
| Headquarters | St. Louis, Missouri, U.S.[3] |
President | Earl P. Holt III |
| Website | https://conservative-headlines.org |
TheCouncil of Conservative Citizens (CofCC orCCC) is an Americanwhite supremacist organization.[4][5][6] Founded in 1985, it advocateswhite nationalism, and supports somepaleoconservative causes.[7][8][9][10] In the organization's statement of principles, it states that they "oppose all efforts to mix the races of mankind".[11]
Headquartered in Potosi, Missouri,[12] as of 2015, the group's president is Earl Holt;Jared Taylor is the group's spokesman, andPaul Fromm is its international director.[13]
The CofCC traces its provenance to thesegregationistWhite Citizens' Councils of America, which were founded in 1954, but had slipped into obscurity by 1973. The CofCC's original mailing list came from the Citizen's Council, as did several members of the CofCC Board of Directors.[1][14]
The Council of Conservative Citizens was founded in 1985 inAtlanta, Georgia, and relocated to St. Louis, Missouri. The CofCC was formed by white supremacists, including some former members of the Citizens' Councils of America, sometimes called the White Citizens' Councils, a segregationist organization that was prominent in the 1950s through 1970.Lester Maddox, formergovernor of Georgia, was a charter member.[15] Gordon Lee Baum, a retired personal injury lawyer, was CEO until he died in March 2015.[16][17] Earl P. Holt III ofLongview, Texas[18][19] is the president. Leonard Wilson, a former Alabama State Committeeman for bothRepublican andDemocratic parties and state commander for theSons of Confederate Veterans, was a founder.[20]
The organization often holds meetings with various other ethno-nationalist organizations in the United States, and sometimes meets withnationalist organizations from Europe. In 1997, several members of the CofCC attended an event hosted byJean-Marie Le Pen'sNational Front party.
Following several articles detailing some of its members' past involvement with the White Citizens' Councils, several conservative politicians distanced themselves from the organization. Although RepresentativeBob Barr had spoken at CofCC functions, in 1999 he rejected the group, saying he found the group's racial views to be "repugnant," and that he had not realized the nature of the group when he agreed to speak at the group's meeting.[21] Barr gave the keynote speech at its 1998 national convention.[22]
In later years, the press reported the involvement of other politicians with the CofCC. For instance,U.S. Senate majority leaderTrent Lott had also been a member of the CofCC. Following the press report, the Chairman of theRepublican National Committee,Jim Nicholson, denounced the CofCC for holding "racist and nationalist views" and demanded that Lott formally denounce the organization. Although Lott refused to denounce the organization, he said that he had resigned his membership. Subsequently, Nicholson demanded Lott denounce his former segregationist views following a speech he gave at SenatorStrom Thurmond's birthday dinner in 2002, when Lott praised the Senator's 1948Dixiecrat presidential campaign.[23] Following the controversy sparked by Nicholson's demands, Lott apologized for his past support for segregation, his past associations, and his remarks at Thurmond's birthday. This caused him loss of support from a number of important segregationists, not least Thurmond himself. Consequently, Lott resigned his post asSenate Minority Leader.
Similarly, former House minority leaderDick Gephardt (D) had attended an event of the organization's St. Louis predecessor, the "Metro-South Citizens Council", shortly before the name was changed in the mid-1980s. He has repeatedly said that this was a mistake.[24]
In 1993,Mike Huckabee, then thelieutenant governor of Arkansas, agreed to speak at the CofCC's national convention inMemphis, Tennessee, in his campaign for the governorship of Arkansas. By the time of the CofCC convention, Huckabee was unable to leave Arkansas. He sent a videotaped speech, which "was viewed and extremely well received by the audience," according to the CofCC newsletter.[25] However, following his election as governor, in April 1994, Huckabee withdrew from a speaking engagement before the CofCC. He commented, "I will not participate in any program that hasracist overtones. I've spent a lifetime fighting racism andanti-Semitism."[26]
TheSouthern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) and theMiami Herald tallied 38 federal, state, and local politicians who appeared at CofCC events between 2000 and 2004.[27] TheAnti-Defamation League (ADL) says the following politicians are members or have spoken at meetings: Senator Trent Lott, Mississippi governorHaley Barbour, Mississippi state senatorsGary Jackson, andDean Kirby, several Mississippi state representatives. Speakers have included ex-governorsGuy Hunt of Alabama, andKirk Fordice of Mississippi. U.S. senatorRoger Wicker[28] of Mississippi is said to have attended as well.[29]
In 2005, the Council of Conservative Citizens held its National Conference inMontgomery, Alabama.George Wallace Jr., an Alabama public service commissioner and former state treasurer who was then running for lieutenant governor, andSonny Landham, an actor, spoke at the conference.
Mississippi is the only state that has major politicians who are openly CofCC members, includingstate senators andstate representatives. The CofCC once claimed 34 members in the Mississippi legislature.[30]
The CofCC considers itself a traditionalist group opposingliberals and what they refer to asmainstream conservatives; it supportsnationalself-determination, immigration restriction,federalism, andhome rule, and opposesfree trade and globalcapitalism. Its specific issues includestates' rights,race relations (especiallyinterracial marriage, which it opposes), andChristian right values. In 2003, a full 35 years afterhis assassination, they criticizedMartin Luther King Jr. as a "charlatan" and left-wing agitator ofBlack American communities, with notable ties tocommunism and holding personal sexual morals unworthy of a person deserving national recognition.[31] They consider theAmerican Civil Rights Movement and theFrankfurt School as elementally subversive to theseparation of powers under the United States Constitution. The Council of Conservative Citizens is active in organizing the restriction, reduction, or moratorium of immigration, enforcing laws and regulations againstillegal aliens, ending what they see asracial discrimination against whites throughaffirmative action andracial quotas, overturningSupreme Court rulings and Congressional Acts such asbusing for desegregation andgun control, endingfree trade economic policy, and supporting a traditionalistsexual morality, which includes promotion of theDefense of Marriage Act and opposition to the inclusion ofhomosexuality as a civil right.[citation needed]
The CofCC's statement of principles condemns the federal government's intervention into state and local affairs in forcing racial integration (item 2), free-trade and globalism, immigration by non-Europeans (item 2), homosexuality, and interracial marriage (item 6).[11] CofCC's materials in 2001 said, "God is the author of racism. God is the One who divided mankind into different types. Mixing the races is rebelliousness against God."[32]
In a 2015 statement, president Earl Holt wrote, "The CofCC is one of perhaps three websites in the world that accurately and honestly report black-on-white violent crime, and in particular, the seemingly endless incidents involving black-on-white murder."[33]
The CofCC publishes theCitizens Informer newspaper quarterly. Previous editors includeSamuel T. Francis.[34]
Various critics describe the organization as ahate group. According toThe Atlantic, most conservatives do not consider it to be conservative, and believe that the organization added the word to their name in order to hide their true ideology.[35]The New York Times called it a white separatist group with a thinly veiled white supremacist agenda.[36] TheAnti-Defamation League said: "Although the group claims not to be racist, its leaders traffic with other white supremacist groups."[29] The group is considered by theSouthern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) to be part of the "neo-confederate movement",[37] and organizations, such as theNAACP,[38][39] as well as theAnti-Defamation League, consider it to be a threat.[40] InThe Nation,Max Blumenthal described it as one of the United States' largestwhite supremacist groups.[41]
Conservative columnistAnn Coulter has defended the group against charges of racism, stating on the basis of a viewing of their website that there is "no evidence" that the CofCC supports segregation.[42]
Mass murdererDylann Roof, the perpetrator of the 2015Charleston church shooting, searched the Internet for information on "black on White crime" and wrote in his manifestoThe Last Rhodesian that the first website he found was the CofCC's.[43] He cited its portrayal of "black on White murders" as something that radically changed him ("I have never been the same since that day").[44][45] The CofCC issued a statement on its website "unequivocally condemn[ing]" the attack, but that Roof has some "legitimate grievances" against black people. An additional statement from Earl Holt III, president of the CofCC, disavowed responsibility for the crime and stated that the group's website "accurately and honestly report[s] black-on-white violent crime".[46] While these statements were condemned across the mainstream, several white supremacist organization supported the CofCC for standing by Roof's motivations, including theLeague of the South, a neo-confederate hate group.[47]
In the wake of Roof's arrest and subsequent exposure of his affinity for the CofCC, an investigation revealed that Holt made campaign contributions to several prominent Republican politicians, including2016 Republican presidential candidatesTed Cruz,Rick Santorum, andScott Walker, as well as Republican senatorsRand Paul andTom Cotton. Holt also reportedly donated to the campaign of Black congresswomanMia Love, whose parents are both immigrants.[48] All subsequently announced that they would return Holt's contributions or donate them to a fund for the families of Roof's victims.[49][50][51] In the summer of 2020, an investigation byNPR uncovered records showing Holt had donated $1,000 to theCommittee to Defend the President, a pro-TrumpSuperPAC, aggressively engaged in the2020 presidential campaign. Through their general counsel, the Committee to Defend the President said they had been unaware and thanked NPR for bringing the issue to their attention. The group said they would immediately refund Holt's donation.[52]
The Council of Conservative Citizens, a white nationalist organization
Spoke to a combined Sept. 23, 2000, meeting of the West Tennessee and Marshall County CCC chapters in Byhalia, Miss. The meeting was also attended by the CCC's top national leaders, CEO Gordon Baum and President Tom Dover.
