wfn.org | Emergency Conference on Racism

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National Council of the Churches of Christ in the U.S.A.
Contact: Carol J. Fouke, NCC, 212-870-2252
Internet: carol_fouke.parti@ecunet.org

NCC 11/1/96 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Sidebar: Racism conference urges, "enlist youths against racism"
' 
     COLOMBIA S.C., Oct. 26---- "Reach out to young white people" to
enlist them in anti-racism work and help them resist recruitment by
hate groups, pled several speakers during the Oct. 24-26 "Emergency
Conference on Racism," convened here by the National Council of
Churches (NCC).

     White supremacist groups - including the Skinheads, Aryan
Faction, militias and Christian Knights of the Ku Klux Klan - recruit
extensively among young people, said Rose Johnson, Coordinator of the
Center for Democratic Renewal, Atlanta, which has studied hate groups
for nearly 20 years.

     "When you see a young white arrested (for a hate crime), he
didn't get to that point by himself" Ms. Johnson said. "When a
13-year-old does what causes flames to rage, she did not do that
herself. We hear more and more about young people burning houses of
worship There's an undercurrent that will continue to grow if we don't
intervene." 
     As a result of such unsettling trends for workers as downsizing
and outsourcing, "Lots of young whites are afraid, not sure they'll
have job,'7 said Ann Braden of Louisville, Ky., ci long-time civil
rights activist, "They are sitting ducks for propaganda that African
Americans are taking their jobs.

     "The Skinheads and the Klan are after this generation," she said,
"But don't write them off. We have to reach out to young white people.
Make a special effort to get young white people out to your march.
Many came to an anti-Klan rally in Louisville," 

     Churches, especially white churches, carry a special
responsibility for helping youths resist being drawn into such groups
Ms. Johnson said, noting that many white supremacist groups pervert
Christianity by claiming a biblical basis for their teachings. 

     "In church communities everywhere, I wish there was a forum for
young people to talk out the issue of hate - support groups that help
them resist, like we do in anti-drag work, if they are being attracted
to a hate group or someone is pressuring them, threatening them,
trying to draw them in," she said. Such support groups and forums are
needed nationwide, she said, not just in the South.

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