David Duke
Describing himself as an activist for "European Americans" and president of the European-American Unity and Rights Organization,[1] while the Anti-Defamation League calls him "perhaps America's most well-known racist and anti-Semite", [2] David Duke (1950-) has been active in nativist activism and also in the political system. He founded the National Association for the Advancement of White People in 1980, and a revival of the Knights of the Ku Klux Klan in 1974.
In 1989, he won a seat in the Louisiana state legislature, representing Metairie, Louisiana, in the Louisiana State Legislature. Subsequently, he ran for the U.S. Senate in 1990 and 1996, for Governor of Louisiana in 1991, for President of the United States in 1992, and for Congress in 1998. In both the 1990 and 1991 races, he attracted a majority of Louisiana's white voters.[2] He ran for Congress in the 2000 election, as a Republican, and Phil Baum, executive director of the American Jewish Congress, wrote a letter to the New York Times mentioning that while the Republican National Committee and national Republicans disavowed him, the Republican Governor of Louisiana, Mike Foster, refused to do so.[3]
He was imprisoned in 2003-2004 for mail fraud and tax evasion related to his campaign finances.
Don Black of Stormfront has spoken at his conferences. Duke has appeared on James Edwards' "Political Cesspool" show and on Heshan Tillawi's "Current Issues".
He continues to identify as a Republican, saying of Michael Steele as chairman of the Republican National Committtee,
I am glad these traitorous leaders of the Republican Party appointed this Black racist, affirmative action advocate to the head of the Republican party because this will lead to a huge revolt among the Republican base. As a former Republican official, I can tell you that millions of rank-and-file Republicans are mad as hell and aren't going to take it anymore! We will either take the Republican Party back over the next four years or we will say, "To Hell With the Republican Party!" And we will take 90 percent of Republicans with us into a New Party that will take its current place![4]
On his website, Elizabeth Wright criticized the Southern Poverty Law Center and Anti-Defamation League for calling the Federation for American Immigration Reform a hate group. [5] Works: David Duke Report newsletter; Jewish Supremacism (2002); My Awakening (1998); African Atto (1973, as Mohammad X); Finders Keepers (1976, as Dorothy Vanderbilt)
Education
- BA, Louisiana State University
References
- ↑ About DavidDuke.com, David Duke
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 David Duke, Anti-Defamation League
- ↑ Phil Baum (1 May 1999), "Letter to the Editor: David Duke, Republican", New York Times
- ↑ While The Right Stays Mum on Steele, Duke Loses It, Right Wing Watch, People for the American Way, 2 February 2009
- ↑ Elizabeth Wright (2 January 2010)