Last Friday, the sociology department held a colloquium featuring Pete Simi, co-author of the new book “American Swastika: Inside the White Power Movement’s Hidden Spaces of Hate.”
Simi, an associate professor at the University of Nebraska at Omaha’s School of Criminology and Criminal Justice, has conducted extensive fieldwork with neo-Nazi groups across the United States for the past 13 years. In 2006, he was awarded a grant from the Department of Justice to study recruitment strategies among white supremacist terror groups.
In his book, “American Swastika,” he explains how white supremacists sustain their movement in a highly antagonistic environment. He is currently providing expert witness consultation on several murder cases involving neo-Nazi groups.
Simi began his speech Friday by explaining his research strategy and how he spent seven years living with members of various white supremacy groups. He has researched the Ku Klux Klan, the Nationalist Socialist Movement, the Aryan Nations and the Skinheads. Overall, he has conducted 89 interviews and has attended White Power music festivals and “Fellowship” meetings.
Even Nebraska has had its fair share of white supremacy activity. Lincoln native Gary Lauck, dubbed the “Farm Belt Fuehrer,” is an American Nazi propagandist and probably the largest producer of neo-Nazi literature in the world.
In Omaha, Nazis have protested illegal immigration outside the Mexican Consulate. Simi explained the white power movement survives without catching heat from the government through “free spaces.” Such spaces include family and local gatherings spaces, trans-local spaces and, most importantly, cyber space. White supremacy families often home-school their children so they are not exposed to “all that liberal propaganda,” according to one white supremacist parent Simi interviewed.
“The way they educate their children and how difficult it is to break that cycle of thought in the child is alarming,” said Elizabeth Sueper, a sophomore secondary education major who attended Simi’s speech. “I wasn’t aware of the extreme socialization practices these groups use to anchor their children within the movement.”
The Internet is what’s really pushing the white supremacy movement into the limelight again. Since President Barack Obama’s election, terrorist threats found on these Web sites have been off the charts.
“Cyberspace is a place for movement members to gather and share thoughts and ideas across the country and the world,” Simi explained. “Because of this, we’re starting to see more activity from white supremacist groups.”
Simi also showed disturbing images of children sporting swastikas on their shirts and proudly performing the “sieg heil,” which was used in the past to salute Adolf Hitler.
“The white power movement is organized around principles of aggression. They see aggression as an act of defense — a way to defend their race,” Simi said. “Movement members often encourage their young to explore this aggression. They think they need to practice violence in order to engage in it.”
briannekeller@dailynebraskan.com
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