Southern Poverty Law Center says white pride group likely to be on next hate group list

In an exclusive interview with Michigan Messenger, Mark Potok, director of the Southern Poverty Law Center’s Intelligence Project, said the civil rights group is likely to list Battalion 14 Michigan Division on its 2010 list of active hate groups.

“I have very little doubt we will list them as a hate group,” Potok said. He said there was no question, in his mind, the group was a white supremacy group and was national socialist in nature. He said it was clear the group understood what white supremacy phrases and references meant, and supported them.

Potok said the group first came to the SPLC’s attention when media, including Michigan Messenger, reported about the planned march in Jackson.

During an interview Sunday, Chris Simpson, Battalion 14 Michigan Division commander, acknowledged the group was national socialist, while denying it was neo-Nazi. National socialism was called Nationalsozialismus in German. It was abbreviated to Nazi under the reign of Adolf Hitler.

Potok mentioned 14 words and the use of the number 88. Both of which Simpson acknowledge in an interview he group supported. A recruiting video for the group uses swastikas, eagles, and Celtic crosses.

The Anti-Defamation League reports the following the use of the number 88:

The eighth letter of the alphabet is “H.” Eight two times signifies “HH, ” shorthand for the Nazi greeting, “Heil Hitler.” 88 is often found on hate group flyers, in both the greetings and closing comments of letters written by neo-Nazis, and in e-mail addresses.

The group reports the 14 words references the statement, “We must secure the existence of our people and a future for white children.” It further explains:

This numeral represents the phrase “14 words,” the number of words in an expression that has become the battle cry and rallying slogan for the white supremacist movement: “We must secure the existence of our people and a future for white children.” This expression was coined by white supremacist David Lane while in prison serving essentially a life sentence for his role in The Order, a 1980s white supremacist terrorist group that conducted armed robberies, bombings, and assassinations. Lane died in prison in 2007.

SPLC publishes an annual list of hate groups and hate activity in March of each year. The report represents hate groups and activity from the previous year. The group says there were 26 active hate groups in the state in 2009.