By Elaine Magliaro
The city of Anniston, Alabama, has placed two of its police officers on administrative leave while it investigates accusations that the men are members of a hate group. On Wednesday, the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) posted an article on its Hatewatch blog alleging that Lt. Josh Doggrell and Lt. Wayne Brown had ties to the League of the South. SPLC describes the League of the South (LOS) as a “neo-confederate” hate group that advocates for a Southern secession and a society dominated by “European Americans.”
Aziza John, a spokeswoman for the city released the following statement:
“After being made aware of the Wednesday, June 17 article by the SPLC, the City of Anniston is taking the allegations made against Lt. Brown and Lt. Doggrell very seriously and have placed both officers on administrative leave. Lt. Brown and Lt. Doggrell do not speak for the City of Anniston nor the Anniston Police Department. The City of Anniston has commenced an investigation into this matter and will work diligently to ensure the appropriate action is taken.”
Hatewatch posted a video of Josh Doggrell speaking at a national conference for the neo-Confederate League of the South (LOS) in 2013.
Keegan Hankes of Hatewatch:
In a non-descript suit-and-tie, he spoke about gun rights, county supremacy, the state of law enforcement in Alabama and his loyalty to the League.
“It’s wonderful to be around sanity,” the founder and chairman of the League’s John C. Calhoun chapter in a video of the event posted to YouTube.
It was a common speech for a League conference. But Doggrell wasn’t quite a common southern nationalist. He was a police officer, a lieutenant in the Anniston Police Department, and he wasn’t the only one. A second officer from his department, Lieutenant Wayne Brown, joined Doggrell at the convention, and they had come with good news –– good news for any self-respecting southern nationalist at least.
What was that good news? Doggrell told the audience, “The vast majority of men in uniform are aware that they’re southerners…And kith and kin comes before illegal national mandates.”
Hankes said that Doggrell “knows a little bit about kith and kin.” According to Hankes, the police officer “joined the LOS in 1995 after meeting its president Michael Hill at the University of Alabama while Doggrell was a student, serving as the secretary vice chairman and chairman of the school’s LOS chapter before founding his own chapter in 2009.”
Hankes elaborated on the subject of “kith and kin.” He noted that it was part of “an explicitly racist ideology called ‘kinism’ that Hill has long promoted through the LOS.”
Hankes:
The Kinist Institute, an organization that promotes kinism, has called for laws against racial intermarriage, an end to non-white immigration, expelling all “aliens” (“to include all Jews and Arabs”), and restricting the right to vote to white, landholding men over the age of 21. In the past, LOS websites have referred to kinism as “a biblical solution for all races” that will save the South by preventing “white genocide.”
William Thornton (AL.com):
In the SPLC post and video, Doggrell is quoted as saying that, during a department interview in which he mentioned his ties to the group, he told officials, “I’m not going to sell out my position with the League, as something I believe in strongly. If it came down to it, I’d choose the League.”
According to Doggrell, the chief responded, “We pretty much think like you do.” It was not clear from the statement when this encounter occurred, or who the police chief would have been.
Anniston, Alabama police dept. has two hate group members on the force
SOURCES
Anniston Police Department Has Two Hate Group Members on the Force (Hatewatch/SPLC)
Anniston places 2 police officers on leave, allegations of hate group membership (AL.com)
Officers Accused of Hate Group Ties Suspended in Alabama (Gawker)
Two Alabama Officers Put on Leave for Alleged Ties to ‘Hate Group’ (NBC News)
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Good, he chose his WS group over his career, these racists have no place on our police forces or in our military.
I think that we have been suckered into treading on eggshells when we see racism in fellow Americans. There seems to be some sort of stigma placed on anyone who has the guts to call out a racist for what he/she really is. We should go forward from here on in not shrinking from using the terms “racist or bigotry” or any other descriptive term necessary if it fits the person who displays these traits.
I think we’ve been in some sort of slumber when it comes to bigotry, we give bigots their space, afraid to use terminology that Is going to upset them. I say too damn bad, people of conscience need to stand up, be brave and not fear the blowback of calling out racists and bigots. They got away with their behavior far too long. Society has a duty to rein in those who are out to destroy it because they hate the color of another’s skin, or the sexual identity of another, etc. It’s past time to shame and blame those who cannot live in a modern society without being able to abide by its rules based on stupid age old prejudices.
These are not “hate group members”, they are terrorists and traitors to the United States by their own statements.
“The vast majority of men in uniform are aware that they’re southerners…And kith and kin comes before illegal national mandates.”
These White Christian terrorists are more dangerous to the United States than any Muslims, yet our news media is afraid to say so.
No more job and …NO PENSION!
spindell is the biggest hater I know. And dumber than a box of rocks.
Franny,
You are another moron who frequents the Turley blog, possibly their Limp Dick Nick himself. Thanks for stopping by, this is how a real blog is run, but you lack the wits to see it. Also no, I don’t hate you, or any of the other tools who hang out there, I merely pity that you lead such meaningless existences, some of who ar frustrated by their more intelligent and successful wife. By the way I’m leaving your comment for fun, but I’m banning you……just because I can.
Have a wonderful day. 🙂
Looks like someone let the trolls out!
By their own words, they specifically attest that they hold in contempt the oath they took when they swore to uphold the Constitution. They need to be fired immediately and have their work looked at for fraud and frame ups. They are not police officers, but cowards who use their badges to oppress those they hate.
Is franny calling Mike a Mad Hatter?
blouise,
I think franny’s in a bad mood after waking up under the wrong bridge this morning.
Kind of reminds me of this little troll.
I. Annie,
Ciao!
I have a question for the legal scholars here. Is it possible for the DA or other person in the law enforcement branch that can take action to get rid of the cops who spit on their oath and make it VERY clear that they have no loyalty to their duties?
Molto bene.
this is an interesting group. I don’t know if you can call it a neo-klan but it is definitely a group of southerners who think in terms of a nationalist southern identity. Their web site stays away from being overtly racist and most of their books are on the civil war and reconstruction.
Many of you would agree with some/many of their policy stances.
http://dixienet.org/rights/backtoeden.shtml
Meanwhile the rest of the middle class has nearly disappeared, aided no doubt by dropping wages and the invasion of Wal-Mart and other chains.
But it seems to me they are just dressing up and repackaging that old time national socialism.
Randy,
Since these officers are part of the civil service system, there are built-in checks and balances. I see a lot of hankie-twisting outrage when officers are put on paid administrative leave pending outcome of an investigation. That is exactly the way it should be, and follows the general spirit of the Fifth Amendment. There is a reason civil service employees are protected from being fired without notice or investigation.
It is unseemly to have the hanging before the trial.
Their activities are likely to be the subject of a thorough internal affairs investigation. After that, they may be given a formal hearing before a civil service board, with lawyers and everything, depending on agency rules and policy. If there is a hearing, they can present their side of the story. Regardless, I think they are probably short-timers at that agency.
OS, I am aware of the civil service protection and its measures, but WHO initiates a disciplinary hearing? I know the Chief can do that, but I wonder if he has the backbone to do it, and absent him, can the mayor or DA file charges?I certainly hope that these two will not have a full career in their force, and hope that the officials will see that their futures will be at risk if they do not stamp out this contempt NOW. It is outrageous that any law enforcement officer could swear superior allegiance to an organization above that of his sworn duty.
Bron, are you serious? The League of the South sounds like secessionists. And possibly white supremacists, nothing like socialists.
http://dixienet.org/rights/2013/faq_frequently_asked_questions.php
Q: Is the LS a Christian organisation?
A: While we have no religious requirement for membership, as an organisation we do recognise the legacy of Christianity and the universal sovereignty of the triune God. Most League members are Christians, and we base our movement on Christian principles. Trinitarian Christianity can not be separated or removed from Southern society or culture without both ceasing to be Southern.
Q: Is secession not illegal, unconstitutional, and discredited?
A: By no means. Most of those who wrote and ratified the constitution recognised secession as a legitimate, legal, and constitutional measure of protection against the possibility that the national government might in the future consolidate and centralise power, violate the terms of the constitution, and usurp the rights and liberties of the people of the sovereign States. Secession is a right of a truly free people and the cornerstone of confederalism. What has been tried, failed, and discredited is centralism – by unitary government that reneged on its original compact as an agent of the States, usurped their sovereignty, and opted instead to hold the ‘Union’ together by brute force.
Q: Why does the LS seek to protect the Anglo-Celtic core population and culture of the historic South?
A: The Anglo-Celtic peoples settled the South and gave it its dominate culture and civilisation. We believe that the advancement of Anglo-Celtic culture and civilisation is vital in order to preserve our region as we know it. Should this core be destroyed or displaced the South would be made over in an alien image – unfamiliar and inhospitable to our children and grandchildren. We, as Anglo-Celtic Southerners, have a duty to protect that which our ancestors bequeathed to us. If we do not promote our interests then no one will do it for us.
Bron,
As a courtesy to you I would normally read your link, but since they don’t feel Jews like me should even be in this country, I wouldn’t want to insult them by visiting their website.
Bron,
I read your link and your statement “Many of you would agree with some/many of their policy stances.” I must ask this in the nicest way possible. Have you lost your mind? Perhaps suffered a recent traumatic head injury? I ask because I care.
They sound like white supremacist secessionists. Nothing like socialists, lol.
Annie, The term NATIONAL Socialists came about because socialism was a majority idea in Germany at the time post WWI, and the right wing movement realized that using the term socialism would have more appeal. To distinguish themselves from the real socialists, they used the term NATIONAL to show their difference with them. They emphasized the cult of nation and Volk, people, above class, unlike the socialists. Thus extreme nationalism was an integral part of their program as was their appeal to the middle and working classes, thus the full name of the party was the National Socialist Workers Party, or in German the acronym spelled out as NAZI. The program was modeled on Mussolini fascist party as corporatism in which the state was fully fused with the corporate interests. Thus Bron is quite correct as to their identity with fascism and the NAZIs and they avoid the racist terms for tactical reasons, and violence is held off for now. There is no question that they are not American in their ideas and spit on most of our founding documents and traditions.
franny’s statement (such as it was) was a fine example of ad hominem. Except in very narrow circumstances, like when the claimant is asserting a claim as true with no corroborative evidence as true simply upon their word, equating someone’s character with the soundness of their argument is a logical fallacy. This is different than insult, where the statement A is wrong because X, Y and Z and A is also a dooty head is a refutation or rebuttal based on evidence and/or logic coupled with a derisive value judgement. For example: franny’s statement is wrong because it is an impermissible use of character evidence in an out of context manner which makes franny’s statements not only fallacious but not corroborated by the evidence. Over time, Mike has demonstrated both his humanity and his intelligence quite well as evidenced by his writings. This display of fallacious reasoning and deploying known troll tactics leads me to think franny is an unintelligent jackass bent on the simplest forms of trollery.
That was a rebuttal conjoined with an insult.
See the difference?
LMAO. Mike the tough guy.
Aw Joe, I didn’t think you cared, but I do know behind your pseudo identity lies one frustrated person, perhaps because your wife married beneath herself. Then again anyone marrying you would be marrying beneath themselves. Think about the fact that you took the time to post this childish remark and ponder what a waste your life must be. This is fun, keep it up, it helps our stats and as with back at RIL you’re not in my league.
V: We’re oft to blame, and this is too much proved, that with devotion’s visage and pious action we do sugar on the devil himself.
Baldy Fingerman: What does that mean?
V: Spare the Rod.
Randyjet,
Yes indeed the group sounds like National Socialism (Nazi for short), with both words capitalized for clarification. Why Bron thinks we would identify with them is a mystery.
Randy,
A lot of people think the DA is the one who files charges. Not so. In order for charges to be filed, a law enforcement agency must initiate the charge. For example, the police or sheriff’s department brings evidence to a grand jury, which is run by the prosecutor’s office. The prosecutor can prosecute if the GJ returns an indictment. Even in a police department, the chief may not be able to act without the Internal Affairs Department making a finding first. Every agency has their own rules and regulations.
Some IA investigations don’t take very long at all, if the evidence is overwhelming. This little video taken with a police dash cam is instructive. The incident took place in Birmingham, AL. The bad guy being pursued is in the white van. Everything is just fine and by the book up to the end of the pursuit. One of the officers executes a perfect PIT maneuver, and the van rolls over. Bad guy is not wearing a seat belt, so was ejected onto the concrete drainage gully. What happened next got five officers fired in relatively short order.
Q: Is secession not illegal, unconstitutional, and discredited?
A: By no means. Most of those who wrote and ratified the constitution recognised secession as a legitimate, legal, and constitutional measure of protection against the possibility that the national government might i… yada, yada, yada.
I told you. There are folks who consider that the war is still on. There are folks in the south who consider that they just lost a skirmish.
Gene,
Perhaps happy-hour started a little early, today?
More drunken blogging by FLS’ Burden?
I wish this was the stupidest thing he’s ever said.
Gene:
I made clear that I thought it was a nationalist group. But with that being said the German national socialists were for some of the same things socialists were/are for.
This is a very bad group and should be shutdown with all methods possible. it sickens me to think this type of group is possible in this country at this point in time. anyone associated with that group should be shunned from civil society.
I think they deserve to be shunned not because of any socialist leanings you may see in them Bron, but because they are white supremacists and secessionists. The Nazi’s hated the labour unions and one of the first things they did was make them illegal and jail socialists. Nazi’s misused to term “socialist” in order to make them sound more acceptable to the German population, I don’t believe they were true socialists, but were clearly fascists.
Bron,
As famous S/F author Ken McLeod once said, to paraphrase, “Explaining to an advanced alien species that you still practice nationalism is as embarrassing as explaining to a new girlfriend that you have a venereal disease.”
I’m pretty sure most of the people here aren’t nationalists either.
As for the socialist aspects of Nazism, please don’t make me explain the Night of the Long Knives again or the Reich’s economic structure being directly lifted from Mussolini’s fascist Italy.
mike:
from the website:
“The elites desire to make everything public and thus falling within their grasp. Every human institution must be made subject to control by the central state, and human autonomy (e.g. the Universal Rights of Man) must trump all inherited cultural traditions. Such is the elites’ particular brand of treason.”
This very interesting, he chastises the elites for adhering to a central control of government but then he says that human autonomy must be subordinate to cultural traditions. So he is replacing central control by the elites with subordination to the cultural traditions of the southern aristocracy. of which he, by virtue of his “superior” position, is the arbiter of those traditions.
he is the head of the los Dr Michael Hill, Killen, Alabama (President)
Traditionally, according to a part of my bloodline and heritage, I should eat your liver to steal your power.
According to the reasoning afforded by my proclivity and training, I know that universal principles such as human rights can be distilled by logic and reason stripped of tradition.
“We’ve always done it this way” is a really dumb reason to keep doing something.
“What works best for the most” is a much more utilitarian proposition.
Gene,
Should you adhere to your bloodline and heritage, video, please.
Photos, or it didn’t happen.
Bob K.,
Liver is really high in cholesterol. I’m trying to avoid it. You know. Doctor’s orders and all that.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liver-Eating_Johnson
Liberalism denied the State in the name of the individual; Fascism reasserts the rights of the State as expressing the real essence of the individual (12). And if liberty is to he the attribute of living men and not of abstract dummies invented by individualistic liberalism, then Fascism stands for liberty, and for the only liberty worth having, the liberty of the State and of the individual within the State (13).
But when brought within the orbit of the State, Fascism recognizes the real needs which gave rise to socialism and trade unionism, giving them due weight in the guild or corporative system in which divergent interests are coordinated and harmonized in the unity of the State (16).
That is a really nice word salad Bron.
john g:
that is Benito M in his own words.
And that is surprising how considering Mussolini had a grudge about being booted out of the Socialist Party in addition to a bent toward both violence and syndicatism not inherent to Socialism?
That was a rhetorical question.
It’s nice to know who the author is, but it is still a word salad. Another famous politician is good at mixing up word salads and this collection of words could of come out of Sarah Palins mouth from the looks of it.
John G.,
So…if Sarah Palin mouthed this word salad, would that be an example of ‘tossing your salad”?
Bob Kauten;
I suppose it would if you were born with a dictionary as your backside. I hate to admit it but I had to look that term up just to respond. The mental imagery that occurred was unique.
John,
Wait a minute…how did you know? Is this damned camera on, again?
I am a Rush fan and didn’t even know it.
Rush – Anthem Lyrics:
Know your place in life is where you want to be
Don’t let them tell you that you owe it all to me
Keep on looking forward, no use in looking ’round
Hold your head above the ground and they won’t bring you down
Anthem of the heart and anthem of the mind
A funeral dirge for eyes gone blind
We marvel after those who sought
New wonders in the world, wonders in the world,
Wonders in the world they wrought
Live for yourself, there’s no one else
More worth living for
Begging hands and bleeding hearts will
Only cry out for more
Well, I know they’ve always told you
Selfishness was wrong
Yet it was for me, not you, I
Came to write this song
Songwriters: HARVEY, ALEX / MCKENNA, HUGH
Anthem lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group
Most people outgrow that kinda Rush after high school too, B.
Although they do have a couple of catchy tunes.
most people outgrow socialism when they have a real job that requires reason and responsibility.
Socialism usually appeals to the very poor or the idle rich, the poor are usually hopeless and the idle rich are feeling guilty about their trust fund. oh and “intellectuals” like ward Churchill.
Or they adopt it once they have the analytical skills and knowledge necessary to realize that laissez-faire capitalism is an abject failure as it is inherently anti-democratic and the source of much misery in the world.
Try again.
so is socialism. anyway we haven’t ever had pure capitalism but we came closest to it in the 125 years after the ratification of the Constitution. So it ended slavery, saved the whales, raised millions of people out of poverty, brought us fantastic new inventions.
What did progressives like TR and Wilson bring us? WAR and taxes to make more war.
you try again.
socialism is for timid, little souls who want to suckle their lives away at their momma’s breast but know that society doesn’t yet permit that so they substitute government for their mother’s teat.
or they want to control those timid souls for their own personal aggrandizement. Then there are the utopians who actually are decent folk but just don’t understand the human soul.