Our friends at OPP have been at work and have proven that Wade Michael Page wasn't only a neo-Nazi band member, but a full-on member of one of the United States' most infamous and violent hate groups:

[Image]When it was learned that Wade Michael Page was the shooter at a Sikh Temple in Wisconsin, just as quickly news came out that he was in a number of WP bands. But more information has come out that says the original belief that he was not part of any actual hate group is very, very wrong. One People's Project OAK CREEK, WI--The shooter in the shooting at a Sikh Temple in suburban Milwaukee that killed six people before police gunned him down has been identified as Wade Michael Page, a member of the Hammerskin Nation HSN, the oldest and most violent neo-Nazi bonehead organization in the United States.
According to the Anti-Defamation League website, Hammerskin Nation was formed in Dallas, Texas in the late 80s, adopting the crossed hammers - the symbol used by the fascists in Pink Floyd's the Wall - as their organization's logo. At its peak. HSN was able to boast dozens of chapters across the United States and worldwide. They are best known for holding concerts around the country known as Hammerfest, but also for the murders and other violent acts that have been committed by HSN members over the past 20 years. As of late the organization has lost the strength it once had, and other organizations like Volksfront and the Vinlander Social Club - an organization founded from the remnants of the Outlaw Hammerskins, which were former Hammerskin members that were ousted - came into being.
Pictures of Page with members of HSN as well as some from another organization, the Atlantic City "Skinheads" have surfaced with Page sporting HSN or "Crew 38" patches and insignia, Crew 38 is the support group for the Confederate Hammerskins (CHS), the most active chapter in HSN today.
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[Image] Top: Wade Page, far right, with glasses, hangs with some of his fellow Hammerskins. Robert Reznick of Allentown, PA is in the bottom left row with the Lonsdale shirt on. "Brent" (Rackley?) from Definite Hate/End Apathy is second from right in the top row. Center: Wade Page, far right, sporting Hammerskin patches (you don't wear those patches unless you are a member) joins Hammerskins on stage. Reznick is on far left and "Brent" is next to him. Bottom: Wade Page, far left again with Hammerskins. That's Reznick and "Brett" again next to him. There is more information on the OPP website here.

The Hammerfront link is interesting, in that we in Canada have also witness violence, though not of this nature, allegedly perpetrated by people aligned with the Hammerskins in Vancouver:
"Why deny the Holocaust? I for one welcome it!": Rob de Chazal on Stormfront Update on Macdonald and BC Blood & Honour: Posts on Hammerskin Forum Christie and Macdonald Confronted During Court Appearance Alleged Racial Assault Caught on Video; Macdonald Suspect Court Dates For Blood & Honour Members Postponed Hey! We Forgot We Had Video of Blood & Honour BC McKee Uses Blood & Honour Arrests to Promote Violence So, Who in B&H Have Been Arrested? And so on.

Meanwhile, former Heritage Front Kingston representative Louis Morin has commented on the case:

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The most salient points are this:

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Yep. His criticism, and the criticism of some of the others who commented, is that there were better targets.

As a bit of an editorial, what gets us is that from the perspective of many on the right, if it is a black or brown person who commits a crime, it's because of something inherently deficient in their culture and/or genes. When it's a white person, it is the act of a single, deranged, lunatic and does not reflect on the wider society of white people. And this is how Wade Michael Page, who was a part of a notorious violent subculture, has been described. A Muslim blows up a building? It's because Muslims, on the whole, are violent.  A white supremacist blows up a building (such as this guy or this guy)? He was just a lone crazy person... and could we really be sure that it wasn't ACTUALLY a Muslim who did it, even though the white dude admits he did it and brags about it?

We can see this clearly in the reaction to the Anders Breivik murders. Before it was known who committed the initial bombing in Oslo followed by the murders of over 70 youth, the assumption was it was an Islamic extremist and was used as further proof that Muslims, all Muslims, were dangerous. As more information came to light, the reaction of those who initially blamed Muslims for the attach changed. Whereas they were happy to hang this crime on Muslims as a group, upon learning the truth Breivik became a lone, deranged, individual. In the same thread in which we included the screen shots about Breivik is similar rhetoric about J.T. Ready.

The great irony is that while some of the folks on Free Dominion stoke hatred and fear of Muslims in this country while at the same time dismissing white supremacist groups as irrelevant and harmless, it is likely that  more people in this country have been killed by the supremacists than have been harmed by any Muslim extremists.

At least one poster on Free Dominion has noticed that there is a difference in the response to black and brown people as compared to the equally heinous crimes committed by white people (though we aren't sure that we would draw the same conclusions):

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 How about this?

There are good people and bad people and the color of a person's skin or the deity they worship (or don't worship) is of no relevance. The people and those behind them who murdered 3000 people on September 11, 2001 are not reflective of Muslims or Arabs as a group. The actions of Wade Michael Page, J.T. Ready,  Timothy McVeigh, and all the white supremacists who have murdered or harmed people are not reflective of all white people.

Connie agrees with us too. Well, sort of.

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It's good to find some common ground here, though we might also suggest that if she is looks at the membership of her own webforum, she wouldn't have to look to far to feel nauseous.

Still, rather than ignoring them and pretending they're harmless, we do need to keep an eye on these white supremacist groups because they have proven themselves to be dangerous. Wade Michael Page reminds us why we do need to remain vigilant.