THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, May 18, 1995 TAG: 9505170269
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A14 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Letter
LENGTH: Short : 46 lines
In an otherwise informative piece about today's far right (``Threads of fear reach Virginia,'' news, April 30), some critical facts about one of the article's subjects, Eustace Mullins, are left unmentioned.
Mullins is described simply as an author from Staunton. While this is true, Mullins' publications are not the kind one is likely to come across in a local bookstore. Mullins' career as a bigot and anti-Jewish propagandist spans a period of more than four decades.
In recent years, Mullins has affiliated himself with the Louisiana-based New Christian Crusade Church and the Christian Defense League, ``Identity'' organizations founded by hatemonger James Warner. Members of the Identity church assert that white people are the true Israelites, that Jews are the physical offspring of Satan and that blacks are lower-life-form ``mud people.''
Among his many writings, Mullins has also delved into the netherworld of Holocaust denial. In 1987, Mullins attempted to counter ``the Jewish claim that they were victims of the Holocaust'' in an article titled ``The Holocaust Explained.'' Mullins asserted that Jews imprisoned in Nazi concentration camps did not die or suffer, but instead ``they prepared themselves for the inevitable ending of the war, when they loosed themselves upon the war-torn nations of the Earth like the most devastating plagues from Pandora's box.''
The article notes that Mullins has traveled the country airing his fantasies about a plot by private bankers and the Federal Reserve to seize control of the federal government. Readers should be aware that besides being conspiratorial nonsense, these charges stem from Mullins' intense anti-Semitic bias. Americans have reason to be concerned that these hate-filled theories are now feeding the anger and paranoia of many in the militia movement.
I compliment The Virginian-Pilot and The Ledger-Star for exploring this critical topic but feel it necessary to put Eustace Mullins in context.
SAMUEL K. KAPLAN, director
Virginian/North Carolina Region
Anti-Defamation League
Norfolk, May 5, 1995 by CNB