THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, December 13, 1995 TAG: 9512130369
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY DALE EISMAN, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Medium: 93 lines
The Army's civilian leader on Tuesday ordered a detailed review of racial attitudes in the service, saying he wants to be sure that the white supremacist attitudes apparently held by two soldiers charged in a Fayetteville, N.C., double slaying last week are not widespread.
Army Secretary Togo G. West said a task force led by a three-star general will visit major installations in the United States and abroad to search for signs of activity by racial hate groups. The panel is to report by March 1.
``We want to make sure we know what we think we know,'' - that the active involvement of soldiers in such groups is extremely rare, West said.
The military is powerless to stop its members from joining hate groups - the Constitution specifies that every citizen has that right - but regulations bar troops from taking part in such group activities as distributing literature and recruiting members.
``We will not have it,'' West stressed.
The Army's decision to respond to the Fayetteville killings with only a study contrasted sharply to the Navy's handling of a recent spate of incidents involving sexual misconduct by its personnel.
Navy people around the world last week completed a daylong ``stand down,'' in which every command was required to review rules on ``good order and discipline'' with every sailor and airman. The stand down was ordered after a senior enlisted sailor reportedly groped a female shipmate during a cross-country flight in September and other Navy people aboard the plane failed to intercede.
``The Navy has used stand downs to good effect,'' West told reporters. But he argued that a similar ``day of reflection'' by Army personnel is not called for after the Fayetteville killings.
In any case, West added, the Army is in the midst of a variety of operations that would make it impossible for many units to take a day off. The Navy handled similar concerns by letting commanders stagger the stand down over a one-month period.
Branches of the military, and particularly the Army, have worked hard in recent years to build a reputation for racial tolerance and harmony. The Army has more minority officers and enlisted members than the other services, and Pentagon leaders regularly tout the success of all the branches in eliminating discrimination as a model for civilian institutions.
West and Defense Secretary William J. Perry expressed the military's sympathy for the families of the Fayetteville victims. The Army secretary, the Pentagon's highest-ranking African-American leader, said he was ``personally saddened that any American would commit an act of such senseless violence.''
``It is especially painful to me that the acts are alleged to have been committed by United States soldiers,'' he added.
Three white soldiers have been formally charged in the Fayetteville killings. Pvts. James Norman Burmeister II, 20, and Malcolm Wright, 21, both based at Fort Bragg, are charged with shooting Michael James, 36, and Jackie Burden, 27, last Thursday as the black couple walked on a downtown street.
Police allege that Burmeister and Wright were looking for blacks to shoot and chose their victims at random. The men approached James and Burden on foot and shot each in the head, police said.
A third soldier, Randy Lee Meadows Jr., 21, drove a car used by the killers, police said. He has been charged with conspiracy.
The three men are part of the 82nd Airborne Division, one of the Army's elite units. The division's leaders are looking into the activities of extremist groups within the ranks; human rights groups have suggested that there is a long history of white supremacist activity at Fort Bragg.
``There is a large skinhead presence in this town because of the types of people stationed at Fort Bragg,'' Bob Smynter, owner of the private underground bar Purgatory, told The Washington Post last week. ``This is not a normal town.''
Smynter told the Post that Burmeister and Wright seemed to be part of a particularly racist faction of skinheads.
``I knew these guys were hard-core, but I didn't realize just how much,'' he said.
Police arrested Burmeister and Wright at a mobile home that was Burmeister's residence. They found a Nazi flag and literature, along with pamphlets from other ultra-right-wing groups. Police also found a videotape of the movie ``Natural Born Killers.''
West said he's aware of reports that Burmeister had displayed a Nazi flag at an Army barracks; the allegation is unconfirmed, he said, adding that he couldn't imagine such a display would be tolerated by senior enlisted leaders in the barracks.
The Army last reviewed the activities of hate groups among its members in 1992, issuing a report that acknowledged at least three cases in which soldiers had been involved in white supremacist groups. None of those cases was at Fort Bragg, however. ILLUSTRATION: Color photo
Army Secretary Togo G. West.
KEYWORDS: MURDER SHOOTING U.S. ARMY SKINHEADS
RACISM ARREST by CNB