THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, December 23, 1995 TAG: 9512230389
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A5 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: THE NEW YORK TIMES
DATELINE: ATLANTA LENGTH: Medium: 74 lines
An Army investigation at Fort Bragg has found that there are at least 22 soldiers in the 82nd Airborne Division - less than two-tenths of 1 percent of the 14,736-member force - who are skinheads or hold extremist or supremacist views on race.
But as expected, the investigation said, ``There is no indication that any organized extremist movement is operating out of the division,'' said a statement released Friday.
The investigation was prompted by the Dec. 7 killings of a black couple on a downtown street in Fayetteville, the home of the sprawling base. Police have charged two white privates in the 82nd Airborne Division in the deaths and say the suspects are skinheads who had racial motives for killing the pair, Michael James, 36, and Jackie Burden, 27.
In addition to the inquiry at Fort Bragg, the killings have led Army Secretary Togo D. West Jr. to open a broader examination of extremist activity in the entire 510,000-member Army.
On Friday, West appointed a five-member panel led by Maj. Gen. Larry R. Jordan, deputy inspector general of the Army, to assess ``the extent to which soldiers participate in racist and other extremist organizations.''
The panel, which is to complete its investigation by March 1, is also expected to examine how the chain of command handles racism in the ranks.
Pentagon policy prohibits active participation in organizations that espouse racism, supremacism or any other activity that violates an individual's civil rights.
But there is no ban on membership in such organizations as long as the soldier is not involved in public rallies, handing out literature, raising money or recruiting.
The Fort Bragg investigation, which involved intensive interrogations of soldiers and searches of barracks and private cars, identified 22 soldiers who are considered active or former skinheads, who associate with skinheads or who hold extremist views. That group includes Pvts. James N. Burmeister II, 20, and Malcolm Wright Jr., 21, who have been charged with murder in the killings on Dec. 7.
Fayetteville police have said a third soldier, Pvt. Randy L. Meadows, 21, who has been charged as an accessory, told them that Burmeister had spoken before the killings about wanting ``to mess with blacks and drug dealers.''
Police quoted Meadows as saying that Burmeister had hoped to ``earn his spider web tattoo,'' an emblem used in skinhead and gang circles to certify that its wearer has killed a member of an ethnic minority group or a homosexual.
Police said they had found a Nazi flag and white-supremacist literature in a room that Burmeister rented near Fayetteville.
Among the 22 soldiers are nine whom the Army characterized as racist skinheads. ``Suspected of being skinheads who espouse neo-Nazi ideals, these soldiers' participation appears to be limited to encouraging other soldiers to join their group and fighting, mainly with nonracist skinheads,'' the statement said.
An additional four soldiers were identified as nonracist skinheads who actively opposed the white-supremacist skinheads. One soldier was found to be a so-called independent skinhead who takes no overt position on racial issues.
The other eight soldiers were described as former skinheads or white supremacists without skinhead associations.
The Army has referred the soldiers to their commanders for further investigation.
A spokesman for the 82nd Airborne Division, Maj. Rivers J. Johnson, said disciplinary action for those found to have violated policy could range from counseling to a court martial. Other penalties could include reductions in rank and forfeiture of pay, he said. by CNB