He Was the Neo-Nazi Who Inspired 'American History X.' His Nazi Pals Are Now Cops.

[tenderfoot]

In October of 2006, the FBI released an intelligence assessment titled, “White Supremacist Infiltration of Law Enforcement.” Though the document—culled from FBI investigations and open sources—was heavily redacted, it reached a number of disturbing conclusions.

The assessment revealed that white supremacists “have historically engaged in strategic efforts to infiltrate and recruit from law enforcement communities”; that many of these white-supremacist infiltrators are known as “ghost skins” who “avoid overt displays of their beliefs to blend in”; and that the KKK have longstanding “ties to local law enforcement.” These firm ties between white supremacists and law enforcement persist to this day. Last year, Reveal published an investigative series exposing the police’s proclivity for Facebook hate groups and racist memes, and in late August, former FBI agent Michael German compiled an exhaustive report detailing the prevalence of “racism, white supremacy, and far-right militancy in law enforcement” and the federal government’s non-existent response to it.

Links between white supremacists and law enforcement have been thrown into sharper relief in recent months following the killing of George Floyd, and numerous instances of curiously chummy behavior between police and far-right militiamen during the ensuing protests for Black lives.

Frank Meeink, once one of the most prominent neo-Nazis in the U.S.—and the inspiration for the character Derek Vinyard, played by Edward Norton in the 1998 film American History X—thinks he knows why.

“I know that there are neo-Nazis who I used to run with who are now cops,” he tells The Daily Beast. “And that’s just in my crew. Imagine how many neo-Nazis and white nationalists have been becoming cops? Three of the people in my crew alone became cops.”

https://www.thedailybeast.com/he-was-the-neo-nazi-who-inspired-american-history-x-his-nazi-pals-are-now-cops?

[tenderfoot]

1. Kick

For the Blue/All Lives Matter among us.

[Midnight Writer]

2. I know I keep saying this here, but I think racism is a hallmark of authoritarian personalities.

I think police work attracts people with authoritarian personalities, and racists are a part of that.

[DSandra]

4. Employment fields act like magnets, attracting certain types of people

And some fields are good at attracting bad people, the best example being the Boy Scouts and pedophiles.

Hiring managers have an important job in making sure the wrong types of people don’t get into their organization. Failure in that part can be disastrous.

[Midnight Writer]

5. Also, management hires and promotes people that are similar to the managers in place

creating a self perpetuating culture.

[DSandra]

7. i.e. the bad people take over the organization

[Blue Owl]

3. K&R for exposure

[tenderfoot]

6. So disappointed we haven't heard back from DU right wingers

Why so silent?