Why do white supremacists like to congregate in northwestern states?

[raccoon]

I know they are in other states too, but they seem to like to congregate there.

[NutmegYankee]

1. Heavily white. They weren't part of the great migration as they were not industrial centers.

[JI7]

3. yup, mostly white.

[FreakinDJ]

53. Having traveled most of the 50 States I can tell you the NW has nothing on the Deep South

Where Bigotry is institutionalized and accepted as the norm.

Proud to live and work in the San Francisco Bay Area which I can tell you assuredly is one of the most ethnically tolerant areas of the country and PROSPERS Financially because of it.

[Behind the Aegis]

54. I too have travelled throughout the country, lived in it too.

The big difference is the bigotry in the South is more "in your face" and the bigotry in other parts of the country, especially those areas which fancy themselves so "progressive", are actually bigoted as hell, they just do it in private. They wait for a gay man to leave the room before calling him a "faggot." Check out planned neighborhoods in the ever-so-progressive rest of the country. Do look into laws regarding LGBT rights.

No one area has a market on bigotry and hatred, as it is sadly way too common throughout the US, and that includes regionalism.

[NutmegYankee]

56. This was a question about places like western Oregon, Wyoming, and Idaho, not San Francisco.

I answered that they are mostly white because they were left out of the great migration (when African Americans left the south for jobs elsewhere).

I assumed the OP was asking about some of the better known white supremacist conclaves that have been out in the rural areas up that way. No doubt there are other factors, like fewer people, cheaper land, etc.

[FreakinDJ]

57. A few losers that migrate to remote locations and recieve way too much media attention

You might want to thank Ruby Ridge and Waco Tx for the media coverage of these nut jobs.

But in answer to the original Op, - Aryan Brotherhood had a stronghold in upstate Washington (Whidbey Island) and also a very remote in central Oregon. These were not compounds of White Supremacists per say, in actuality they were Criminal Enterprises.

That group used Racial Hatred as a recruiting tool to lure in fresh recruits to work for "The Cause" aka: their profits. The Central Oregon location was a huge Methamphetamine operation. Also during the 80s the Aryan Brotherhood was linked to the robbery of an armored truck in rural N. Calif. They were all caught and some of them are probably still doing time over it.

Believe me the guys at the top will do business with anyone and don't care the color of your skin - just whats in it for them.

So to sum this up - and I sincerely don't wish to trivialize bigotry by any means, but as for seeing the ends that this group met (Whidbey Island compound burned in a shoot out with police, all burned to death, armored car robbers all convicted and some still doing time) it once again fortifies what wise old men have told me before - "These things have a way of taking care of themselves"

[Behind the Aegis]

2. Less judgment?

I am not certain where they congregate in large numbers, but I know many people like to pretend they all reside in the South, thereby excusing regionalism bigotry. Frankly, I think they are much more numerous than many think, but they just aren't all as obvious as Kluckers or skinheads.

[JI7]

4. and not all are part of a group like kkk but they still have the same views

some of the most hateful types i have seen on various forums come from liberal areas. they are outnumbered by others but that doesn't mean they themselves are moderate.

one reason the republican party in california can't do well is not because there are so many democrats as much as they are just too right wing and very bigoted.

look at people like paladino, giuliani and of course trump himself and where they come from.

[uponit7771]

47. +1

[MountCleaners]

5. When the white revolution comes

They want that land, because it is beautiful.

I'm not sure there are more of them in the NW, but a lot of the militant groups buy land out there. There aren't as many black people, for one thing. They can pretend they are living their "free" white lifestyle.

We have them here in the MW too, there are more of them than TV coverage would indicate.

[LeftyMom]

6. A history of racist laws, explicitly racist religions are strong in the region, land was cheap.

http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2016/07/racist-history-portland/492035/

http://gizmodo.com/oregon-was-founded-as-a-racist-utopia-1539567040

[uponit7771]

48. This line takes it all "We were building a new state on virgin ground;"

[uponit7771]

51. I've spent nearly an hour reading the racist history of the NW and Australia. Its mind numbing how..

... a good amount of a countries foundation was motivated by racism.

How in the hell is someone from Oz supposed to think they were going to keep OZ white ?!!?!?

Also, cheap labor was the root of some of Ozs racism... I can somewhat see that.. but Oregon ... bout as backwards as a state could get !!

They were worse than southern states !!!

[Maru Kitteh]

7. Guns, the myth of the "self-sufficient" rugged west, white people.

Pretty much in that order I think.

GUNS - Gun laws are barely existent in the NW states. They can generally buy as many of whatever they want and carry them at will with very little in the way of regulation or hassle.

The cowboy image - The PNW are rugged states that inspire grandiose thoughts of "living off the land." Few of them actually go the full Ted Kazinski though. Most of them live in town where they can enjoy the comforts of indoor pumbing, city snow removal and cable TV.

White folks - most of these people don't walk around spattering on about their racist views; but in the PNW, it's easier for them to hide in the open. They can generally work a job without having much forced contact with a great number of minorities, which means they have less chance of losing their job because they say some stupid racist shit to a minority co-worker.

#1 is always going to be DA GUNZ. They've been waiting for a race war since Charlie, and by Jesus and Pepe, they mean to be ready when it comes.

BTW, Richard Spencer actually believes the Pepe meme may be the dawn of a new religion. I shit you not.

You can probably find the interview by Googling Richard Spencer + Pepe + religion.

[Maru Kitteh]

10. Nope! But on the side of my little Montana mountain, I have about 20-24 inches on the ground

and it gets cold as a beeootch moving snow on my Polaris Sportsman at 5am so we can get to work. When it comes down to it, most of those liittle Nazi wanna-bes are too lazy for such endeavors.

[Kilgore]

36. The scariest thing I ever experienced was being in Portland when it snowed

Chaos and mayhem everywhere.

[Kilgore]

38. Eventhough I could of easily driven home, 50 miles away

It was just too nuts on the road.
Found a hotel across the street from a bar and decided to stay the night.

[machoneman]

15. Disagree on the order.

Few blacks or other minorities, no gays, lotsa guns, gun laws, religion and I don't think they give a damn about the scenery. JMO.

[Lee-Lee]

8. Your hardcore white supremacist types believe

That there will be a coming race war or a breakdown of society that eventually develops into one. Often shortened to ROHOWA in their talk, for Racial Holy War.

There expect the northwest states to be their safest place, as they have the lowest minority populations and are far from most urban areas. The common fantasy is that they form some sort of a white nation there in the aftermath.

[betsuni]

11. If Sasquatches can avoid society running around in the Northwestern woods, so can they.

Maybe that's the thinking there.

[Warren DeMontague]

14. Exactly. it's all wookies living in broke-ass wood shacks, everywhere.

That's Oregon, I tell ya. A veritable wookie hell-hole!

Under no circumstances should anyone consider moving there.

[betsuni]

16. I'm from the Pacific Northwest.

What's your problem?

[Warren DeMontague]

17. what, you don't like wookies?

[betsuni]

20. Whatever.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10028312887#post10

[Warren DeMontague]

21. if you don't, then how come your profile says that your favorite group is

"wooking and baking"?

[scscholar]

40. Don't know what he means by a wookie either...

but I do like wookiees.

[Warren DeMontague]

42. Fine, I spelled "wookiee" wrong

revoke my nerd card. FUCK!

[Bettie]

23. That's how you Oregon people try

to keep your nice state a secret!

Lived there for a while as a kid, it was beautiful.

[Bettie]

30. Oregon is one of the places I'd move to in a second

Good weather, beautiful scenery, more sane people per mile than most places.

[Hassin Bin Sober]

49. Oh, so it was YOU!

I blame you for the deer creek melee.

One of my favorite vacations was Oregon for 10 days. My buddy got married in Tigard. We spent 7 days camping and 3 wedding days.

One of my favorite places in the world is Oswald West State Park. We camped there but I understand there is no more camping.

My buddy ended up moving to Tigard with his wife.

[betsuni]

18. Who made a blanket condemnation of the Northwest?

Who said that the Northwest is full of hypocritical liberals who are also white supremacists? What's this about the Pacific Northwest being one of the last places "where misanthropic people who think cities are hives of sin and/or decay can go to 'escape'"? What? The Pacific Northwest doesn't attract religious fundamentalists. Why would they think about sin and decay?

[Hassin Bin Sober]

50. I was going to mention that Alaska thing.

I remember years ago reading about Alaska being the last stop for very troubled people.

It's funny, I'm an aviation buff so I watch the new smithsonian channel show about Alaska air crash investigators. Apparently Murkowski and the travel board people are in an uproar about the show because it's bad for business. They're afraid it will hurt the remote hunting/air charter business.

They obviously haven't watched the Alaska State Troopr show on Nat Geo. Boy is that State fucked - and absolutely beautiful. But fucked up.

[Hassin Bin Sober]

60. Kinda topical today :(

[Greybnk48]

19. Few people, mostly white, lots of hidey holes.

Plenty of places to hide out and build a weirdo compound.

[Warren DeMontague]

29. Compound W for short

[Greybnk48]

62. LMAO!!

Perfect!

[HeartachesNhangovers]

24. When I first considered moving to WA state ...

from CA I was concerned about ALL the racists I would be confronted with, so I consulted the SPLC site to see what I was up against. Turns out California has a whole lot more hate groups than any place in the NW!

https://www.splcenter.org/hate-map

[Warren DeMontague]

27. honestly I think some people here are more uptight about the legal weed and vegan strip clubs

not to mention people who wear cargo shorts to restaurants.

I've noticed that there's a certain East Coast authoritarian mentality that doesn't quite "get" all that pesky personal freedom an' choice stuff. It pisses some folks off endlessly.

[Orrex]

26. I find this question offensive and exclusionary

Western Pennsylvania is an absolute stronghold of far-right racism and bigotry, thankyouverymuch!

[Warren DeMontague]

28. Or like I said, Southern Illinois.

I remember driving through there a time or two in my left-wing sticker covered Grateful Deadmobile, and ooooh boy it was not pleasant.

[Orrex]

45. I believe you

Until an embarrassingly short time ago I subscribed to the belief that the south is the hub of racism in the US, but I see now how obviously false that impression is. Racism is widespread as it is ugly, and won't get anywhere pretending that it's confined to one area or another.

[Hassin Bin Sober]

52. My boyfriend grew up in Pekin Illinois.

It's listed as an old "sundown town"

Untill like 1984 their high school mascot was the "Pekin Chink" - eyes, rickshaw and all.

Of course his freeper Trump voting sister was on the battle lines protesting the name. The same sister who loves us to death but doesn't think we should be allowed to marry.

Her local watering hole still proudly displays all the memorabilia and shits that say "chinks forever"

It's their own little civil war. Fucking bigots.

[Warpy]

31. Low population states with few black folks, mostly

and a lot of the laws about guns and misbehavior have been lax for a long time. There were a lot of tiny towns ripe for colonization, which is what they've been doing. Mostly, it's a part of the country where you get to be the biggest idiot you can possibly be as long as you don't start killing people.

[dembotoz]

33. father in law bought some land in idaho

he lived in reno

claimed it was where he could live free and not be burdened by law and hunting and guns and hunting....get the idea?

in retrospect i think it was just more a white flight type of thing

think he perceived the hispanic population was moving north en mass from mexico

california and the border states were already gone
growing hispanic pop in nevada

idaho next stop

[pandr32]

34. I rec'd this because of the comments.

[vi5]

35. When I lived in PA in the 90's...

...they had the most hate groups in the country according to most studies, SPLC, etc. I had first hand dealings and confrontations and interactions with actual neo-nazis, skinheads, etc. on a regular basis and this was in eastern PA only 80 miles or so from NYC.

I think any place with rural pockets lets these idiots hide and have their plots of land that they can dream about making white sanctuaries or whatever else. Also probably too, laxer gun laws.

[treestar]

39. I was watching this documentary

about the Gaede sisters - their mother is the racist. They lived in San Bernadino, CA. They moved to Montana because San Bernadino got too diverse for the mother. Not white enough. But then when they got to Montana, they were not real welcome because their reputation preceded them and merely being mostly white didn't mean they wanted that extreme a racist amongst them.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prussian_Blue

[Warren DeMontague]

41. Right. I remember reading about those kids.

Apparently they grew up, smoked weed, and through that developed some long-overdue empathy and vision.

Another tragic drug story, apparently

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

43. Do they?

Numerically I don't know there are more here than other places. The ones that are here seem to be from someplace else.

[Warren DeMontague]

44. Ive noticed that some people here seem to have a distinctive axe to grind with the Pac NW

I suspect is has less to do with white supremacy than with who outperformed whom in the Democratic Primaries.

[jmowreader]

46. Read this. It will explain everything

https://survivalblog.com/redoubt/

[leftyladyfrommo]

55. There are lots of forests

to run around and play army in.