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{{Infobox person
We are Anonymous.
|name = Don Black
We are Legion.
|image =
We do not forgive.
|image_size =
We do not forget.
|caption =
Expect us.
|birth_name = Stephen Donald Black
|birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1953|07|28}}
|birth_place = [[Athens, Alabama]]
|death_date =
|death_place =
|death_cause =
|resting_place =
|residence =
|nationality = American
|other_names =
|known_for = [[Stormfront (website)|Stormfront]]
|education =
|alma_mater = [[University of Alabama]]<ref name="ADLBio" />
|employer =
|occupation =
|home_town =
|religion =
|spouse =Chloe Black<ref name="ChloeNYPost">{{cite news | url=http://www.nypost.com/p/pagesix/linked_to_kkk_keeps_her_job_PfFEwT29YLqtToLV5MIgiI | title=Billionaire won't fire assistant for KKK link | publisher=[[New York Post]] | date= October 8, 2010 | first= | last= | accessdate = 2010-07-02}}</ref>
|partner =
|children =Derek Black<ref name="nytpbc" />
|parents =
|relatives =
|signature =
|website = [http://www.stormfront.org/ Stormfront]
|footnotes =
}}

'''Stephen Donald "Don" Black'''<ref name=BBC>[http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/8033060.stm "UK 'least wanted' list published"], ''BBC News'', 2009-05-05. Retrieved on 2009-05-06.</ref> (born July 28, 1953) is an [[United States|American]] [[white nationalism|white nationalist]] and [[white supremacist]].<ref>{{cite book|last=Swain|first=Carol Miller|title=Contemporary Voices of White Nationalism in America|year=2003|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-0-521-81673-1|author2=Russ Nieli|page=153}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Daniels|first=Jessie|title=Cyber racism: white supremacy online and the new attack on civil rights|year=2009|publisher=Rowman & Littlefield|isbn=978-0-7425-6158-8|page=83}}</ref> He is the founder, and current [[webmaster]], of the [[Stormfront (website)|Stormfront]] internet forum.<ref name= "white supremacy">Sources which consider Stormfront a white supremacist website are:
* ''New Times'' Feb. 19-25, 1998 article [http://www.stormfront.org/dblack/racist_021998.htm "The Racist Next Door"] (archived on stormfront.org)
* {{Cite news |first=Julie |last=Etchingham |authorlink= |title=Hate.com expands on the net |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/600876.stm |work= |publisher=[[BBC News]] |date=January 12, 2000 |accessdate=2007-09-14 }}
* {{Cite news |first=Robin |last=Lloyd |authorlink= |title=Web trackers hunt racist groups online |url=http://www.cnn.com/TECH/computing/9908/12/hate.online/ |work= |publisher=[[CNN]] |date=August 12, 1999 |accessdate=2007-09-14 }}
* {{Cite web |url=http://www.adl.org/special_reports/hate_on_www/print.asp |title=Hate on the World Wide Web:A Brief Guide to Cyberspace Bigotry |accessdate=2008-01-29 |author= |date = October 1998|work= |publisher=[[Anti-Defamation League]]}}
* {{Cite web |url=http://www.splcenter.org/blog/2007/09/20/jena-rally-sparks-white-supremacist-rage/ |title=Jena Rally Sparks White Supremacist Rage, Lynching Threat |accessdate=2008-01-29 |author= |date=September 20, 2007 |work= |publisher=[[Southern Poverty Law Center]]}}
* {{Cite news |first=Amanda |last=Ripley |authorlink= |title=The Bench Under Siege |url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1034695-2,00.html |work= |publisher=[[Time Magazine]] |date=March 7, 2005 |accessdate=2008-01-29 }}
* {{Cite web |url=http://cse.stanford.edu/class/cs201/Projects/nuremberg-files/hate.html |title=Hate on the Net |accessdate=2008-01-29 |author= |work= |publisher=}}
* {{Cite news |first=Keith |last=Scheneider |authorlink= |title=Hate Groups Use Tools Of the Electronic Trade |url=http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=990CE2D61030F930A25750C0A963958260 |work= |publisher=[[New York Times]] |date=March 13, 1995 |accessdate=2008-01-29 }}</ref> He was a [[Grand Wizard]] in the [[Ku Klux Klan]] and a member of the [[American Nazi Party]] in the 1970s.<ref name="Hate.com">{{cite news |first=Julie |last=Etchingham |authorlink= |title=Hate.com expands on the net |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/600876.stm |work= |publisher=[[BBC News]] |date=January 12, 2000 |accessdate=2007-09-14 }}</ref><ref name="racistnextdoor">''New Times'' Feb. 19-25, 1998 article [http://www.browardpalmbeach.com/1998-02-19/news/the-racist-next-door/ "The Racist Next Door"]</ref><ref>at the time he was a member it was known as the 'National Socialist White Peoples' Party' Bridges, Tyler ''The Rise of David Duke'' University Press of Mississippi (Sep 1995) ISBN 978-0-87805-684-2 p.40 [http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=X2WD3EnAVvEC&pg=PA40&dq=%22Don+black%22+member+%22american+nazi+party%22&ei=1ad2S9DuLaW2zQTDjtTEBA&cd=2#v=onepage&q=%22Don%20black%22%20member%20%22american%20nazi%20party%22&f=false]</ref> He was convicted in 1981 for an attempted armed overthrow of the government in the island of [[Dominica]] in violation of the U.S. [[Neutrality Act of 1794|Neutrality Act]].<ref name="cnn">{{cite news |first=Robin |last=Lloyd |authorlink= |title=Web trackers hunt racist groups online |url=http://www.cnn.com/TECH/computing/9908/12/hate.online/ |work= |publisher=[[CNN]] |date=August 12, 1999 |accessdate=2007-09-14 }}</ref><ref name="USATODAY">{{cite news |first=Tara |last=McKelvey |authorlink= |title=Father and son team on hate site |url=http://www.usatoday.com/life/2001-07-16-kid-hate-sites.htm#more |work= |publisher=[[USA Today]] |date=August 16, 2001 |accessdate=2008-01-29 }}</ref>

== Early life ==

Stephen Donald Black was born in [[Athens, Alabama]], and became an activist at an early age when he began passing out racist newspapers ''White Power'' and the ''[[National States' Rights Party|Thunderbolt]]'' at his high school. This led to a decision by the local school board to ban the distribution of political literature. Black countered by mailing literature to student addresses obtained from school handbooks. He said in an interview that growing up in the South during the turmoil of the [[civil rights movement]] made him aware from a "White" political perspective.<ref>[http://www.stormfront.org/dblack/press101997.htm White supremacist former KKK leader spreads views on net<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref>

In the summer of 1970, after his junior year at [[Athens High School (Alabama)|Athens High School]], Black traveled to [[Savannah, Georgia]], to work on the gubernatorial campaign of [[J.B. Stoner]], a [[segregationist]] and leader of the [[National States' Rights Party]] (NSRP). It was in this election that [[Jimmy Carter]] won the Georgia governorship. Don Black was asked to obtain a copy of the NSRP membership list by Robert Lloyd, a leader of the [[National Socialist White People's Party]], formerly known as the [[American Nazi Party]].<ref>H. Michael Barrett [http://home.alphalink.com.au/~radnat/usanazis/barrett.html "The 1970 Split In The NSWPP: A First Hand Account"]</ref> At the time, Black was a member of the Party's youth branch, the National Socialist Youth Movement.

Also working on the Stoner campaign was Jerry Ray, brother of [[Martin Luther King]]'s assassin [[James Earl Ray]]. On July 25, 1970, Jerry Ray shot Black (who was 16 at the time) in the chest with a .38-caliber [[hollow-point bullet]] to stop him from taking files from Stoner's campaign office.<ref name="IRBio">{{cite news | url=http://www.splcenter.org/get-informed/intelligence-report/browse-all-issues/2005/summer/electronic-storm | title=Hate Website Stormfront Sees Rapid Growth of Neo-Nazi Community | publisher=[[Intelligence Report]] | year= 2005 | first= | last= | accessdate = 2012-07-02}}</ref> Ray was acquitted of all charges, saying he shot in self-defense after Black reached for what appeared to be a weapon.<ref>{{cite news|title=Man Acquitted Of Shooting Nazi|url=http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1734&dat=19701125&id=ok4qAAAAIBAJ&sjid=rFEEAAAAIBAJ&pg=4424,2011459|accessdate=29 June 2014|publisher=[[The Dispatch]]|date=November 25, 1970}}</ref><ref>"Jerry Ray Acquitted," ''[[The Times-News]]''{{disambiguation needed|date=March 2013}}, Nov 25, 1970</ref><ref>"Earl Ray's Kin Acquitted On Assault Charge," [[Press-Courier]], Nov 27, 1970</ref>

Black finished his senior year at [[Madison Academy (Alabama)]], a private school in [[Huntsville, Alabama|Huntsville]]. Then after high school, Black graduated from the [[University of Alabama]] in [[Tuscaloosa, Alabama|Tuscaloosa]] in 1975.<ref name="ADLBio">{{cite news | url=http://www.adl.org/learn/ext_us/Don-Black/background.asp | title=Don Black / Stormfront | publisher=[[Anti-Defamation League]] | year= 2012 | first= | last= | accessdate = 2012-07-02}}</ref>

== The Ku Klux Klan and Operation Red Dog ==

Black joined the Knights of the [[Ku Klux Klan]] in 1975, one year after [[David Duke]] took over the organization. He moved to [[Birmingham, Alabama|Birmingham]] to become the group's state organizer. After the [[resignation]] of Duke in 1978, Black became [[Grand Wizard]], or national director, of the Klan. In 1979, he ran for [[mayor]] of Birmingham, receiving just 2.5 percent of the vote.<ref>"Parsons, Arrington In Runoff," ''[[Gadsden Times]]'', Oct 11, 1979</ref> [[Richard Arrington, Jr.]] won the mayoral election, becoming Birmingham's first African American mayor.<ref>"Birmingham Gets First Black Mayor," ''[[Eugene Register-Guard]]'', Oct 31, 1979</ref>

On April 27, 1981, Black and nine other would-be [[mercenaries]] – many recruited from Klan affiliated organizations – were arrested in [[New Orleans]] as they prepared to board a boat stocked with [[weapon]]s and [[ammunition]] to invade the island nation [[Dominica]] in what they would call [[Operation Red Dog]].<ref>Operation Red Dog is the subject of Stewart Bell, ''Bayou of Pigs: The True Story of an Audacious Plot to Turn a Tropical Island into a Criminal Paradise'' (John Wiley & Sons, 2008).</ref> However, the local media would label the botched attempt the "Bayou of Pigs", a play on words for the unsuccessful 1961 "[[Bay of Pigs Invasion]]" of [[Cuba]].

Black later explained the invasion as an attempt to set up an anti-communist regime, saying, "What we were doing was in the best interests of the United States and its security in the hemisphere, and we feel betrayed by our own government,"<ref name=autogenerated1>[http://www.stormfront.org/dblack/racist_021998.htm The Racist Next Door<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref> The invasion was intended to restore former prime minister [[Patrick John]] to the mostly black [[Caribbean]] island. Prosecutors said the real purpose for the invasion would have been to set up tourism, gambling, offshore banking, and timber logging operations on the impoverished island.

In 1981, Black was sentenced to three years in [[prison]] for his role in the attempted invasion and his violation of the [[Neutrality Act of 1794|Neutrality Act]].<ref>"Conspirators Get Three Years," [[Star-News]], 23 July 1981</ref><ref>"U.S. Prosectors Pushing Hunt for Backers of Dominica Coup," ''[[Record-Journal]]'', 22 June 1981</ref> Black, [[Federal Bureau of Prisons]] #16692-034, was released on November 15, 1984.<ref>"[http://www.bop.gov/iloc2/InmateFinderServlet?Transaction=NameSearch&needingMoreList=false&FirstName=Stephen&Middle=D&LastName=Black&Race=U&Sex=U&Age=&x=74&y=18 Stephen D Black]." [[Federal Bureau of Prisons]]. Retrieved on December 2, 2010.</ref> During his time in federal prison Black took computer programming classes which led him to establish [[Stormfront (website)|Stormfront]] on the Internet years later.<ref name=autogenerated1 /> In 1986 Black rethought his commitment to the KKK, resigning from the group in 1987.{{citation needed|date=July 2012}}

He tried running for office in Alabama once again, this time as a [[Populist Party (United States, 1984)|Populist Party]] US Senate candidate.<ref>"Fringe Party Offers Help to Candidate," ''[[Miami Herald]]'' - Aug 11, 1990</ref><ref>"Klansmen See Populist Party as Best Vechile, Candidate Says," ''[[South Florida Sun - Sentinel]]'', 16 April 1990</ref>

== Stormfront ==
{{Main|Stormfront (website)}}
In 1995, Black founded Stormfront, which was the internet's first major White Nationalist web site. To date, it remains one of the most popular online resources for those drawn to racial ideologies.<ref name="scope">[[Cohen-Almagor, Raphael]]. ''The Scope of Tolerance: Studies on the costs of free expression and freedom of the press''. Routledge, 2005. 254.</ref> Stormfront featured the writings of [[William Luther Pierce]] and [[David Duke]], as well as works by the [[Institute for Historical Review]]. Initially, along with these articles, Stormfront housed a library of [[white pride]], [[Neo-Nazism|neo-Nazi]] and [[white power skinhead]] [[graphics]] for downloading, and a number of links to other white nationalist websites.

In a 1998 interview for the alternative weekly newspaper ''[[Miami New Times]]'', Black is quoted as saying "We want to take America back. We know a multicultural [[Demographics of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia|Yugoslav]] nation can't hold up for too long. [[White people|Whites]] won't have any choice but to take military action. It's our children whose interests we have to defend."<ref name="racistnextdoor">{{cite web|url=http://www.stormfront.org/dblack/racist_021998.htm|title=The Racist Next Door |date=1998-02-19|publisher=Miami New Times|accessdate=2008-07-20}} (Stromfront copy of original article)</ref> In December 2007, Black gained attention for donating money to [[Ron Paul]]'s 2008 presidential run.<ref>{{Wayback |date=20080125015705 |url=http://www.floridatoday.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071219/BREAKINGNEWS/71219044 |title=Floridatoday.com }}</ref>

In 1999, Don Black created the website "martinlutherking.org", which is administered by Storm Front. This innocuous appearing website ostensibly was created to malign the character of King.

In 2008, Black said that the establishment of white pride as a special interest group within the Republican Party is crucial.<ref name=calabresi>{{cite web|url=http://www.repubblica.it/2008/10/sezioni/esteri/verso-elezioni-usa-5/nuovo-kkk/nuovo-kkk.html|publisher=la Repubblica|author=Mario Calabresi|title=Fermeremo Barack Obama siamo il nuovo Ku Klux Klan|date=2008-10-29|accessdate=2008-11-17}} Quote from Black: "Non è più tempo per cercare di creare un terzo partito destinato alla marginalità, dobbiamo presentarci ad ogni elezione primaria dentro il partito repubblicano così da imporre i nostri temi nel dibattito, dobbiamo lavorare per creare un nostro gruppo di interesse, per restaurare le tradizioni e i veri valori bianchi". This translates as: "There is no more time to try to create a third party for the marginalized, we must enter every primary election within the Republican Party to impose our issues in the debate, we must work to create our special interest group, to restore tradition and true white values."</ref> Asked by an interviewer for Italian newspaper ''[[la Repubblica]]'' if Stormfront was not just the new Ku Klux Klan, Black responded affirmatively, though he noted that he would never say so to an American journalist.<ref name=calabresi />

On May 5, 2009 it was announced that Black was one of the 22 on a British [[Home Office]] [[list of individuals banned from entering the United Kingdom]]<ref>[http://press.homeoffice.gov.uk/press-releases/hate-promoters-banned-UK-named "Home Office name hate promoters excluded from the UK"], Home Office Press Release, 5 May 2009</ref> for "promoting serious criminal activity and fostering hatred that might lead to inter-community violence".<ref name=BBC /><ref>[http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/8033319.stm "Who is on UK 'least wanted' list?"], ''BBC News'', 2009-05-05. Retrieved on 2009-05-06.</ref>

Black asks website visitors for $7,500 each month for "basic expenses" and described early 2012 as the "slowest month" for donations.<ref name="Contributions">{{cite web|url=http://www.stormfront.org/forum/t860284/ |title=Contributions in July |date=2012-01-17|publisher=Stormfront.org |accessdate=2012-07-20}}</ref> The website allows people to be "Sustaining Members" for $5 a month, $30 a month for a CORE Support membership, or $1,000 for a lifetime supporter.<ref name="Contributions" />

== Family ==
In 2008, it was revealed Don Black's wife, Chloe, works as an executive assistant for sugar baron [[The Fanjul Brothers|Pepe Fanjul]] who runs the Florida Crystals company and owns a real estate business in Latin American countries.<ref name="ChloeNYPost" /> In particular, her job duties included acting as the spokesperson for a charter school "to lift underprivileged black and Hispanic children out of poverty."<ref name="fox">{{cite news| url=http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,394362,00.html | work=Fox News | title=Woman With Ties to White Supremacists Represents School for Blacks and Hispanics | date=2008-07-30}}</ref> The story was successively reported by [[Gawker]], the ''[[New York Post]]'', the ''[[Palm Beach Post]]'', and [[Fox News]], and resulted in Black being criticized by some other white nationalists.<ref name="fox" /><ref>[http://www.splcenter.org/blog/2008/07/28/stormfront-founder’s-wife-sets-off-firestorm/ Splcenter.org]</ref><ref>[http://www.palmbeachpost.com/localnews/content/local_news/epaper/2008/07/26/m1a_white_supremacist_0727.html Local organizer, other supremacists say Obama's run boosts their cause<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref><ref>[http://gawker.com/5026795/the-socialites-nazi-publicist Wtf: The Socialite's Nazi Publicist<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref><ref>{{cite news| url=http://www.nypost.com/seven/07192008/gossip/pagesix/sugar_baron_aides_kkk_link_120508.htm | work=New York Post | title=Sugar Baron Aide's Kkk Link | date=2008-07-19}}</ref> Chloe was previously married to [[David Duke]].<ref name="ChloeNYPost" />

In August 2008 Black's 19-year-old son Derek was elected to one of 111 seats on the Palm Beach County, Florida, Republican committee, with 167 of 287 votes.<ref name="nytpbc">{{cite news| url=http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/12/us/12florida.html | work=The New York Times | title=A Local Election's Results Raise Major Questions on Race | first=Damien | last=Cave | date=2008-12-12 | accessdate=2010-05-01}}</ref><ref>[http://www.adl.org/main_Extremism/Derek-Black.htm ADL.org]</ref> The committee has refused to seat Black, citing a loyalty oath he failed to sign before registering his candidacy. The oath states candidates must refrain from activities "likely to injure the name of the Republican Party."<ref name="nytpbc" /> He hosted the [[Derek Black Show]] weekdays on a local West Palm Beach, Florida, AM radio station, [[WPBR]], to which Don Black paid $600 a week to broadcast content on. The radio show concluded in January 2013, with Derek Black appearing on few episodes over the last year.<ref name="Contributions" /> Recently, Derek Black's racial ideologies have been put into question,<ref name="Potok">{{cite web|url=http://www.splcenter.org/blog/2012/12/18/derek-black-have-stormfront-founders-sons-politics-changed/|title=Derek Black: Have Stormfront Founder’s Son’s Politics Changed?|first=Mark|last=Potok|accessdate=July 17, 2013}}</ref> and he has renounced white nationalism along with an apology to those he believes may have been harmed by his previous actions and beliefs.<ref name="Potok2">{{cite web|url=http://www.splcenter.org/blog/2013/07/17/activist-son-of-key-racist-leader-renounces-white-nationalism/|title=Activist Son of Key Racist Leader Renounces White Nationalism|first=Mark|last=Potok|accessdate=July 17, 2013}}</ref> This renunciation has upset his father and other white nationalists and supremacists.<ref name="Potok3">{{cite web|url=http://www.splcenter.org/blog/2013/07/18/racists-reach-with-shock-anger-to-fellow-activists-renunciation/|title=Racists React With Shock, Anger to Fellow Activist’s Renunciation|first=Mark|last=Potok|accessdate=July 18, 2013}}</ref>

== References ==
{{Reflist|2}}

== Further reading ==
* {{Cite book
| publisher = Cambridge University Press
| isbn = 0-521-81673-4
| last = Swain
| first = Carol M.
|author2=Russ Nieli
| title = Contemporary Voices of White Nationalism in America
| date = 2003-03-24
}}

== External links ==
{{Portal|Biography}}
* [http://www.stormfront.org Stormfront - created by Don Black]
* [http://www.adl.org/poisoning_web/black.asp Don Black: White Pride World Wide]- Statement by the [[Anti-Defamation League]]

{{White nationalism}}
{{Grand Wizards of the Ku Klux Klan}}

{{Persondata
| NAME = Black, Don
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES = Black, Stephen Donald
| SHORT DESCRIPTION = American white nationalist
| DATE OF BIRTH = 1953-07-28
| PLACE OF BIRTH = Athens, Alabama
| DATE OF DEATH =
| PLACE OF DEATH =
}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Black, Don}}
[[Category:1953 births]]
[[Category:Alabama Populists]]
[[Category:Alabama Republicans]]
[[Category:American anti-communists]]
[[Category:American criminals]]
[[Category:American fascists]]
[[Category:American neo-Nazis]]
[[Category:American politicians convicted of crimes]]
[[Category:American prisoners and detainees]]
[[Category:American white nationalists]]
[[Category:Criminals from Alabama]]
[[Category:Ku Klux Klan Grand Dragons]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:People banned from entering the United Kingdom]]
[[Category:People from Athens, Alabama]]
[[Category:Prisoners and detainees of the United States federal government]]
[[Category:United States–Caribbean relations]]
[[Category:University of Alabama alumni]]
[[Category:White separatists]]

Revision as of 22:02, 23 November 2014

Don Black
Born
Stephen Donald Black

(1953-07-28) July 28, 1953 (age 71)
Athens, Alabama
NationalityAmerican
Alma materUniversity of Alabama[1]
Known forStormfront
SpouseChloe Black[2]
ChildrenDerek Black[3]
WebsiteStormfront

Stephen Donald "Don" Black[4] (born July 28, 1953) is an American white nationalist and white supremacist.[5][6] He is the founder, and current webmaster, of the Stormfront internet forum.[7] He was a Grand Wizard in the Ku Klux Klan and a member of the American Nazi Party in the 1970s.[8][9][10] He was convicted in 1981 for an attempted armed overthrow of the government in the island of Dominica in violation of the U.S. Neutrality Act.[11][12]

Early life

Stephen Donald Black was born in Athens, Alabama, and became an activist at an early age when he began passing out racist newspapers White Power and the Thunderbolt at his high school. This led to a decision by the local school board to ban the distribution of political literature. Black countered by mailing literature to student addresses obtained from school handbooks. He said in an interview that growing up in the South during the turmoil of the civil rights movement made him aware from a "White" political perspective.[13]

In the summer of 1970, after his junior year at Athens High School, Black traveled to Savannah, Georgia, to work on the gubernatorial campaign of J.B. Stoner, a segregationist and leader of the National States' Rights Party (NSRP). It was in this election that Jimmy Carter won the Georgia governorship. Don Black was asked to obtain a copy of the NSRP membership list by Robert Lloyd, a leader of the National Socialist White People's Party, formerly known as the American Nazi Party.[14] At the time, Black was a member of the Party's youth branch, the National Socialist Youth Movement.

Also working on the Stoner campaign was Jerry Ray, brother of Martin Luther King's assassin James Earl Ray. On July 25, 1970, Jerry Ray shot Black (who was 16 at the time) in the chest with a .38-caliber hollow-point bullet to stop him from taking files from Stoner's campaign office.[15] Ray was acquitted of all charges, saying he shot in self-defense after Black reached for what appeared to be a weapon.[16][17][18]

Black finished his senior year at Madison Academy (Alabama), a private school in Huntsville. Then after high school, Black graduated from the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa in 1975.[1]

The Ku Klux Klan and Operation Red Dog

Black joined the Knights of the Ku Klux Klan in 1975, one year after David Duke took over the organization. He moved to Birmingham to become the group's state organizer. After the resignation of Duke in 1978, Black became Grand Wizard, or national director, of the Klan. In 1979, he ran for mayor of Birmingham, receiving just 2.5 percent of the vote.[19] Richard Arrington, Jr. won the mayoral election, becoming Birmingham's first African American mayor.[20]

On April 27, 1981, Black and nine other would-be mercenaries – many recruited from Klan affiliated organizations – were arrested in New Orleans as they prepared to board a boat stocked with weapons and ammunition to invade the island nation Dominica in what they would call Operation Red Dog.[21] However, the local media would label the botched attempt the "Bayou of Pigs", a play on words for the unsuccessful 1961 "Bay of Pigs Invasion" of Cuba.

Black later explained the invasion as an attempt to set up an anti-communist regime, saying, "What we were doing was in the best interests of the United States and its security in the hemisphere, and we feel betrayed by our own government,"[22] The invasion was intended to restore former prime minister Patrick John to the mostly black Caribbean island. Prosecutors said the real purpose for the invasion would have been to set up tourism, gambling, offshore banking, and timber logging operations on the impoverished island.

In 1981, Black was sentenced to three years in prison for his role in the attempted invasion and his violation of the Neutrality Act.[23][24] Black, Federal Bureau of Prisons #16692-034, was released on November 15, 1984.[25] During his time in federal prison Black took computer programming classes which led him to establish Stormfront on the Internet years later.[22] In 1986 Black rethought his commitment to the KKK, resigning from the group in 1987.[citation needed]

He tried running for office in Alabama once again, this time as a Populist Party US Senate candidate.[26][27]

Stormfront

Main article: Stormfront (website)

In 1995, Black founded Stormfront, which was the internet's first major White Nationalist web site. To date, it remains one of the most popular online resources for those drawn to racial ideologies.[28] Stormfront featured the writings of William Luther Pierce and David Duke, as well as works by the Institute for Historical Review. Initially, along with these articles, Stormfront housed a library of white pride, neo-Nazi and white power skinhead graphics for downloading, and a number of links to other white nationalist websites.

In a 1998 interview for the alternative weekly newspaper Miami New Times, Black is quoted as saying "We want to take America back. We know a multicultural Yugoslav nation can't hold up for too long. Whites won't have any choice but to take military action. It's our children whose interests we have to defend."[9] In December 2007, Black gained attention for donating money to Ron Paul's 2008 presidential run.[29]

In 1999, Don Black created the website "martinlutherking.org", which is administered by Storm Front. This innocuous appearing website ostensibly was created to malign the character of King.

In 2008, Black said that the establishment of white pride as a special interest group within the Republican Party is crucial.[30] Asked by an interviewer for Italian newspaper la Repubblica if Stormfront was not just the new Ku Klux Klan, Black responded affirmatively, though he noted that he would never say so to an American journalist.[30]

On May 5, 2009 it was announced that Black was one of the 22 on a British Home Office list of individuals banned from entering the United Kingdom[31] for "promoting serious criminal activity and fostering hatred that might lead to inter-community violence".[4][32]

Black asks website visitors for $7,500 each month for "basic expenses" and described early 2012 as the "slowest month" for donations.[33] The website allows people to be "Sustaining Members" for $5 a month, $30 a month for a CORE Support membership, or $1,000 for a lifetime supporter.[33]

Family

In 2008, it was revealed Don Black's wife, Chloe, works as an executive assistant for sugar baron Pepe Fanjul who runs the Florida Crystals company and owns a real estate business in Latin American countries.[2] In particular, her job duties included acting as the spokesperson for a charter school "to lift underprivileged black and Hispanic children out of poverty."[34] The story was successively reported by Gawker, the New York Post, the Palm Beach Post, and Fox News, and resulted in Black being criticized by some other white nationalists.[34][35][36][37][38] Chloe was previously married to David Duke.[2]

In August 2008 Black's 19-year-old son Derek was elected to one of 111 seats on the Palm Beach County, Florida, Republican committee, with 167 of 287 votes.[3][39] The committee has refused to seat Black, citing a loyalty oath he failed to sign before registering his candidacy. The oath states candidates must refrain from activities "likely to injure the name of the Republican Party."[3] He hosted the Derek Black Show weekdays on a local West Palm Beach, Florida, AM radio station, WPBR, to which Don Black paid $600 a week to broadcast content on. The radio show concluded in January 2013, with Derek Black appearing on few episodes over the last year.[33] Recently, Derek Black's racial ideologies have been put into question,[40] and he has renounced white nationalism along with an apology to those he believes may have been harmed by his previous actions and beliefs.[41] This renunciation has upset his father and other white nationalists and supremacists.[42]

References

  1. ^ a b "Don Black / Stormfront". Anti-Defamation League. 2012. Retrieved 2012-07-02.
  2. ^ a b c "Billionaire won't fire assistant for KKK link". New York Post. October 8, 2010. Retrieved 2010-07-02.
  3. ^ a b c Cave, Damien (2008-12-12). "A Local Election's Results Raise Major Questions on Race". The New York Times. Retrieved 2010-05-01.
  4. ^ a b "UK 'least wanted' list published", BBC News, 2009-05-05. Retrieved on 2009-05-06.
  5. ^ Swain, Carol Miller; Russ Nieli (2003). Contemporary Voices of White Nationalism in America. Cambridge University Press. p. 153. ISBN 978-0-521-81673-1.
  6. ^ Daniels, Jessie (2009). Cyber racism: white supremacy online and the new attack on civil rights. Rowman & Littlefield. p. 83. ISBN 978-0-7425-6158-8.
  7. ^ Sources which consider Stormfront a white supremacist website are:
  8. ^ Etchingham, Julie (January 12, 2000). "Hate.com expands on the net". BBC News. Retrieved 2007-09-14.
  9. ^ a b New Times Feb. 19-25, 1998 article "The Racist Next Door" Cite error: The named reference "racistnextdoor" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
  10. ^ at the time he was a member it was known as the 'National Socialist White Peoples' Party' Bridges, Tyler The Rise of David Duke University Press of Mississippi (Sep 1995) ISBN 978-0-87805-684-2 p.40 [1]
  11. ^ Lloyd, Robin (August 12, 1999). "Web trackers hunt racist groups online". CNN. Retrieved 2007-09-14.
  12. ^ McKelvey, Tara (August 16, 2001). "Father and son team on hate site". USA Today. Retrieved 2008-01-29.
  13. ^ White supremacist former KKK leader spreads views on net
  14. ^ H. Michael Barrett "The 1970 Split In The NSWPP: A First Hand Account"
  15. ^ "Hate Website Stormfront Sees Rapid Growth of Neo-Nazi Community". Intelligence Report. 2005. Retrieved 2012-07-02.
  16. ^ "Man Acquitted Of Shooting Nazi". The Dispatch. November 25, 1970. Retrieved 29 June 2014.
  17. ^ "Jerry Ray Acquitted," The Times-News[disambiguation needed], Nov 25, 1970
  18. ^ "Earl Ray's Kin Acquitted On Assault Charge," Press-Courier, Nov 27, 1970
  19. ^ "Parsons, Arrington In Runoff," Gadsden Times, Oct 11, 1979
  20. ^ "Birmingham Gets First Black Mayor," Eugene Register-Guard, Oct 31, 1979
  21. ^ Operation Red Dog is the subject of Stewart Bell, Bayou of Pigs: The True Story of an Audacious Plot to Turn a Tropical Island into a Criminal Paradise (John Wiley & Sons, 2008).
  22. ^ a b The Racist Next Door
  23. ^ "Conspirators Get Three Years," Star-News, 23 July 1981
  24. ^ "U.S. Prosectors Pushing Hunt for Backers of Dominica Coup," Record-Journal, 22 June 1981
  25. ^ "Stephen D Black." Federal Bureau of Prisons. Retrieved on December 2, 2010.
  26. ^ "Fringe Party Offers Help to Candidate," Miami Herald - Aug 11, 1990
  27. ^ "Klansmen See Populist Party as Best Vechile, Candidate Says," South Florida Sun - Sentinel, 16 April 1990
  28. ^ Cohen-Almagor, Raphael. The Scope of Tolerance: Studies on the costs of free expression and freedom of the press. Routledge, 2005. 254.
  29. ^ Template:Wayback
  30. ^ a b Mario Calabresi (2008-10-29). "Fermeremo Barack Obama siamo il nuovo Ku Klux Klan". la Repubblica. Retrieved 2008-11-17. Quote from Black: "Non è più tempo per cercare di creare un terzo partito destinato alla marginalità, dobbiamo presentarci ad ogni elezione primaria dentro il partito repubblicano così da imporre i nostri temi nel dibattito, dobbiamo lavorare per creare un nostro gruppo di interesse, per restaurare le tradizioni e i veri valori bianchi". This translates as: "There is no more time to try to create a third party for the marginalized, we must enter every primary election within the Republican Party to impose our issues in the debate, we must work to create our special interest group, to restore tradition and true white values."
  31. ^ "Home Office name hate promoters excluded from the UK", Home Office Press Release, 5 May 2009
  32. ^ "Who is on UK 'least wanted' list?", BBC News, 2009-05-05. Retrieved on 2009-05-06.
  33. ^ a b c "Contributions in July". Stormfront.org. 2012-01-17. Retrieved 2012-07-20.
  34. ^ a b "Woman With Ties to White Supremacists Represents School for Blacks and Hispanics". Fox News. 2008-07-30.
  35. ^ Splcenter.org
  36. ^ Local organizer, other supremacists say Obama's run boosts their cause
  37. ^ Wtf: The Socialite's Nazi Publicist
  38. ^ "Sugar Baron Aide's Kkk Link". New York Post. 2008-07-19.
  39. ^ ADL.org
  40. ^ Potok, Mark. "Derek Black: Have Stormfront Founder's Son's Politics Changed?". Retrieved July 17, 2013.
  41. ^ Potok, Mark. "Activist Son of Key Racist Leader Renounces White Nationalism". Retrieved July 17, 2013.
  42. ^ Potok, Mark. "Racists React With Shock, Anger to Fellow Activist's Renunciation". Retrieved July 18, 2013.

Further reading

  • Swain, Carol M.; Russ Nieli (2003-03-24). Contemporary Voices of White Nationalism in America. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-81673-4.


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