Overview
The Council of Conservative Citizens (CCC), a 501(c)4 organization, was founded to "build a network of conservative groups and individuals at the state and local level" to "represent the 'no longer silent majority'." (1) In the mid-1990s, the organization claimed to have chapters and affiliates in 20 states and members in all 50 states. Today, the council has 13 chapters, mainly in the South.
It describes itself as a nonprofit organization that works "for the rights and collective interests of true conservatives. Whether the issue is social, cultural, legal, ideological, or governmental, the C of CC stands for ideals put forth by the Founding Fathers. These ideals are anathema to the sprawling, socialistic bureaucracy that controls America." (2) Among its main concerns are affirmative action, non-white immigration, and official recognition of the Confederate flag.
The council publishes the Citizens Informer monthly newspaper, which is mainly an outlet for white supremacist views. According to the council, it is the "true voice of the American Right."
Closely associated with CCC is the Conservative Citizens Foundation, which has the same address and leadership as CCC. The foundation was established "to combat Leftist propaganda and disinformation on an intellectual level." It is the trustee of a project to preserve Confederate monuments and statues. According to the foundation, "With virtually unlimited funding, Leftist control freaks work nonstop to destroy the American way of life by promoting minority rights and privileges at the expense of ordinary citizens. The enemies of American culture and tradition are also helping swarms of illegal aliens cross the border and bring poverty, crime, and disease into the United States." (9)
Origins and Impact
The Council of Conservative Citizens was founded in the mid-1990s as an outgrowth of the Citizens Councils of America. The Citizens Councils emerged in the mid-1950s as part of a white segregationist response to federally mandated integration of public facilities, especially following the 1954 Supreme Court ruling against separate-but-equal schools. This backlash movement, primarily based in the South, brought together whites of all classes and backgrounds. The prominence of the Citizens Councils resulted from the incorporation of prominent local and state politicians in the state councils. (6) Like the Citizens Council, the CCC constantly rails against communists and nonwhites. The anti-Semitism associated with the predecessor councils remains an underlying current in the CCC. Gordon Lee Baum, the founding and current chief executive officer, was formerly a field director for the Citizens Councils of America. (3) Other former leaders of the Citizens Councils that cofounded CCC were Robert Patterson and Bill Lord. According to Patterson, "Western civilization with all its might and glory would never have achieved its greatness without the directing hand of God and the creative genius of the white race." (7)
CCC is closely tied to the American Nationalist Union, another white supremacist organization. Among the organizations and links that CCC recommends are American Renaissance, First Freedom, American Patrol, Resisting Defamation, Vdare, NumbersUSA, Sam Francis Online!, and Civil War Two. (4) Although at first glance a marginal organization, CCC has increased its credibility and visibility by inviting such congressional members as Trent Lott (R-MS) and Bob Barr (R-GA) to address its conferences. Mississippi Gov. Kirk Fordice has attended CCC gatherings, and according to CCC co-founder 34 members of the Mississippi state legislature are CCC members." (7) Other CCC speakers have included Edward Butler, a Christian identity, anti-Semitic preacher; David Duke, a former head of the Ku Klux Klan who urged members to fight for their "white genes;" and James Taylor of the supremacist American Renaissance organization. (3)
CCC vigorously defends the public display of the Confederate flag as a symbol of white identity, and has the flag prominently displayed on its web pages. CCC warns of the coming "massacre of the White population" in South Africa, posting grim photos of mutilated white cadavers, implying that they were victims of hate crimes by black South Africans. Below these gruesome but uncredited photos, CCC warns: "Today South Africa is less than 10% White. Someday, American Whites will be a minority. IT CAN HAPPEN HERE." (5)
Typical of its anti-immigrant alarmism, CCC alleges: "U.S. citizens who have paid into our social services system all their lives are denied ANY tax-funded benefits unless they fall to the "poverty level" of illegal aliens who falsely claim ZERO income and ZERO assets to avoid taxes!" (6)
The CCC declares that it "opposes government sponsored race preference programs (e.g. affirmative action, quotas, forced integration) that are bestowed on nonwhites and other preferred minorities at taxpayer expense." What's more, it also "stands against the tide of nonwhite, Third World immigrants swamping this country."
According to CCC, most of the issues it addresses "have nothing to do with race. But, on some issues, such as forced busing, quotas and immigration, the Council does indeed speak out for white European-Americans, their civilization, faith and form of government, but we do not advocate or support the oppression or exploitation of other races or ethnic groups. The fact is that race influences politics, society, and culture. The great explorations, scientific discoveries, inventions, literature, art, and architecture encompassed by Western Civilization have no rival anywhere in the world. The C of CC recognizes that European Christian heritage is essential for the survival of our standard of living and way of life. There is no superior replacement for the civilization that has evolved through the Greeks, Romans, Celts, and Anglo-Saxons." (8)
CCC has warned that immigration flows are turning the U.S. population into a "slimy brown mass of glop-a process likened to 'genocide'." (7) According to a report by the Center for New Community," Between January 1997 and October 2003, local [CCC] chapters organized almost thirty different rallies, meetings and protests aimed at brown-skinned immigrants. Protests have included picket signs with slogans such as "Immigrants are a Cancer," "Now Swim Back," and "2 Million Illegals Voted Nov. 2000." (7)
A close associate of CCC is Virginia Abernathy, a Vanderbilt professor of demographics who serves on the editorial advisory board of the Citizens Informer. Abernathy is also associated with such groups as Population Environment Balance and Carrying Capacity Network. A frequent speaker at CCC forums, Abernathy sits on the national advisory board of Protect Arizona Now (PAN). Kathy McKee, founder of PAN, described Abernathy as "the grande dame of the anti-illegal immigration movement." (10)
Abernathy says, "I owe it to my own and others' grandchildren to work to maintain the environmental, cultural, and social integrity of the United States, and to hold the federal government accountable for their constitutionally-mandated duty to protect this nation from invasion." Asked about her association with CCC, Abernathy wrote, "My view of the Council of Conservative Citizens is that they support traditional values and the freedom of people to associate with people that they want to associate with." Abernathy also serves on the editorial board of The Occidental Quarterly, described by the Center for New Community as a "racist and anti-Semitic 'scholarly' journal." (7) According to the journal's statement of principles, "Immigration should be restricted to selected people of European ancestry."
Other CCC associates who serve on the editorial board include Wayne Lutton of the Social Contract Press; Miles Wolpin, who contributes to the Social Contract journal and like Lutton is on the advisory board of the Citizens Informer; Jared Taylor who is a CCC principal; and Brent Nelson, an adviser to the Citizens Informer and a board member of the American Immigration Control Foundation. (7) Also closely associated with CCC is Sam Francis, who is a strategist for CCC and is on the journal's staff.
John Vinson, the longtime director of the American Immigration Control Foundation, writes for the Citizens Informer and speaks at its gatherings. Barbara Coe, another white supremacist active in the immigration restriction movement through the California Coalition for Immigration Reform, also writes and speaks for CCC. (11)
