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The John Brown Anti-Klan Committee (JBAKC) was a radical anti-racist organization based in the United States. The group engaged in protest against the Ku Klux Klan (KKK) and other white supremacist organizations and published anti-racist literature. Members of the JBAKC were involved in a string of bombings of military, government, and corporate targets in the 1980s.

Contents 1 Foundation 1.1 Origins 1.2 Positions 2 Activities 2.1 Publications 2.2 Protests 3 References

[edit] Foundation

[edit] Origins

In 1978, a group of white anti-racist activists with ties to the Weather Underground started a campaign to confront white supremacists. They named the organization after abolitionist John Brown, who advocated and engaged in violence as a means to end slavery in the U.S. According to founding member Lisa Roth, the event that triggered the formation of the group was the discovery that the Klan was actively organizing in New York state prisons.^[1] The JBAKC soon had chapters in several states, but was most active in New York City, Chicago, and San Francisco.^[2] The group promoted itself by distributing fliers at punk rock shows.^[3]

The JBAKC shared membership with several other radical groups active at the time, and some have claimed that it was a front organization for the May 19th Communist Movement.^[4]

[edit] Positions

In 1980, the John Brown Anti-Klan Committee distributed a pamphlet entitled "Take a Stand Against the Klan", which outlined the group's "Principles of Unity":

1. Fight White Supremacy in All Its Forms! Death to the Klan! Support the Struggle of the Black Nation for Self-Determination! Support the Struggle to Free the Land!
2. Follow Black and Other Third World Leadership
3. Support the Struggle of Third World People for Human Rights! Oppose White Supremacist Attacks!

The JBAKC viewed themselves as anti-imperialists and considered African Americans, Native Americans, Puerto Ricans, and Mexicans as oppressed colonial peoples, and they rejected calls for integration of these groups into the wider American society.^[5]

[edit] Activities

[edit] Publications

The John Brown Anti-Klan committee published a quarterly national newsletter, originally called Death to the Klan, and later renamed No KKK, No Fascist USA!. The paper had a circulation of 10,000 and focused on issues such as the racist nature of tracking in schools, homophobia, and political prisoners.^[6] The New York chapter also published a local newsletter called Up South. In 1991 the JBAKC released a video about fascism and anti-fascism in the US entitled Behind the Burning Cross: Racism USA.^[7]

[edit] Protests

The JBAKC directly confronted white supremacists when they held rallies, and the confrontations sometimes became violent. In 1983 the group worked with the Brown Berets to disrupt a KKK march in Austin, Texas. The protesters hurled rocks and bottles at the marchers, and the ensuing fights resulted in 12 injured people and 11 arrests. The Austin police chief blamed the violence on the JBAKC and Brown Berets, but one police officer was found to have used excessive force in the arrest of a Brown Beret member.^[8] Later that year, three members were arrested for participating in a riot outside an Arlington, Virginia high school, where neo-Nazis held a demonstration to mark "White Pride Day".^[9]

When a group of around KKK members protested at a Gay Pride Parade in Chicago in 1986, they were met by counter-demonstrators from JBAKC and another anti-racist group. A crowd of around 2,500 Klan supporters chased the anti-Klan groups, leading to 17 arrests and minor injuries to eight police officers.^[10]

In addition to confronting white supremacists, the John Brown Anti-Klan Committee also took a stand against what they saw as police brutality. In 1983, 20 members of the Los Angeles chapter demonstrated outside the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department to protest the shooting of a five-year-old black boy by a white police officer from the Stanton Police Department. The protesters passed out a pamphlet headlined "Stop Killer Cops!" and claimed that the officer over-reacted because he felt threatened being in a black community. A police spokesperson claimed that the child had waved a realistic toy gun at the officer.^[11]

As part of their effort to challenge white supremacy, the group worked to clean up anti-Semitic and racist graffiti in the Lincoln Park neighborhood of Chicago. The swastikas and similar graffiti were spray-painted on the 40th anniversary of Kristallnacht, when Jewish-owned businesses across Germany were vandalized. The vandalism was attributed to William G. Leinberger, a member of the neo-Nazi Chicago Area Skin Heads.^[12]

Despite their work opposing anti-Semitism, not all Jewish groups supported the John Brown Anti-Klan Committee. At two California anti-Klan rallies, the JBAKC were confronted by protesters from the Jewish Defense League (JDL), who accused the group of anti-Semitism for their strong positions against Zionism. JDL spokesman Irv Rubin said of the Committee, "They hate Israel with a passion".^[13][14] The Anti-Defamation League also criticized the JBAKC, claiming that the organization "actually promotes racism and advocates organized violence.^[15]

[edit] References

Rallies
6/29/86, AP - against KKK protest of Gay Pride Parade in Chicago; 17 people arrested; 8 cops suffered minor injuries
9/28/82, AP - kept Klan from holding rally in DC by getting permits for same area along with 4 other anti-racist groups; National Park Service refused to give permits to Klan due to prospect of violence
2/24/83, AP, Austin - Brown Berets and JBAKC disrupted KKK march; hurled rocks and bottles at marchers; 12 people injured, 11 arrested; Austin Police Chief blamed violence on the protesters; one officer found to use excessive force against a Brown Beret
1/6/90, AP, Atlanta - Protested Klan rally at Capitol in Atlanta; burned effigy of Klan member; 2400 police on hand; 50 Klan and 100 counter
11/14/87, AP, Chicago - 25 members painted over swastikas in Lincoln Park on anniv. of Kristallnacht
6/20/87, AP, NY - Protested outside apartment of Bernhard Goetz, said Goetz got off because he was white
7/17/84, AP, SF - 400 people protested Klan rally at Moscone Convention Ctr (rally never occurred); JDL protested against JB, shouting "Jackson hates Jews"
10/29/83, AP, LA - JB arranged a protest against Klan cross burning in San Fernando Valley (Klan never showed); JDL interfered with the protest, claimed JB members shouted "Zionism is racism"; JDL spokesman Irv Rubin was opposed to JB because it was a "very left-wing communist-type group. The were yelling "Zionism is racism." They hate Israel with a passion."
3/7/83, AP, Stanton, CA - 20 JB members protested at LA County Sheriff's Dept. to protest killing of 5-yo black boy by white cop
11/7/83, AP, Washington - 3 members arrested for participating in a riot outside Arlington Va high school during a counterprotest of neo-Nazi "White Pride Day"
1/18/81, WP, Paul W. Valentine - protested inauguration of Reagan

Bombings
2/12/85, AP, Wash - Judge found four in contempt for not cooperating with grand jury; all were current or former members of JB; could serve up to 18 mo in prison; Steven Burke, Julie Nalibov, Christine Rico, Sandra Gayle Roland
6/29/85, Wash Post - US Dist. Judge Aubrey E. Robinson Jr. found Bob Lederer and Terry Bisson in contempt for refusing to answer questions before a grand jury investigating bombings at the US Capitol and three military facilities. Lederer was a member of the New Movement in Solidarity with Puerto Rican Independence and Socialism and Bisson was part of the JBAKC. War College at Ft. McNair, Aug 1983; Washington Navy Yard and Capitol, Nov 1983
11/10/83, UPI, Paula Schwed - bombing claimed by Armed Resistance Unit; also claimed bomb at War College at Ft. McNair in Wash. In a communique sent to National Public Radio, the Armed Resistance Unit said it purposely aimed its attack at American institutions. The communique called the attack retaliation for imperialist aggression that has sent the Marines, the CIA and the Army ... to trample and lay waste the lives and rights of the peoples of Grenada, Lebanon, El Salvador and Nicaragua.
9/27/84, UPI, no author - The FBI is investigating whether a single terrorist group, using different names to confuse authorities, is responsible for more than a dozen bombings. No one has been killed or injured in any of the blasts: -Dec. 16, 1982, United Freedom Front claims responsibility for two blasts that damaged an IBM office in Harrison, N.Y., and a South African Airways office in Elmont, N.Y. -May 12, 1983, UFF claims responsibility for bombs that exploded at military reserve centers in Nassau County on Long Island and in Queens, N.Y. -Aug. 21, 1983, UFF claims responsibility for a bombing at the U.S. Army recruiting center in the Bronx, N.Y. -Dec. 13, 1983, UFF claims responsibility for two explosions in Long Island Navy recruiting center in East Meadow, N.Y. -Dec. 14, 1983, UFF claims responsibility for placing a bomb outside the Honeywell Corp. in Queens. The bomb did not go off. -Jan. 29, 1984, UFF claims responsibility for blast at a Motorola service center in Queens. -March 19, 1984, UFF returns to the IBM office in Harrison and bombs it again. -Aug. 22, 1984, UFF claims responsibility for bombing General Electric building in Melville, N.Y. -April 26, 1983, Armed Resistance Unit claims responsibility for bombing Fort McNair in Washington. -Aug. 17, 1983, Armed Resistance Unit claims responsibility for an explosion at the U.S. Navy Computer Center in Washington. -Nov. 7, 1983, Armed Resistance Unit claims responsibility for a bomb that exploded at the U.S. Capitol in Washington. -Jan. 28, 1983, Revolutionary Fighting Group claims responsibility for bombing the FBI office in Staten Island, N.Y. -Sept. 26, 1984, the Guerrilla Resistance claims responsibility for bombing the South African consulate in New York City. -Sept. 26, 1984, United Freedom Front claims responsibility for bombing at a Union Carbide computer and research center in Tarrytown, N.Y.
4/8/01, Denise Gamino, Austin American-Statesman - Linda Evans' sentence commuted by Clinton; served 16 of 40 years
9/7/90, James Rowley, AP - Linda Evans, Marilyn Buck, Laura Whitehorn pleaded guilty to Capitol bombing. Evans claimed the bomb was exploded to protest invasion of Grenada; also pleaded guilty to conspiracy to bomb 7 other targets; charges dropped against three co-defendants: Susan Rosenberg, Timothy A. Blunk, Alan Berkman; Elizabeth Duke remained a fugitive

Surveillance 1/27/88, AP - on list of groups under surveillance by FBI for opposition to US policy in Cent. Am., compiled by Center for Constitutional Rights