From KXII in Texas:
Last week, the Southern Poverty Law Center released a hate map following the events in Charlottesville, Virginia.
That map identified only one group operating in Texoma - ISD Records, a website that sells racist media and memorabilia aimed at skinheads and white nationalists.
With a banner that reads "The Voice of Blood and Honour," an international coalition of racist skinhead gangs, ISD Records features artists like The Klansmen and album titles including "'Hitler was Right'".
We tracked down the certificate of ownership of ISD Records filed at the Grayson County Courthouse in 2004 with the signature of a Bart Alsbrook at a Denison address.
Colbert reserve police officer Bart Alsbrook was named interim chief this week.
After a reporter called Aslbrook to ask about the website, it was mysteriously taken down. Imagine that! Alsbrook later came up with a curious explanation:
When we called him back to ask him about it, Alsbrook claimed a group of skinheads stole his wallet and began using his name after a fight at a heavy metal concert in the 1990's.
Ah! So 25 years ago someone stole his wallet at a concert? And they’ve used it all this time to run a white supremacy hate website under his name, in the area where he lives and the website was magically taken offline immediately after a reporter called the real Alsbrook to inquire? Ooooookay. Sure. The website carried tributes to ‘Blood and Honour’, a white supremacy group based in the United Kingdom. The ‘Blood and Honour’ founder is prepping for a race war:
"Eventually there will be a race war and we have to be strong enough in numbers to win it. I'll die to keep this country pure and if it means bloodshed at the end of the day, then let it be."
— Blood & Honour founder Ian Stuart Donaldson
Alsbook resigned after local news began reporting on his probable ownership of the hate sites, but the infiltration of white supremacists into law enforcement and/or the military is not new. It is a priority tactic for white supremacy organizations and it has been very effective over the years:
WHITE SUPREMACISTS AND other domestic extremists maintain an active presence in U.S. police departments and other law enforcement agencies. A striking reference to that conclusion, notable for its confidence and the policy prescriptions that accompany it, appears in a classified FBI Counterterrorism Policy Guide from April 2015, obtained by The Intercept. The guide, which details the process by which the FBI enters individuals on a terrorism watchlist, the Known or Suspected Terrorist File, notes that “domestic terrorism investigations focused on militia extremists, white supremacist extremists, and sovereign citizen extremists often have identified active links to law enforcement officers,” and explains in some detail how bureau policies have been crafted to take this infiltration into account.
One of the reasons they’ve been so successful in landing jobs in law enforcement is the lack of a national standard in recruiting new officers:
No centralized recruitment process or set of national standards exists for the 18,000 law enforcement agencies in the United States, many of which have deep historical connections to racist ideologies. As a result, state and local police as well as sheriff’s departments present ample opportunities for white supremacists and other right-wing extremists looking to expand their power base.
In a heavily redacted version of an October 2006 FBI internal intelligence assessment, the agency raised the alarm over white supremacist groups’ “historical” interest in “infiltrating law enforcement communities or recruiting law enforcement personnel.” The effort, the memo noted, “can lead to investigative breaches and can jeopardize the safety of law enforcement sources or personnel.” The memo also states that law enforcement had recently become aware of the term “ghost skins,” used among white supremacists to describe “those who avoid overt displays of their beliefs to blend into society and covertly advance white supremacist causes.” In at least one case, the FBI learned of a skinhead group encouraging ghost skins to seek employment with law enforcement agencies in order to warn crews of any investigations.
