Hanging Out the Flag

National Alliance leaders are energetic recruiters, continually in search of innovative ways to advance their white supremacist message. To attract new followers, NA leaders and members have hung organizational banners in prominent locations, rented booths at well-attended gun shows, posted their propaganda materials on public property and distributed them in suburban neighborhoods.

The organization is also quick to exploit local racial tensions or incidents of Black-on-white violence. In May 1998, residents of Traverse City, Michigan, found NA literature hanging from their front doorknobs, including a flier with the slogan: "Don't Have Sex With Blacks. Avoid AIDS!" Beneath the slogan was a picture of a local Black man who had recently been sentenced to more than 15 years in prison for having sex with several area girls and women without informing them that he was infected with AIDS.

In addition to the group's blatantly racist appeals for newcomers, the National Alliance occasionally employs more subtle recruiting tactics. In Ohio, members of the Cleveland unit have participated in several seemingly innocuous events, including an April 1998 "European-American Cultural Fest," in an apparent effort to enlist new followers.