New York, NY, January 21, 2000…The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) today issued the following statement after an announcement by extremist David Duke that he has formed the "civil rights" organization, National Organization for European American Rights (NOFEAR):

David Duke, the former KKK leader and one-time head of the National Association for Advancement of White Rights (NAAWP) has once again tried to reinvent himself. His latest attempt is nothing more than a transparent effort by a racist, anti-Semite and bigot to pass himself off as a "civil rights" leader. David Duke has spent his whole life engaged in hatred and bigotry. At every single effort to recast himself – from Ku Klux Klan Grand Wizard to mainstream politician and now a "civil rights "leader, he shows who he really is.

This life-long hater once again has demonstrated that his real purpose is to promote an anti-Black, anti-Semitic, and anti-immigration agenda. Even the symbol he uses for his new organization is one used by white supremacists all over the world. On Duke’s web site, he states in introducing NOFEAR, that "Massive immigration and low European American birthrates coupled with integration and racial intermarriage threatens the continued existence of our very genotype."

Duke’s claim that his new organization will operate like the NAACP, La Raza and ADL is ludicrous. Those venerable and genuine civil rights groups not only work to promote the rights of a particular minority group, but ultimately seek to unite the American people. Duke’s goal is to divide the American people.

The Anti-Defamation League, founded in 1913, is the world's leading organization fighting anti-Semitism through programs and services that counteract hatred, prejudice and bigotry.