There are many members of the CCC who have ties to racist and anti-Semitic groups. In a recent interview in The Washington Post, Gordon Baum reportedly said, "Do we have a few members who might have been in the Klan? Probably -- but so what? None are leaders." Mr. Baum is once again masking the truth -- various heads of CCC chapters are well plugged in to the extremist network of groups whose philosophy meshes with that of the Klan. They include:

• A. J. Barker, currently state chairman of the North Carolina CCC. Mr. Barker was a leader in the Populist Party, which backed David Duke for president in 1988. Duke is an ex-Klansman and founder of the National Association for the Advancement of White People (NAAWP).

  In 1993, Mr. Barker's role in the founding of the America First Party was highlighted by Edward Fields in his virulently anti-Semitic newsletter, The Truth at Last. Fields informed readers that he and Barker established the party to fight for the rights of the white majority in the United States. A flyer explaining the founding of the America First Party spoke of the "desperation of the current political situation," and cited the number of "Jews along with militant Lesbians, homosexuals, anti-family feminists and even Communists" in President Clinton's Administration. Mr. Barker was elected the national chair of the America First Party and at its organizing conference reportedly spoke about white children being "victimized by the anti-White propaganda on TV."

  At a follow-up meeting of the America First Party, held in Clemmons, North Carolina, Mr. Barker appeared with invited guest Richard Butler, the head of Aryan Nations, a paramilitary hate group based in Hayden Lake, Iowa. Aryan Nations follows the "Christian Identity" philosophy, a doctrine that maintains that Anglo-Saxons are the Biblical "chosen people," that nonwhites are "mud people" on the level of animals, and that Jews are the "children of Satan." Aryan Nations also promotes anti-Semitism and the establishment of a white racist state.

• William Carter, who was chairman of the South Carolina chapter of the CCC, also made an appearance at the founding conference of the America First Party, where he reportedly spoke about his work with the CCC, and "the importance of building political activity on the precinct level." Mr. Carter was also the South Carolina state chairman of David Duke's 1992 Presidential campaign before serving as chairman of the South Carolina CCC.

• Mark Cotterill (who also reportedly used the name Mark Cerr), head of the National Capital Region chapter of the CCC until January 1999, also has ties to the America First Party. Mr. Cotterill, who is originally from Great Britain, was the contact person for both his CCC chapter and the America First event that featured David Duke and Edward Fields as speakers on January 2, 1999. The January 2 meeting was advertised at a December 1998 CCC meeting at which Michael Collins Piper spoke. Mr. Piper is a columnist for The Spotlight, a newspaper published by Liberty Lobby, the most active anti-Semitic propaganda organization in the United States. At the meeting, Mr. Piper made anti-Semitic comments and accused Israel's Mossad and the Anti-Defamation League of being involved in the assassination of John F. Kennedy.

  As head of the National Capital Region chapter, Cotterill invited many extremists to address the CCC. Recent guest speakers included Don Black, who runs the premier white supremacist Web site on the Internet, and Ron Doggett, head of the neo-Nazi National Alliance unit in Richmond, Virginia. Michael Walker, a former member of the National Front, an ultraright party in Great Britain, and currently editor of Scorpion, a white supremacist magazine in Great Britain, also spoke to the chapter.

  It is no wonder that Mr. Cotterill invited extremists to address his group. He himself was a member of the National Front and the British National Party, another ultranationalist party in Great Britain. Mr. Cotterill also attended neo-Nazi gatherings in Europe. After one such event, Mr. Cotterill reportedly made a hateful remark about the relationship between Blacks and Jews in New York, saying "Kikes and Nigs killing each other? Can't be bad."

• Robert Hoy, another CCC member, received national coverage in the fall of 1998 when he disrupted a meeting of the President's Initiative on Race in Oxford, Mississippi. Mr. Hoy reportedly yelled out, "There's no one up there that's talking about the white people. We don't want to be a minority in our country."

  In October 1997, Mr. Hoy was the master of ceremonies at the First Annual Conference on Racial Separatism, which promoted the idea of separate homelands for different races in the United States. In the early 1990s, Hoy reportedly met with neo-Nazis in Europe and worked closely with members of the American-Afrikaner Union, an American-based group that supported ultranationalists in South Africa. He was also associated with Michael Walker and Scorpion magazine, and has been a reporter and photographer for The Spotlight.

Next: The Company It Keeps