The Nizkor Project: Remembering the Holocaust (Shoah)

Beyond the Bombing:
California


California's militia movement has been growing rapidly, with approximately 35 units throughout the state. The locations of these groups range from urban centers to small towns, and extend from the state's northern to southern borders. Counties in which militias have been active include: Los Angeles, Orange, San Bernardino, San Diego, Kern, Placer, Alameda, Marin, Santa Clara. Shasta, San Joaquin, Stanislaus, El Dorado, Tulare, Sonoma, Mendocino, Butte, Tuolumne and Tehama.

This widespread activity has been encouraged on public access television and radio. "The Informed Citizen." a television program broadcast on Redding's public access channel, Michael Zwerling's radio talk show on KSCO in Santa Cruz, and "Truth Radio" KDNO in Delano, all promote militias.

Dean Compton, 33, a resident of rural Shasta County, has founded the National Alliance of Christian Militias in response to the perceived threat of an impending "New World Order." The group, whose members are armed, reportedly blends Biblical teachings and survivalism. Training sessions are conducted on Compton's 130-acre ranch.

Visiting Activists

Far-right organizer and former Green Beret Bo Gritz (see Idaho) has promoted his SPIKE program (Specially Prepared Individuals for Key Events - a paramilitary survivalist training course) in California. Gritz conducted a SPIKE session and gave a speech in Butte County in February 1995. at which time the Butte County Militia was forming. On that visit, Gritz reportedly said that Americans might finally be awakening to the threats he sees: "Who would have ever thought," he was quoted as saying, "these militias would spring up everywhere?" Gritz also encouraged the formation of militias in a March 1995 speech in Glendale.

Over the past year. Mark Koernke ("Mark from Michigan") has spoken around the state as well. In August 1994. Koernke appeared in Concord, where he reportedly described a future takeover of the U.S. by foreign "New World Order" troops and claimed that the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) will establish concentration camps for American citizens. "The solution." he said, "is militias. It looks like we re going to pull the trigger. We eventually will. No doubt about that." In August and September 1994, Koernke also spoke to audiences in Kern County, and in May 1995, he addressed 600 people at a "Taking America Back" conference in Palm Springs. The organizer of the event, Tom Johns. claims to be the "intelligence officer" for the Morongo Valley Militia.

Bob Fletcher of the Militia of Montana addressed a San Fernando Valley group called the Granada Forum in Tarzana in March 1995. The group, which gathers regularly to discuss "patriot" issues, has also heard speeches by longtime anti- Semite Eustace Mullins and California State Senator Don Rogers, who has proposed a resolution objecting to any U.S. assistance in the formation of a "global government" and the "merger of the United States" into such a world government.

ADL Fact Finding Report, "Beyond the Bombing: The Militia Menace Grows," Anti-Defamation League, 1995.


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