The leader of a right-wing, white supremacist hate group in the United States, allegedly mentioned as an inspiration by self-confessed Charleston massacre shooter Dylann Roof, donated money to Republican presidential candidates Ted Cruz, Rand Paul and Rick Santorum, The Guardian reported Sunday.
Earl Holt, leader of the extremist organization the Council of Conservative Citizens, has donated US$65,000 to Republican campaigns in recent years.
The CofCC’s website says the organization opposes “all efforts to mix the races of mankind, to promote non-white races over the European-American people through so-called ‘affirmative action’ and similar measures, to destroy or denigrate the European-American heritage, including the heritage of the Southern people, and to force the integration of the races.” Furthermore, the Southern Poverty Law Center, a group that exposes hates groups and hate crimes, says the CofCC’s website once stated, "God is the author of racism. God is the One who divided mankind into different types ... Mixing the races is rebelliousness against God.”
Roof, according to a manifesto published on his website, says he learned of “brutal black on white murders” from the CofCC. The 21-year-old white man opened fire at a prayer service in the Emmanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston Wednesday, fatally shooting six women and three men.
According to Mother Jones website, the CofCC rejected a direct connection with Roof and his actions, calling him a deranged individual, however, it also said in a statement his actions “do not detract in the slightest from the legitimacy of some of the positions he has expressed."
Southern Poverty Law Center President Richard Cohen said, “This is the kind of propaganda used by hate groups to push a 'white genocide' narrative, the idea that white people are under attack by people of color across the world,” expanding, “Roof fits the profile of the lone wolf terrorist radicalized in the echo chamber of racist websites that increasingly promote a global white nationalist agenda.”
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Since 2012, the CofCC's Holt has contributed US$8,500 to Texas Senator Cruz, US$1,750 to RandPAC, the political action committee of Kentucky Senator Paul, and US$1,500 to former Pennsylvania Senator Santorum. He also gave he gave $2,000 to Mitt Romney’s 2012 presidential campaign. A spokesman for Cruz stated in an email to The Guardian that they will refund Holt for his donation. The Paul campaign failed to respond, while a spokesman for Santorum didn't say whether the presidential candidate would return the money.
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