Christian Leader of Holy War against Jews and Blacks, dies today

Off-topic
1

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Samuel Bowers (1924 - November 5, 2006) was the former leader of the White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan of Mississippi, a militant offshoot of the Ku Klux Klan. The former Imperial Wizard, who was serving a life sentence for the 1966 bombing death of a civil rights leader, died in a state penitentiary of cardiac arrest on Sunday, November 5, 2006. He was 82.

Bowers adopted a strict code of secrecy and set out as its goal the preservation of white supremacy.

Weaving religion into the mix, he further declared “As Christians we are disposed to kindness, generosity, affection, and humility in our dealings with others. As militants we are disposed to use physical force against our enemies. How can we reconcile these 2 apparently contradictory philosophies? the answer of course, is to purge malice, bitterness, and vengeance from our hearts.”[citation needed]

In 1964, with Freedom Summer looming, Bowers launched his organization on the equivalent of a holy war.

Within a matter of months, Charles Eddy Moore, James Chaney, Henry Hezekiah Dee, Michael Schwerner and Andrew Goodman were dead.

In 1966 the White Knights raked the house of Vernon Dahmer in the Kelly settlement with machine gun fire. Dahmer was a Black activist who was working successfully to register Blacks to vote. Dahmer died in an ensuing fire.

After four previous trials ended in deadlock, Bowers was convicted for the murder in August, 1998, and sentenced to life in prison.

Anti-Jewish campaign
In 1967, the White Knights began a campaign against Jewish targets in Mississippi. The synagogue of Jackson was dynamited followed by the house of the local Rabbi (Perry Nussbaum) and the Synagogue of nearby Meridian.

Sam Bowers was convicted in the Chaney-Schwerner-Goodman killings and served more than 6 years at McNeil Island Federal Prison in Washington. He was released in 1976.

2

What exactly is your point here?

You seem to be implying the same error made by those who talk about “true christians” to weasel out of accepting that people who don’t agree with them might have the same religion. That is, you’re taking an incredibly varied group and implying that there is or should be some fundamental commonalities beyond the fact that they all read the same book and believe in Jesus, who sadly has yet to appear and actually explain to people what in hell he might have meant or thought were the real talking points to watch for, since these sort of things seem to confuse people, in spite of all the talking of how it shouldn’t.

This is all we can honestly take from this: Samuel Bowers, who was of the KKK and thought and did many nasty things, is gone. He, like many people, considered himself Christian. There are many who would say he was not a ‘true christian’, and some who might think that he was one of the few "true christians’ around, but both sides are equally in error and equally irrelevant.

3

Could be it’s just the mischievious aspect of Billy that made him post this :slight_smile:

4

The way I see it, he was not a true American. Maybe I look at it that way because I am an American, but don’t consider myself a Christian. As an American you’re also supposed to live by a set of values, namely the Bill of Rights. I suppose you don’t have to believe that all men/people are created equal, but acting to the contrary, and inciting others to do so, makes you something other than a proper American.

I love pointing this out to people who seem to think that America was created for white people. It wasn’t. It was created by white people who made it a point to not make such distinctions, even though they had a long way to go on the subject themselves. Americans come in all shapes, sizes (including XXXXL) and colors. That is our strength. Racism is a weakness.

5

Thats one antisemite (sp?) out of the way… now we just need to deal with the rest of them.

6

Not at all.
Less than 1% of Christians are terrorists.
Less than 1% of Muslims are terrorists.
Less than 1% of Jews are terrorists.
Less than 1% of Hindus are terrorists.
Less than 1% of Buddhists are terrorists.

Thank GOD!

I’m jjust pointing out a piece of American history. White supremacists were supported by the Courts, the Police, etc. It took 4 trials to get this guy convicted. Many other White supremacists and Christian terrorists never got convicted of the murders they committed.

It’s American history.

I agree completely! [Threadjack: Homophobia is a weakness]

7

Yes, and thank goodness for that fourth trial. I’m pretty sure it would take much less than four today.

8

The way I see it, he was not a true American.

I love pointing this out to people who seem to think that America was created for straight white people. It wasn’t.

Do we need a Constitutional Amendment protecting the rights of the GLBTs?

9

Oh, he was a “True American” alright… He just was a very BAD American. Incompetence does not remove one’s membership to such things.

10

Wow. He died of a broken heart…

11

surely a true american, is just someone who has american nationality? possibly american parents and has lived in america for his whole/most of his life?

I’ll never understand the not a real american.