this article lays out some of the reasons that the Northwest has become attractive to various White supremacists and other hate groups in recent history. While these reasons are from the 1980s, they are still relevant today. The territorial imperative referenced in the title is the idea that White people need to create their own state, and that the Northwest is the perfect place to do so. The reasons laid out the article include the perception of a majority White population in the Northwest and the more conservative lean in the political views. Also appealing to hate groups were the wide-open spaces and physical isolation coupled with the independent and 'to each their own' mindset that creates an area where people believe they can stay off the government radar more easily. The high profile of the Aryan Nations and the hate groups it spawned in the area grew the region's reputation as a White supremacy haven that then attracts further groups.
The flyer that was on display in the physical exhibit is an example of propaganda put out by the Aryan Nations. It illustrates a common White supremacist fear, the idea that White people are a part of a dying race. This flyer shows how propaganda works by selecting specific, seeming facts, offering perilous conclusions, and appealing to the reader's emotion, especially their fears.
At the top of the flyer is an article copied from the Rocky Mountain News (Denver, Colorado) and reports on the need to update schooling due to the changing demographics. The White-Nationalist editor boxed out one particular statistic, that "only 28 percent of Americans 18 and younger are Anglo," in order to emphasize the idea that White people are disappearing. Under this article is a map that illustrates the belief that immigrants are partially to blame. The map has arrows that show the immigration paths of people of color and Jews, and it color codes the areas that are supposedly under White control. The map also shows the "remaining Territorial Imperative of the White Aryan," which includes major parts of the Northwest. This idea of a dying White race has been carried into the modern day through the "great replacement" conspiracy theory. This is a theory held by White supremacists and White nationalists. They claim that demographic shifts have led to a decline in people who identify as only White, and the White supremacists claim that Jewish people are behind these shifts. This conspiracy theory claims that White people are being 'replaced' by immigrants, people of color, and people of mixed ethnicity. Differently worded version of this theory have appeared in mainstream news and politics recently, with both Tucker Carlson of Fox News and Elise Stefanik, a high-ranking Republican Congresswoman, discussing this conspiracy theory seriously. In order to make this idea more palatable to the masses, they have changed the language to discuss the perceived replacement of White voters by voters of color, immigrants, and "illegal immigrants." This has become a part of the discussion surrounding voting rights, voter fraud, and disenfranchisement.
This Seattle Times article from April of 1986, reports on Robert Miles, leader of The Mountain Church of Jesus Christ the Savior in Michigan. It describes his plan to establish a "White nation" in the Northwest, as well as his previous, violent crimes, prison sentence, and bigoted views. His main goal with his planned "White nation" is to carve out an area of the United States for a majority White population and ruled by that majority, an idea very similar to Richard butler's, the leader of the Aryan Nations. He says that people of color can have their own areas of the country, and can even live in the White majority area, as long as they submit themselves to a White majority rule. His crimes and prison sentence were in relation to desegregation, specifically his attempts to stop it through intimidation and fear.
These maps come from the "Hate by State" publication by the Northwest Coalition for Human Dignity and show different White supremacy groups and their locations in the Northwest states. Groups include various chapters of the Ku Klux Klan, branches of the World Church of the Creator, and a number of other hate groups with religious affiliations. The publication includes a note of the previous page that informs the reader that this is not a complete list of White supremacy groups as there may be smaller and less organized elements that were not included. The Southern Poverty Law Center has an interactive map on their website that allows viewers to change the year, going back to 2000, and shows the locations of hate groups across the United States. Viewers can click on different states to get more information on specific groups and locations. Their website also ahs other educational information on both hate groups and the various groups dedicated to fighting hate and bigotry.
In December 1986, the Spokesman Review issued a special report on the region's White nationalists titled "Bigotry or Brotherhood." this publication included a number of articles that discuss the presence of White supremacy and hate groups in the Northwest. The headlines shown here are from articles that show the impact of these groups within the community, and the reputation they created for the area. The growth of hate groups created an image for the region that many residents felt did not represent their communities. This reputation, in turn, fostered fear and distrust, as well as a desire to correct that impression and fight back against hate in the area. Opposition efforts included the formation of human rights task forces and groups in the region, the use of the legal system to pursue hate crimes cases in court and pushing for more state and local laws designed to limit para-military activity and punish discrimination. Smaller scale, community-led efforts included attempts to disrupt White supremacist events by hosting anti-hate events around the same time, petitioning local officials to refuse permits for parades, and encouraging institutions and event locations to not allow White supremacist speakers to use their spaces. In 2000, a jury bankrupted the Aryan Nations when it awarded damages to two Native American victims who had been threatened and fired on by Aryan Nations guards. The community then converted the Aryan Nations compound into a peace park.