The group ripped and burned Israeli flags at the park, a landmark for the Black community, before trekking to the U.S.- Mexico border to witness “evidence” of an illegal migrant crisis. Miner’s co-conspirator at the event, National Socialist Movement leader Burt Colucci, was arrested and indicted on aggravated assault charges by the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office last month. Colucci twice confronted a group of Black men and “began throwing trash on their car, using racial slurs, and threatened to kill them,” police alleged in a booking sheet filed in court records. Colucci did not deny drawing his gun during the altercation, according to the same court records. Miner’s own criminal record dates to 1999 and includes numerous felony convictions on charges such as drug possession, aggravated assault, criminal damage, assault with a deadly weapon, and theft, all in Maricopa County, records show. Miner is a familiar face at the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office, spokesperson Kahri Harrion said. Aryan Nations was responsible for far worse crimes over the years. In the 1980s, members murdered Alan Berg, a Denver talk-show radio host who was Jewish. They also bombed a synagogue, robbed banks, and stole millions of dollars from armored cars. Aryan Nations Klansmen are also culpable for the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing. Timothy McVeigh, the Aryan Nations member who detonated the bomb that killed 19 children and 149 adults, hatched his plan in Kingman with the aid of other residents of the city. McVeigh was executed in 2001. Since then, the group has failed to shed its reputation for committing violent crimes. “We condemn violence, but there will be a day when everyone has to decide what side they’re on,” Miner said. But just last month, a judge in Sacramento sentenced Phoenix Aryan Nations member Nicholas Wayne Sherman to 180 days in jail for his role in an anti-Semitic terrorism spree. Sherman, 33, was arrested in December on 12 counts of terrorism and one count of desecrating a religious symbol two months earlier. He was found guilty of plastering photos of Hitler across a menorah at a nearby synagogue. He was also caught on security footage littering an elementary school with swastikas, officials said at the time. “All crimes hurt not just the victim, but the entire community,” Sacramento County Sheriff Scott Jones said after the arrest. “This is espeically true of crimes montivated by hate.” Prosecutors noted that one condition of Sherman’s probation was to bar him owing or spreading Nazi propaganda. Not that Miner, who confirmed Sherman’s membership, cares. The Glendale Aryan Nations recruitment website urges members to attend Holocaust remembrances and “steal the show by disputing what they have to say” and to “be as radical as you feel the situation warrants.” Phoenix police “do not have any trends involving the KKK,” Sergeant Philip Krynsky told New Times. The FBI declined to comment about whether it was aware of the domestic terrorism group’s existence in Phoenix. Regardless, the ideology it peddles is reprehensible, said Levin, the terrorism expert. “The Klan used to be able to go out in public because they represented the community,” he said. “Now, even if you’re an extremist, that’s not the hill you want to plant the flag on.” Boomer Extremists Levin describes today’s Aryan Nations Klansmen as the Baby Boomers of the extremist world: washed-up, unthreatening, and obsolete, some experts believe. The domestic terrorist groups of the 1980s have been replaced with soft- pedaled racism that streamlines the indoctrination process. They might not plant bombs in federal buildings or gun down Jewish radio personalities anymore, but the power to recruit online and groom prospective members could be even more dangerous, in a way. The group still wields influence. Between 2017 and 2020, Gulett donated to former President Donald Trump’s failed bid for reelection 17 times, totaling more than $2,000. Another big Trump backer, QAnon, lets one explore extremism without the potent symbolism of violence like the swastika or Klan robe. “This is the tip of the iceberg of bigotry,” said Levin, who is about to publish a hate crime study spanning 2020 and 2021. “Hate crime is up,” he said. It’s just not the Ku Klux Klan that’s committing those crimes anymore. Levin asserts that modern extremists logroll their racism in such a way that they don’t lose followers but they soften their public face. The Klan has been rebranded as “militia” and “patriots” by localized, informal associations of extremists who are bound by xenophobia and racism. The name “Aryan Nations” doesn’t carry the same weight that it did under Butler’s leadership. It’s a brand that has been placed on the clearance rack as the new inventory of Proud Boys, Patriot Front, and QAnon. “It’s almost an anachronism,” Levin said. But the Valley hate mongers vowed not to acquiesce as they once did in Idaho. On February 22, Gulett renewed his promise to Aryan Nations in Arizona: “I [will] do my best to rebuild it to its former glory.” As they always have before, they bounced back. The Ku Klux Klan cannot be killed. 27 phoenixnewtimes.com | CONTENTS | FEEDBACK | OPINION | NEWS | FEATURE | NIGHT+DAY | CULTURE | FILM | CAFE | MUSIC | PHOENIX NEW TIMES APRIL 7TH– APRIL 13TH, 2022
