The Anti-Defamation League of B’nai B’rith today called for Congressional investigation of the Ku Klux Klan and other extremist groups operating in the United States Marine Corps at Camp Pendleton, Calif. and elsewhere.
In letters to Sen. John C. Stennis (D.Miss.), chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee and Rep. Melvin Price (D.III.), his House counterpart, the ADL pointed out that recent racial violence at Camp Pendleton was reportedly due to the presence of a clandestine Ku Klux Klan organization and units of other hate groups on the base.
The letters, signed by Arnold Forster, ADL’s associate director and general counsel, asserted that “there is no room within the armed forces of the United States for organized bigotry and extremism.”
Stating that the Klan “has long been a blight on American society.” Forster also expressed concern about another group linked to the Marine Corps at Camp Pendleton, the National States Rights Party, which “has a long record of promoting racial and religious discord and hatred.” He noted that the alleged Klan leader, Sgt. R###all Clouse, who has since been transferred to the Naval Ail Base in Dallas, Texas, told the press that the NSRP is one of several hate groups with units at Pendleton.
In calling for the Congressional probe, Forster said that while members of the armed forces, like all other citizens, have a right to their personal views, the propriety of allowing “undemocratic, violence-prone organizations to infiltrate the armed forces for the purpose of promoting chaos and disorder,” is highly questionable.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
