The Populist RainbowrnBlack Nationalists and the Militia Movementrnby Jesse WalkerrnIt is June 1994, and Anthony Hilder is attending a SouthernrnCalifornia gathering called “The New World Order.” Twornoverhead projectors beam book-covers alleging Masonic conspiraciesrnonto the walls. Hilder, white and middle-aged, is thernhost of two syndicated talk-radio shows, Radio Free Americarnand Radio Free World. He has brought tapes to sell to other attendees,rnand is doing a brisk business; quite a few people havernwandered through the smoke-filled room to peruse and purchasernhis wares.rnMan)’ might assume Hilder and his customers to be racists.rnThey will be surprised to discover that the event was a multiracialrnrap/rock concert in downtown Los Angeles, featuring Ice T,rnBody Count, Fishbone, and Ice Cube, among others; that therngathering was organized not by a white man donned in camouflage,rnbut by a black record producer who calls himself Afrika Islam;rnthat the smoke thickening the air was not burning tobacco,rnbut burning marijuana.rnThe popular stereotype of the militia movement does notrnleave much room for cultural diversity. The media have had tornacknowledge one prominent African-American militiaman—rnJames Johnson of inner-city Columbus, Ohio—if only becausernof his high profile in the movement. But he is treated as anrnaberration—or, worse vet, a token. More common are hystericalrnquotations from representatives of the Anti-DefamationrnLeague and the Southern Poverty Law Center, both of whichrnhave accused the militia movement of fomenting bigotry.rnJesse Walker is the assistant editor of Liberty magazine.rnTheir evidence is about as solid as J. Edgar Hoover’s was forrnclaiming the civil rights movement was controlled by communists:rna handful of offenders on the edges of the insurgency,rnwhose association is considered enough to presume everyonernelse’s guilt. Bob Fletcher, a former leader of the Militia ofrnMontana, sums up the situation by reversing Sturgeon’s Law:rn”About 10 percent of America is racist, and I suppose that’srntrue of the militias, too. You get that in any organization.”rnOnce you ignore this small klatch of Christian Identity bigots,rnthe case for militia racism dries up. Though predominantlyrnwhite and Christian, militia groups include blacks, Hispanics,rnand Asians; nonbelievers, Muslims, and Jews.rnBut what happened in Los Angeles in June ’94 went beyondrnthis. The New World Order party was not in any sense a militiarnmeeting—indeed, organizer Islam says he does not “reallyrnhave an opinion” about the movement. The concert was a signrnthat men and women far removed from the militia milieu notrnonly share the patriots’ basic concerns—a fear of state repression,rna populist demand for self-government—^but are recognizingrnthat these “right-wingers” may be kindred spirits, politicalrnlabels be damned. After all, blacks and white radicals havernsimilar reasons for distrusting the state. Both fear the government’srnincreasing police powers. Both resent the abuses of civilrnliberties that have come with the war on drugs, and both accuserngovernment officials of being involved with the drug tradernthemselves. The firebombing of MOVE and the beating ofrnRodney King catalyzed the same resentment among blacksrnthat the Ruby Ridge standoff prompted among many whites.rnMARCH 1996/25rnrnrn