American Renaissance (magazine)

American Renaissance (AR or AmRen) is a monthly online magazine published by the New Century Foundation which describes itself as a "race-realist, white advocacy organization".^[1][2] It has been described as a white supremacist publication by several sources, including The Washington Post, Fortune, and the Anti-Defamation League.^[3][4][5][6]

History

The magazine and foundation were founded by Jared Taylor, and the first issue was published in November 1990.^[7][8] It first had a web presence in 1994, and was published as a monthly print magazine from its inception until January 2012.^[9]

A section called What We Believe on the organization's website states that "Race is an important aspect of individual and group identity. Of all the fault lines that divide society – language, religion, class, ideology – it is the most prominent and divisive."^[9]

American Renaissance, the New Century Foundation, or Taylor have had links with organizations such as the Council of Conservative Citizens, the Pioneer Fund, and the British National Party. Don Black and David Duke have attended AR conferences and have been seen talking with Taylor.^[10][11] The organization has held bi-annual conferences that are open to the public and that attract 200–300 people. Critics say some who attend are neo-Nazis, white nationalists, white separatists, Holocaust deniers, and eugenicists.^[12]

Attendees of AmRen conferences have included: Richard B. Spencer, Joseph Sobran, Michael H. Hart, Paul Gottfried, Glayde Whitney, Frank Borzellieri, Robert Weissberg, Dan Roodt, Guillaume Faye, Drew Fraser, Fred Reed, James Edwards, Alex Kurtagic, Merlin Miller, John Derbyshire, Michael Levin, Nick Griffin, Bruno Gollnisch, J. Philippe Rushton, Glenn Spencer, Lawrence Auster, Richard Lynn, and Samuel T. Francis.^[13]

Ideology

The American Renaissance website states:^[14]

Race is an important aspect of individual and group identity. Of all the fault lines that divide society—language, religion, class, ideology—it is the most prominent and divisive. Race and racial conflict are at the heart of some of the most serious challenges the Western World faces in the 21st century.

The problems of race cannot be solved without adequate understanding. Attempts to gloss over the significance of race or even to deny its reality only make problems worse. Progress requires the study of all aspects of race, whether historical, cultural, or biological. This approach is known as race realism.

— "What We Believe"

The online magazine is often described as a white supremacist publication; CNN, The Washington Post, Fortune, Slate, and the New York Daily News, among others, have reported on the magazine as such.^{[3][4][15][16][17]}

The magazine and foundation promote the view that differences in educational outcomes and per capita incomes between racial populations can be attributed at least in part to differences in intelligence between races.

Conferences

American Renaissance hosts periodic conferences on subjects of interest to its readers. The conferences were held biennially from 1994–2008, and annually from 2012–2016. There have been thirteen American Renaissance conferences since 1994.

Reception and controversy

Southern Poverty Law Center

American Renaissance and the New Century Foundation appear on a list of 115 "white nationalist hate groups" published in the Intelligence Report of the Southern Poverty Law Center.^[18]

Mark Potok, editor-in-chief of the Intelligence Report, has said that "Jared Taylor is the cultivated, cosmopolitan face of white supremacy. He is the guy who is providing the intellectual heft, in effect, to modern-day Klansmen." Taylor stated in a radio interview that "I've never been a member of the Klan. I've never known a person who is a member of the Klan," although an article in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette pointed out that Taylor had at least met former Klansman David Duke at an American Renaissance conference, and sat with Don Black, a former Grand Wizard of the Klan, at Taylor's kitchen table.^[10]

An article in the Intelliegence Report by Potok and Heidi Beirich, head of the SPLC's Intelligence Project stated that "American Renaissance has become increasingly important over the years, bringing a measure of intellectualism and seriousness to the typically thug-dominated world of white supremacy. Today, it may be the closest thing the extreme right has to a real think tank. Whether or not it survives, and in what form, genuinely matters."^[19]

Anti-Defamation League

The international Jewish non-governmental organization Anti-Defamation League describes American Renaissance as a "white supremacist journal".^[20] The ADL also writes that "Taylor eschews anti-Semitism. Seeing Jews as white, greatly influential and the "conscience of society", Taylor rather seeks to partner with Jews who share his views on race and racial diversity" and "Jews have been speakers and/or participants at all eight American Renaissance conferences" although controversy followed accusations by David Duke, who was not a scheduled presenter, at the 2006 conference.^[20] Taylor in response wrote that "There will be no more disgraceful behavior of this kind if people who attend AR conferences bear in mind that Jews have a valuable role in the work of American Renaissance, and are welcome participants and speakers. Anyone who thinks otherwise has the choice of staying home or keeping his views to himself."^[21]

Cancellation of 2010, 2011 conferences

In February 2010, following protests to hotel management of several hotels, which Jared Taylor claimed included some death threats, American Renaissance's biennial conference was canceled. Taylor complained that the incident was largely ignored by the media, in sharp contrast, he claimed, with how news outlets would have responded had a civil rights group's conference been shut down.^[22]

Immediately after the cancellation of the conference, in a radio interview with the Derek Black Show on WPBR 1340AM in South Florida, Taylor described the forced cancellation as an obstruction of the right to free speech, saying it set a dangerous precedent and paved the way for scenarios in which animal rights activists might shut down a meat packers’ conference or radical environmentalists could shut down a foresters’ meeting through the use of death threats.^[23] Taylor also appeared on Russia Today, one of the few news outlets that would interview him.^[24] In late October 2010 American Renaissance announced that they would hold a conference in February 2011 in an undisclosed location in Charlotte, NC, the first time in over a decade the conference was not held in the Washington, DC area, and the first time it is to be held in an "off" year for the biennial conference.^[25] Although Taylor wanted to keep the location a secret until closer to the start of the conference, activists discovered it was at the Airport Sheraton, who promptly kicked the conference out of the hotel. Other hotels in the area began to follow suit, shutting their doors to the conference, and Taylor was eventually forced to cancel the event, holding instead a session in another hotel where the planned speakers and a few spectators gathered to videotape the speeches they were to give.^[26]

Lawrence Auster, a traditionalist conservative and self-described racialist,^[27] claimed that Taylor's appearance on Stormfront radio was part of a long-standing pattern of Taylor's in "consorting with anti-Semites" and described Taylor's Stormfront appearance as "morally obtuse".^[28] John Derbyshire, however, called the conference shutdown an "ominous" and "shameful thing", and asked for open debate and respect for the freedom of speech and association.^[29]

Alleged DHS memo regarding 2011 Tucson shooting

A document initially claimed to be a leaked Department of Homeland Security (DHS) memo alleged Jared Lee Loughner, the accused gunman in the 2011 Tucson shooting that wounded Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords and killed six bystanders, may have had ties to American Renaissance, which it called an "anti-ZOG (Zionist Occupational Government) and anti-semitic" group.^[30][31] In an interview with Fox News, Jared Taylor denied the organization ever used the term "ZOG" and said Loughner had no connection to them.^[30]

DHS officials the following day reported that "the department has not established any such possibility, undercutting what appears to be the primary basis for this claim". Furthermore, no such memo had been issued.^[32]

Major David Denlinger, commander of the Arizona Counter Terrorism Information Center acknowledged that the document came from his agency, but contained errors.^[33] He said that he has no reason to believe that Loughner had any direct connection with or was being directed by American Renaissance.^[34]

Notable contributors and speakers

See also

• Biological determinism
• Paleoconservatism

References

Further reading

• "A Convocation of Bigots: The 1998 American Renaissance Conference". The Journal of Blacks in Higher Education (21): 120–124. Autumn 1998. JSTOR 2999023. .
• Ingram, John (August 2009). "What We Call Ourselves". American Renaissance.  – August 2009 cover story which approved of the label "race realism", to the ire of many white nationalist groups

External links

• Official website
• "Weird Science" January 30, 2005 by Dennis Roddy, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Critical account of an AmRen conference.
• Anti-Defamation League file on American Renaissance
• "Jared Taylor, a racist in the guise of 'expert'", Sunday, January 23, 2005, by Dennis Roddy, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Details connections between racist organizations and individuals such as the Council of Conservative Citizens, the British National Party, Don Black, and David Duke.
• Searchlight report on the 2006 American Renaissance conference
• Article summarizing many of the views of American Renaissance from an AmRen conference.