National Vanguard (American organization)

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National Vanguard Logo

National Vanguard is a defunct American white nationalist organization based in Charlottesville, Virginia, founded by Kevin Alfred Strom and former members of the National Alliance. According to the group, "persons of Jewish descent, homosexuals or bisexuals, criminals, autistics, persons with a non-White spouse or sexual partner, or persons with more than an undetectable trace of non-White ancestry are specifically barred from National Vanguard membership." ^[1] The organization's website states that the United States would be "a clean, orderly, progressive, safe, and incomparably richer and more beautiful nation if it becomes a proud White nation again," ^[2] however, the group denies that it is a white supremacist organization, and instead asserts that it is white separatist. National Vanguard disbanded in March of 2007 and was replaced by European Americans United. The National Vanguard news site was replaced by Western Voices World News. ^[3]Current leadership of National Vanguard denies Kevin Alfred Strom legal issues were the cause of the disbandment^[4]

1 History
2 Activities
3 Internal Strife
4 Chapters
5 Broadcasts
6 External links

[edit] History

Kevin Alfred Strom, Founder and Managing Director of National Vanguard

The group was founded by dissident members of the National Alliance, led by Kevin Alfred Strom, Elisha Strom, Roger Williams (CO), Richard Lindstrom (NJ) and several other leading chapter leaders around the county in 2005. The National Alliance's 5-man Executive Committee, a think-tank created by Erich Gliebe 5-months eairler to explore new ideas, issued a formal declaration called "A Time for Leadership." ^[5] The declaration decried then-Chairman Erich Gliebe's dissolution of the National Alliance Board of Directors (sic), (this never occurred, the BoD has not change since 2003) reducing its composition to include merely himself and COO Shaun Walker. It called for a reconstitution of the Board of Directors, and the merger of the Board with the Executive Committee in both membership and function. Gliebe and Walker rejected the declaration.

Gliebe and Walker claimed that Kevin Strom was not performing his job well as editor of their magazine, which was always many months late. There was a pay dispute where Kevin Strom claimed Shaun Walker was not paying him all his pay, which became a public dispute within Internet chat-rooms. This pay dispute and other internal conflicts created an atmosphere of petty personality conflicts which grew for 6-months until it erupted.

The plan to "spring" this change was discovered a few weeks prior to the April 2005 Leadership Conference and the leaders of this "coup" were Kevin Strom, Elisha Strom and Roger Williams (Denver chapter leader), who were all kicked out of the National Alliance. After they were removed for planning to disrupt the conference they submitted an online declaration where they stated they were taking legal action to take over the assets of the National Alliance. There were no legal options to take, so in April 2005 "National Vanguard" was formally organized by some former National Alliance Unit Coordinators and five members of the Executive Committee.^[6]

The main issues cited for the split with the National Alliance was over the creation of a expanded Board of Directors, prompt and professional publishing of a news-magazine and open accounting of all funds collected. The new organization picked Kevin Alfred Strom as the new leader, but a Board of Directors was never created. All money collected was sent to Elisha Strom in Virginia, but the amount remained a secret with only Kevin and Elisha Strom knowing. A new publication was drafted and was given the title of "V" but after one year it was never once published and most member’s and supporters gave up on the plan. Within 8-months half of National Vanguard members had either resigned or formed another new group. Most of the key leaders who planned the initial coup from the National Alliance group had quit within 15-months, but without all the open Internet airing of "internal laundry." In January 2007 the founder of the National Vanguard group Kevin Strom was arrested by the FBI and Federal Marshalls for Child Pornography related charges and Strom faces up to 30-years in Federal prison. Elisha Strom has been reported to be cooperating with the FBI prior to and since the arrest of Kevin Strom.

[edit] Activities

Since the reorganization of National Vanguard, the group has been focused upon unit meetings and the distribution of fliers. A boycott against the hardware chain The Home Depot was started because of their illegal immigrant stance. Units in Florida, Nevada, and New Jersey appear to be the most active. Members are attempting to form a new political party in Nevada: the White People's Party. ^[7] One plank in the party's platform calls for "the White Race" to be placed on the endangered species list since "all relevant laws are working against the continued existence of Whites."^[8]

In the wake of Hurricane Katrina, which struck the U.S. Gulf Coast on August 29, 2005, a National Vanguard First Response Team was organized to help white families in Alabama and Mississippi ^[9]. Their decision to help only white victims of Katrina has been described as "reprehensible". ^[10]

In 2005, National Vanguard showcased the pop-music duo Prussian Blue, made up of fourteen-year-old twin sisters from Bakersfield, California, Lynx and Lamb Gaede, who the organization hoped would "be breaking new ground...creating an entire genre of pro-White music" that will cross over to mainstream audiences. (Sample lyrics: "Aryan man awake/How much more will you take/Turn that fear to hate/Aryan man awake.") ^[11] ^[12] Their mother, April, is a writer and activist for National Vanguard.

[edit] Internal Strife

In February 2006, the Tampa and Denver units of National Vanguard announced they were leaving the organization, citing a variety of complaints including a claim that National Vanguard had collected money for subscriptions to the tabloid, V, without subsequently delivering a product to subscribers. The two units have now formed a new organization the Nationalist Coalition.

[edit] Chapters

The group has chapters in the following areas:

National Vanguard Boston (Disbanded as of January 21, 2007)
National Vanguard California
National Vanguard Hudson Valley
National Vanguard Las Vegas
National Vanguard New Jersey
National Vanguard Phoenix
National Vanguard Seattle
National Vanguard St. Louis
National Vanguard Western New York

[edit] Broadcasts

Until July of 2006, National Vanguard had a weekly Internet broadcast called American Dissident Voices. Kevin Alfred Strom was the founder and host of this program. After Strom announced his leave of absence from National Vanguard, the program was broadcast sporadically under the title Boston Tea Party. In January of 2007, the Nationalist Coalition created a new radio program called Nationalist Matters. Nationalist Matters is broadcast once a month. Additionally, National Vanguard started a new broadcast on October 2005 entitled Frankly Speaking. This new broadcast consists of short commentaries delivered periodically by National Vanguard member Frank Roman.

[edit] External links

[edit] Official

[edit] Related

Nationalist Coalition (formerly National Vanguard, Tampa until February, 2006)
European Americans United (formerly National Vanguard until March, 2007)
Western Voices World News