Frazier Glenn Miller Jr.

Frazier Glenn Miller Jr. (born November 23, 1940), commonly known as Glenn Miller, is a former leader of the defunct North Carolina-based White Patriot Party (formerly known as the Carolina Knights of the Ku Klux Klan). Convicted of murder as well as criminal charges related to weapons, and the violation of an injunction against paramilitary activity, he has been a perennial candidate for public office.^[1] He is an advocate of white nationalism, white separatism, neo-paganism,^[2] and a proponent of Antisemitism.^[3]

On April 13, 2014, Miller was arrested following the Overland Park Jewish Community Center shooting in Overland Park, Kansas.^[4] Johnson County prosecutors initially charged him with one count of capital murder and one count of first-degree murder.^[5] On October 17, 2014, the separate charge for first-degree murder was dismissed and all three deaths were included in a single capital murder count. Miller was also charged with three counts of attempted first-degree murder for allegedly shooting at three other people. On December 18, 2014, he was found competent to stand trial, and prosecutors announced they were seeking the death penalty against him.^[6]

On August 31, 2015, Miller was found guilty in the Overland Park shooting of one count of capital murder, three counts of attempted murder and assault and weapons charges.^[7] Eight days later, the same jury which convicted Miller sentenced him to death by lethal injection.^[8]

Early life and education

Miller was born Frazier Glenn Miller Jr. in North Carolina, and named after his father. He dropped out of high school and joined the United States Army, where he served 20 years,^[9] and rose to the rank of master sergeant.^[10] He served two tours of duty in South Vietnam during the Vietnam War.^[10]

Miller's introduction to white racialist politics was a copy of The Thunderbolt, published by Dr. Edward Fields of the National States' Rights Party, and given to him by his father. Miller was present as a member the National Socialist Party of America during the Greensboro massacre on November 3, 1979.^[11] He was discharged from the U.S. Army as a sergeant in 1979, for distributing racist propaganda.^[12][13]

White Patriot Party

In 1980, Miller founded the Carolina Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, a local chapter, which later developed into the White Patriot Party (WPP). He was the leader and principal spokesman for the organization until his arrest in 1987, after which the organization soon dissolved.^[14]

After the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) surreptitiously accessed the WPP's computer systems, it presented evidence in court indicating the WPP leadership was planning the assassination of SPLC leader Morris Dees. The court issued an injunction barring the WPP from engaging in paramilitary activity.^[14] The WPP was avowedly pro-Apartheid, and openly advocated the establishment of an all-white nation in the territory of the American South.^[14]

Miller claimed to have received $200,000 from Robert Jay Mathews, the leader of The Order (which funded its activities by robbing banks and armored cars).^[15]

During his time as leader of the WPP, he unsuccessfully sought the Democratic Party's nomination for Governor of North Carolina in 1984, and the Republican Party's nomination for a seat in the North Carolina Senate in 1986.^[16]

Arrest and conviction

In January 1985, Miller signed an agreement with Morris Dees in exchange for dropping a lawsuit that the SPLC had brought against him. In July 1986, Miller was accused of violating the terms of the agreement (by operating what was deemed a paramilitary training camp) and found guilty of a criminal contempt-of-court charge. He was sentenced to a year in prison, with six months of the term suspended, and ordered to have no contact with white supremacists.

5,000 copies of a typewritten letter titled "Declaration of War" (dated April 6, 1987, and signed by Miller) were mailed,^[17] which began: "In the name of our Aryan God, thru His beloved Son, I Glenn Miller now this 6th day of April, 1987 do hereby declare total war. I ask for no quarter. I will give none. I declare war against Niggers, Jews, Queers, assorted Mongrels, White Race traitors, and despicable informants". It threatened the life of Morris Dees and established a point system for the assassination of Dees and a host of federal officials. The letter proclaimed, "Let the blood of our enemies flood the streets, rivers, and fields of the nation, in Holy vengeance and justice... The Jews are our main and most formidable enemies, brothers and sisters. They are truly the children of Satan, as Christ tells us in St. John 8:44... we promise death to those who attack us or who attempt to place us in ZOG's dungeons."^[18] Miller was charged in a warrant with violating the conditions of his bond and was sought as a fugitive.

Miller was arrested on April 30, 1987, after authorities raided a mobile home he and others had rented in Ozark, Missouri, on numerous Federal criminal charges in the company of three other men (Tony Wydra, Robert "Jack" Jackson, and Douglas Sheets), who were also taken into Federal custody.^[10][19] A cache of weapons was found inside, which included "C-4 plastic explosives, dynamite, pipe bombs, hand grenades, fully automatic M-16, AR-15 semi-automatic rifles, sawed off shotguns, pistols, cross-bows, and around a half-ton of ammunition".^[20]

Miller was indicted in May 1987 for violating 18, U.S.C. §876 (communicating a threat via U.S. mail).^[21] Miller pleaded guilty to avoid numerous other violations of federal law and was sentenced to five years in prison.

After his arrest, Miller agreed to testify against several defendants in a major Federal sedition trial in Arkansas (the Fort Smith Sedition Trial). He served three years (1987–1990) in federal prison following his conviction for weapons violations, as well as for violating the injunction proscribing him from engaging in paramilitary activities.^[3][14] When he was released, he was given the name Frazier Glenn Cross Jr., which he used for several years before ultimately reverting to his birth name. Legally, his name remains Cross.^[22]

Subsequent activities

After his release from prison, Miller began trucking and wrote an autobiography, A White Man Speaks Out, which was privately published in 1999.^[10][23] In its introduction, he asks "If the Jews can have a Jewish state of their own, then why can’t we have a White Christian state of our own?" He repeatedly complains throughout the book that "the Jewish founded, financed, and led American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU)... brought about the removal of prayer and the bible from public schools. They put the Negroes in and took the bible out, at about the same time they legalized pornography and interracial marriages... White Christians today represent the best of our Race..."^[24]

By 2002 he had moved to Aurora, Missouri.^[25] When he retired from trucking in 2002, he tried to reenter the white supremacist movement by publishing a racist newsletter; however, this was met with mixed reaction due to some regarding him as a traitor.^[10] Miller has since become affiliated with the Vanguard News Network of Alex Linder, which is an anti-Semitic, white nationalist website.^[26]

In 2004, he posted an essay calling on Americans to rise up against Jews, people of color, immigrants, LGBTs, abortion, and church-state separation: "Our race is dying out rapidly right before your very eyes. ZOG is flooding our nation with tens-of-millions of colored aliens. ZOG has murdered over 30 million of our infants in the U.S., through ZOG legalized abortion. ZOG has legalized rectum loving, defecate eating faggots and outlawed our Christian religion from all public institutions and intends to outlaw it completely. When will you stand up and protest these outrages?"^[27]

In 2006, Miller ran as an independent write-in candidate against Rep. Roy Blunt, in the 7th Congressional District of Missouri.^[28]

In 2009, he published an essay criticizing abortion, LGBT rights, and church-state separation as a government attack on white Christians: "And so now you know why... the government legalized the abortion murders of over 35 million White gentile infants; why faggots have been legalized; ...why Christian prayers and the Christian bible were kicked out of public schools..."^[29]

As a perennial candidate, he ran in the 2010 Senate election in Missouri, again as an independent write-in candidate.^[30] Miller's 2010 radio campaign advertisements were controversial in Missouri,^[31] and nationally. People disputed whether Miller was a legitimate candidate or using his purported candidacy as a way to get air time, based on his comments on the website of the Vanguard News Network. He noted that "stations are required to run advertising for candidates" and that he would declare a candidacy and then start running ads. He said, 'Federal elections offer public speaking opportunities we can't afford to pass up, and come only once every 2 years.'"^[32]

The controversy led to Miller's being interviewed on The Alan Colmes Show^[33] and by phone on The Distorted View Show,^[34] The Howard Stern Show,^[35] and The David Pakman Show.^[36] Despite legal challenges from Missouri Attorney General Chris Koster and the Missouri Broadcasters Association's disputing Miller's status as a bona fide candidate for office, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) determined there exists no lawful recourse for stations that preferred not to air Miller's ads because of their offensive content.^[32][37] He can also be seen as Glenn Miller on the 1991 documentary Blood in the Face.

Miller expressed open hatred for Jews repeatedly during an April 2010 interview with David Pakman on The David Pakman Show.^[38]

Miller lived for a time under an assumed identity as an FBI informant.^[39] During a trial hearing, where Miller received a five-year reduced sentence, details of his time as an informant were revealed, including an incident where Miller was arrested for engaging in sexual acts with a black cross-dressed male prostitute in a vehicle.^[40] No charges were pressed due to his status as an informant, but a phone call recorded with the Southern Poverty Law Center in which Miller admitted to the incident was presented at the trial.^[39]

Shooting and trial

On April 13, 2014, Miller was named the only suspect for the shooting earlier that day in suburban Kansas City that ended with the deaths of three people. Shootings occurred both outside the Jewish Community Center and outside a retirement home, Village Shalom, nearby, both located in Overland Park, Kansas. The victims of the Jewish Community Center shooting were identified as Dr. William Lewis Corporon and his grandson, 14-year-old Reat Griffin Underwood. Both were United Methodist Christians. A 53-year-old woman, Terri LaManno, of Kansas City was killed at the parking lot of Village Shalom, where her mother resides.^[41] LaManno was also a Christian who attended St. Peter's Catholic Church in Kansas City, Missouri. Several others had been shot at, including one person who was Jewish, but escaped without wounds. Miller was found later outside an elementary school nearby and was immediately declared a suspect. Authorities told reporters that Miller had shouted "Heil Hitler" numerous times during the shooting and during his arrest.^[42]

The SPLC has reported that, according to Miller's wife Marge, Miller had gone to a casino in Missouri the afternoon prior to the shootings. Miller called his wife the next morning at around 10:30 a.m. to tell her "his winnings were up and all was well."^[43] The shootings occurred less than three hours after the phone call.^[44] According to a November 15 interview with The Kansas City Star, Miller alleged he began planning the shootings in late March when he became convinced that he was dying from emphysema.^[45]

Miller represented himself during his trial, ranting and raising bizarre objections such as one regarding witnesses' oaths "because they did not include the word God."^[46] On August 31, 2015, Miller was found guilty of one count of capital murder, three counts of attempted murder, and assault and weapons charges.^[7] On September 8, a Kansas jury recommended he get the death penalty.^[47] On November 10, 2015, Miller was formally sentenced to death by Johnson County District Judge Thomas Kelly Ryan.^[48]

Electoral history

References

Further reading

• Barkun, Michael (1997). Religion and the Racist Right: The Origins of the Christian Identity Movement. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press. ISBN 0-80784-638-4. Retrieved April 20, 2014. 
• Ridgeway, James (1995). Blood in the Face: The Ku Klux Klan, Aryan Nations, Nazi Skinheads and the Rise of a New White Culture. New York: Thunder's Mouth Press. ISBN 1-56025-100-X. 
• Zeskind, Leonard (2010). Blood and Politics: The History of the White Nationalist Movement from the Margins to the Mainstream. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux. ISBN 1-42995-933-9.