Sikh Temple Shooter, White Supremacism and the U.S. Military

On Democracy Now!, Amy Goodman discusses the white supremacist beliefs and military connection of Wade Michael Page who attacked a Sikh temple in Wisconsin. In the first interview, she talks with Pete Simi “Academic Who Knew Sikh Shooter Wade Michael Page Says Neo-Nazi Soldiers, Musicians Shaped His Hatred” (August 9, 2012):

Years ago, University of Nebraska Professor Pete Simi met and interviewed a white power musician who had served in the military specializing in psychological operations. On Sunday, it was that same man — Wade Michael Page — who attacked a Sikh temple in Wisconsin killing six worshippers. Page, who died following the attack from a self-inflicted gunshot wound, was an Army veteran with a long involvement in the neo-Nazi music scene. The military newspaper, Stars and Stripes, reports Page was steeped in white supremacy during his Army days and spouted his racist views on the job as a soldier. We speak to Simi about Page’s politics, the white-power music scene and Page’s time in the military. “[Page] started identifying with neo-Nazi beliefs during his time in the military [through] individuals who were active military personnel that were already involved in white supremacist groups,” Simi says. “At the time that I had met him, he felt like his involvement in the [white power] music scene really gave him a lot of purpose in terms of how he could contribute to the larger white-supremacist movement. And in fact, that is what the [white power] music scene does.”   READ OR WATCH THE PROGRAM.

In a related interview, she speaks with an author who writes about the Neo-Nazi movement within the military, “Author: Sikh Temple Massacre is the Outgrowth of Pervasive White Supremacism in U.S. Military Ranks“ (August 9, 2012):

Wisconsin Sikh temple shooter Wade Michael Page was open about his neo-Nazi views when he served in the U.S. military from 1992 to 1998. We speak to journalist Matt Kennard, who details the rise of the far-right radicals in the armed forces in his forthcoming book, “Irregular Army: How the U.S. Military Recruited Neo-Nazis, Gang Members, and Criminals to Fight the War on Terror,” out next month. “Every base has its problem with white supremacists because they are allowed to operate freely,” Kennard says. “This is not a problem that is specific to certain bases … it’s all over the United States. It was all over Iraq and it’s all over Afghanistan.”  READ OR WATCH THE PROGRAM