The League of the South
The Shame of Dixie

The hard-right is home to many ultra-conservative views and ideologies. Setting themselves up as the "moral majority," they hope to return to an Anglo-Saxon Puritanical society. With their checkbooks and their connections they are waging war on those of us who enjoy the lifestyles that we have chosen. Using the Bible as their gun, interpreting scripture to suit their agenda the hard-right has also turned a corner when it comes to race relations and freedom of religion. Pro-life, anti-immigration, separatism, and homophobia are but a few differences that we have with these people. They are many and their numbers are growing. As the tide and tenor of the country changes, there will be those who look around and ask, "When did that happen?"

The Council of Conservative Citizens certainly bears watching, but there is another group, cut from similar cloth, upon which a vigilant eye should be cast. The League of the South is fairly new in its' current conformation having grown out of the onetime Southern League. The ties between the CoCC and the LOS are tight and the affiliations are generally one and the same. Additionally, the money trail leads to both organizations with surprising regularity.

The League of the South boasts approximately 10,000 members, although it has lost several prominent leaders recently due to a host of internal problems largely surrounding the League's current leanings toward the Christian Reconstructionist nuts it has attracted. This should not be too surprising to the membership, however, given their ties to the hard-right elites. Recently the Southern Poverty Law Center chronicled the exodus of prominent members and headlined the article "Goodbye League of the South." While we generally accept the reports from the SPLC as pretty much gospel, we have to disagree with the insinuation that the League is going somewhere.

There is definitely a shake-up taking place both within the League and within the Sons of Confederate Veterans. As both seem to be embracing even more extremist beliefs, so are they gaining members with extremist agendas - while others are simply bringing their true convictions out of the closet.

It didn't take long for the League of the South to emerge to the forefront of the neo-Confederate Movement. The head of the organization is one Michael Hill. A former Professor at a predominantly black college (Stillman College in Tuscaloosa, Ala), Hill is largely a secessionist. The group rails against egalitarianism and inter-racial marriage. Hill has even gone so far as to say that the institution of slavery was "God ordained."

The abrasive remarks of Hill only serve to further the belief that the League of the South truly deserves its' tag as a hate group. Hill was certainly and embarrassment to Stillman College and his departure in 1998 was followed by a lot of sighs of relief. The sad thing is he is now proving an embarrassment to the South as well. In a vicious attack upon the U.S. Supreme Court for ruling against anti-gay sodomy laws, Hill said the court was helping to advance ""sodomite and civil rights agendas." He is listed as one of this years SPLC's 40 to Watch.

The League of the South appears just a little more militant than the other groups. Until recently, Michael Tubbs, the chaplain of the Sons of Confederate Veterans Florida chapter, also served as the League's Vice Chairman of the Northeast Florida chapter. Tubbs is a former Green Beret and munitions expert who was arrested, along with his brother for theft of government property and conspiracy to transport guns and explosives across state lines(SPLC). It appears that they stole more than guns. The authorities found five caches of weapons, including machine guns, 25 pounds of TNT, land mines, an anti-aircraft machine gun, grenades, booby traps, 45 pounds of C-4 plastic explosive and more. Additionally, they found information written by the two brothers indicating that they were establishing a racist group called the "Knights of the New Order." And, if that wasn't enough, they had a list of of targets - newspapers, television stations and businesses owned by Jews and blacks.

Michael Tubbs served a little over four years. When he was released from prison he immediately went back to the White Supremacist fold. He started a group called "Kinsman's Comitatus" whose purpose it was to provide support to "political prisoners" within the movement.

In actuality, the true threat of the League of the South lies within the number of sympathizers it has, the number and nature of financial supporters it has, and in the new emphasis being placed upon a Reconstructionist Christian agenda. Given the current climate in our country, and the obvious influence of the "moral majority," the teachings of the reconstrucion gospel might appear very appealing to those who are vulnerable.

As previously noted, they have very strong ties to the Council of Conservative Citizens as well as the Sons of Confederate Veterans. Many have dual memberships and frequent many of the same events. For a closer look at those who shape the ideology of this group we have provided the following profiles:

Citizens Against Hate

Eye On Hate Reporting Desk