Posted by AzBlueMeanie:
Thank God he is retiring at the end of his term in January. A cosponsor of SB 1070, Arizona Senate Majority Leader Chuck Gray, follows white supremacists on Twitter according to Gawker. Arizona Republican Leader Follows White Supremacists (Updated) – Arizona – Gawker:
Don Black is a Florida-based white supremacist who is banned from the UK for inciting hatred. Arizona State Senate Majority leader Chuck Gray—a proponent of the recent immigration bill—follows him, and another white power feed, on Twitter.
StormfrontWPWW (White Pride Worldwide) is the Twitter account for Stormfront, a racist organization that is the latest project of uber-racist Stephen Donald Black, better known as Don Black. He was a Grand Wizard in the KKK and a member of the American Nazi Party. In 1981 he was convicted and jailed for trying to invade Dominica with a boatload of weapons, in order to set up some kind of utopian state. (He's pictured below, at a conference organized by the infamous white supremacist David Duke.) Stormfront.org, the website he set up on his release from jail, is a hate-filled racist forum.
Its Twitter account, and another neo-Nazi feed linked to it, are among 4,819 that Arizona State Senate Majority Leader Chuck Gray (top) follows. (See screenshots below.) Stormfront does not reciprocate, however—the group follows no one. Which means that Gray, or whoever is responsible for his Twitter account, sought out the racist organization specifically and decided its tweets were essential reading. Perhaps because they've linked heavily on their feed to stories about the recent Arizona immigration bill and similarly racist-tinged measures in the state to remove teachers with "ethnic" accents from classrooms? Of course, this isn't the first time Arizona's right-wing politicians have been linked with racist groups.
We reached out to Senator Gray's office for comment, but have not heard back as of yet. Governor Jan Brewer's office hasn't returned calls and emails for comment either. There was no answer at the number listed for Don Black, and emails to two addresses went unanswered. Mike Philipsen, a spokesperson for the Arizona Senate Republican Caucus, said he had no comment until he had spoken to Senator Gray. We will update the post with their responses if and when they arrive.
Update: Commenter philly_bits points out that Gray is also following ScarecrowWPWW — another neo-Nazi Twitter feed that links to Stormfront. The article has been amended to reflect that. The Senator, via spokesperson Mike Philipsen, said he does not know how he came to follow these two white power groups, and had no idea of their "background." He has now ceased following them. Philipsen added that "he [Gray] does not support" the group's ideas.
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As this could cause concerns for alarms, depending on what he commented to those he follows is where the fire might be. However, almost all tweeters follow organizations and people we don’t agree with but want to know what type of information they are putting out. Following someone on twitter doesn’t mean you agree or like them, just interested in what information they are tweeting about. I follow multiple left-wing politicians and tweeters that I don’t agree with but want to know what they are tweeting about as well. I encourage research done on what he has actually tweeted out to and if any of those tweets were to these accounts and supported their agenda then that would be something to “tweet” about, otherwise, this is not newsworthy.
Nice one, AZBM!