Up and Coming Weekly is a weekly publication in Fayetteville, NC and Fort Bragg, NC area offering local news, views, arts, entertainment and community event and business information.
Issue link: http://www.epageflip.net/i/1009811
WWW.UPANDCOMINGWEEKLY.COM AUGUST 1-7, 2018 UCW 11 A Minnesota congressman wants full details on what the military knows about extremist activity in its ranks, following news reports detailing at least three service members with ties to a white supremacist group. Rep. Keith Ellison, a Democrat who was the first Muslim elected to Congress, sent a letter to Defense Secretary Jim Mattis asking for information on any investigations into troops' extremist activities and "steps currently being taken to screen recruits for extremist ties." "Department of Defense guid- ance clearly prohibits discrimina- tion and extremist behavior," he said. But, he said, "it appears that some service members are still able to join and actively partici- pate in extremist organizations." Several lawmakers have questioned whether the military has done enough to investigate the issue and root out individuals with ties to extrem- ist groups. e allegation of racism in the Army is reminiscent of a sensational double murder in Fayetteville 23 years ago involving James Burmeis- ter II. e New York Daily News said at the time that Burmeister was weaned on racism. His father, a mechanic, was a bitter, big-talking bigot who fed his son a steady redneck diet about how minorities had stifled white progress. Young Burmeister matured into the apple of his father's eye – a young man seething with racist phobias and resentment. He joined the Army after finishing high school in 1993 and was as- signed to Fort Bragg's 82nd Airborne Division. While driving around town on the night of Dec. 6, 1995, Bur- meister and Malcolm Wright got out of their car and walked up behind two African-Americans on Hall Street near downtown. eir names were Michael James, 36, and Jackie Burden, 27. Burmeister executed James with two shots to the head. He then chased Burden, knocked her down with a shot to the back and shot three more bul- lets into her head. A friend, Randy Meadows Jr., the driver, had parked a block away. Burmeister and Wright fled in the opposite direc- tion and eventually caught a taxi home. Meadows, meanwhile, got out of the car and walked toward the gunfire. Police picked him up within minutes of the murders, and he gave up the names of his skinhead comrades. Meadows led the authorities to the trailer where Burmeister and Wright were sleeping. Police found a 9 mm semiautomatic pistol, a Nazi flag, white su- premacist pamphlets and other gang paraphernalia. e State Bureau of Investigation identified the hand- gun as the weapon that killed James and Burden. In 1997, Burmeister and Wright were tried on two counts each of first degree murder and conspiracy. ey were convicted and sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. Prosecutors said that the killing of James and Burden was racially mo- tivated and that Burmeister and Wright were neo- Nazi skinheads who chose their victims at random. e case prompted the Army to conduct a worldwide inquiry into racism in its ranks. e 1995 investigation ordered by then Army Secretary Togo West found little evidence of organized racist activ- ity but led to stronger policies for preventing it. e probe found that fewer than 100 of 7,600 soldiers interviewed belonged to white supremacist groups. Officials at Fort Bragg identified 21 soldiers who actively participated in skinhead activity. ey were later discharged. On March 21, 2007, James Burmeister died at the U.S. Medical Center for Federal Prisoners in Springfield, Missouri, said Keith Acree, a spokes- man for the North Carolina Department of Correc- tions. Acree said Burmeister died of natural causes but said he couldn't elaborate because of federal privacy laws. Discrimination resurfaces in the military by JEFF THOMPSON NEWS James Burmeister