White Revolution

To Whom It May Concern:

This is a request under the Freedom of Information Act. I hereby request the following records:

Records relating to or mentioning the White Revolution, a neo-Nazi group that employs the most violent language and works with some of the most virulent leaders in the world of white supremacy, while claiming to remain legal. It has unsuccessfully sought to unite groups across the radical spectrum.

White Revolution was founded by long-time neo-Nazi Billy Roper in 2002, just days after Roper was ejected from the National Alliance during the internal battles that followed the death of Alliance founder William Pierce. Defying Pierce's movement elitism, Roper, as the Alliance's deputy membership coordinator, had worked to build bridges to an array of other white supremacist organizations. So when Roper formed White Revolution, taking several key Alliance staffers with him, it was widely expected that he would build a major movement coalition.

After setting up shop in his native Arkansas, Roper did reach out to other racist groups and attend events put on by these groups in a bridge-building effort. White Revolution has had contacts with Aryan Nations, the Creativity Movement and even some racist groups in Europe. But in its first years, aside from bursts of propaganda activity (leafleting and rallies), the organization has been surprisingly quiet.

Officially, the group strives to be "the most radical legal pro-White organization involved in public activism." But it remains legal apologetically, and celebrates violence against non-whites in a variety of ways. "I understand as well as anyone how frustrating it is to delay action and to remain legal while our people's situation continues to grow increasingly desperate," Roper says. "When some people think of revolution, they think of guns and bombs and hand grenades. But for us, at this stage of the revolution, our weapons of choice are the pen, the leaflet, the keyboard. … The time may well come when we will communicate to our enemies in a manner which they will find unambiguous, but for now we must lay the foundation and create the support networks which will be necessary for any future endeavors."

Early on, Roper said he would create a white nationalist multimedia juggernaut that would stream news and post videos on its website. But whiterevolution.com has not lived up to expectations, and largely serves as Roper's personal blog. It also offers a list of addresses for white supremacist "prisoners of war" doing time in prison.

The group's irregularly published White Revolution News is an odd publication that carries a feature on how white children can enjoy holidays safely, but also runs features that, for instance, celebrate the near-fatal beating of a Latino man. It also frequently offers up death as a solution to the problems it sees, as in a 2003 article on a high school for gay students in New York City. After suggesting separate schools be established for every ethnic group, Roper concluded: "Some day, their separation from us will be complete, and eternal. This is a good place and time to begin their weaning. While they're young. While their mushy minds are still malleable. While you can fit more of them into the boxcars, if you stack them right."

Like most hate groups, White Revolution increasingly has focused on the alleged evils of non-white immigration into the United States, with its website, publications and leader's statements emphasizing the issue. But this does not appear to have helped the group grow, even though it claims chapters in a number of states.

In September 2011, Roper shut down White Revolution. “As the leader of the organization, I am solely responsible and accept full responsibility for White Revolution’s lack of success as a membership organization,” Roper wrote in “an open letter to the white nationalist movement.” Effective immediately, Roper said, “White Revolution will cease to accept new membership applications and will suspend all recruitment activities as a membership organization while we undergo a period of reorganization and dismantlement …” Roper also announced that he would not be leaving the movement and would join forces with long time Klan leader Thom Robb, who lives less than 70 miles from Roper in Harrison, Ark.

Please conduct a search of the Central Records System, including but not limited to the Electronic Surveillance (ELSUR) Indices, the Microphone Surveillance (MISUR) Indices, the Physical Surveillance (FISUR) Indices, and the Technical Surveillance (TESUR) Indices, for both main-file records and cross-reference records of both HQ and all field offices for all relevant names, agencies, organizations, companies and events including but not limited to those cited in the previous paragraphs and/or links as well as a cross-reference with the Southern Poverty Law Center to include any information provided by the SPLC. My request includes but is not limited to 137, 157, 176, 177, 183, 184, 188, 214 and 266 files. If previously released records are available, then I request a rolling release consisting of those records while additional records are located and processed for release.

I am a member of the news media and request classification as such. I have previously written about the government and its activities for AND Magazine, MuckRock and Glomar Disclosure and have an open arrangement with each. My articles have been widely read, with some reaching over 100,000 readers. As such, as I have a reasonable expectation of publication and my editorial and writing skills are well established. In addition, I discuss and comment on the files online and make them available through the non-profit Internet Archive, disseminating them to a large audience. While my research is not limited to this, a great deal of it, including this, focuses on the activities and attitudes of the government itself. As such, it is not necessary for me to demonstrate the relevance of this particular subject in advance. Additionally, case law states that “proof of the ability to disseminate the released information to a broad cross-section of the public is not required.” Judicial Watch, Inc. v. Dep’t of Justice, 365 F.3d 1108, 1126 (D.C. Cir. 2004); see Carney v. U.S. Dep’t of Justice, 19 F.3d 807, 814-15 (2d Cir. 1994). Further, courts have held that "qualified because it also had “firm” plans to “publish a number of . . . ‘document sets’” concerning United States foreign and national security policy." Under this criteria, as well, I qualify as a member of the news media. Additionally, courts have held that the news media status "focuses on the nature of the requester, not its request. The provision requires that the request be “made by” a representative of the news media. Id. § 552(a)(4)(A)(ii)(II). A newspaper reporter, for example, is a representative of the news media regardless of how much interest there is in the story for which he or she is requesting information." As such, the details of the request itself are moot for the purposes of determining the appropriate fee category. As such, my primary purpose is to inform about government activities by reporting on it and making the raw data available and I therefore request that fees be waived.

The requested documents will be made available to the general public, and this request is not being made for commercial purposes.

In the event that there are fees, I would be grateful if you would inform me of the total charges in advance of fulfilling my request. I would prefer the request filled electronically, by e-mail attachment if available or CD-ROM if not.

Thank you in advance for your anticipated cooperation in this matter. I look forward to receiving your response to this request within 20 business days, as the statute requires.

Sincerely,

Michael Best

I am appealing the decision to not perform the cross-reference searches and field office searches explicitly requested.