[Peace-discuss] co-sponsorship troubles

[Ricky Baldwin]

Folks,

At the last meeting, we agreed to postpone endorsing a
talk by Bill Baker until we could find out more.  I
admit I thought we were being overly cautious, but
when I started poking around, I was troubled by what I
found.  At one stage of thesearch, Ithought there was
nothing to worry about, but judge for yourself...

The Anti-Defamation League has accused Bill Baker of
anti-Semitism, according to the Orange County Weekly. 
The article says Baker was briefly chairman of the
Populist Party, an extreme rightwing organization
founded by the Liberty Lobby – a neo-Nazi group that
published “The Spotlight” for years.  (They promote
Holocaust denial, Jewish conspiracy theories and sell
KKK shirts, etc.)  And it claims the ADL has evidence
of anti-Jewish speeches Baker allegedly made at a
meeting of the Christian Patriot Defense League.  The
article also claims Protestant minister Robert
Schuller severed tied with Baker when this connection
was revealed.

I could find no response from Baker to the charges,
except in the same article, where Baker is quoted as
admitting that he was chairman of the Populist Party,
but that he had not known it was a racist group and
quit when he found out.  Another neo-Nazi publication,
The Nationalist News, says Baker quit in a power
struggle and refers to Baker as an “honorable man.” 
The article accuses several others of being Jewish
double-agents, but it makes no reference to
ideological differences with Baker.  The ADL’s website
does not mention Baker.

The Unification Church, founded by Sun Myung Moon,
also promotes Baker’s work, but I found no evidence
that their admiration is reciprocated.  A few sites
opposed to Israeli or Indian foreign policies speak
highly of Baker’s work, but I found little information
we could use in any of these.  Reviews of Baker’s
books are scarce and, as far as I could tell,
superficial.

I did ask Roaa if she had anything more definitive,
but she had only recently learned of the allegations
herself.  So unless somebody else finds something I
think we’re left with a judgment call: either (1) the
entire story is fabricated, including Baker’s
statement, and there is another Bill Baker who is
anti-Semitic; or (2) Baker is a racist and we cannot
endorse his talk (supplying our info to the Muslim
Student Assoc.).  There is, of course, a third option:
we aren’t sure, but we’re afraid of the allegations –
but that doesn’t sound like AWARE.

Hope this helps.

Ricky

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