Stormfront Founder鈥檚 Wife Sets Off Firestorm
A published earlier this month by Hatewatch 鈥 that Chloe Black, wife of former Klan leader , was the public relations contact for a philanthropist鈥檚 efforts to build a campus for children of poor black and Latino children in Florida 鈥 caused quite a stir in the media and elsewhere. The Gawker.com website was one of the first to revisit the story, recounting the Hatewatch item under the headline, (The title referred to the fact that Chloe Black, whose husband founded and runs the major white supremacist website Stormfront, was the contact for a school established by Emilia Fanjul, whose wealthy family runs the Florida Crystals sugar conglomerate.) Then it was the turn of The New York Post鈥檚 Page Six 鈥 probably the best known celebrity gossip column in America 鈥 which ran setting off a whole bevy of similar reports on celebrity gossip websites.
But it was when a version of Hatewatch鈥檚 revelations was in the Palm Beach Post this past Saturday that sparks flew in the white supremacist circles that Chloe, her husband, and ex-husband David Duke inhabit. Even though she had just attended a June event put on by the white supremacist , Black told the Post: 鈥淚 am not involved with the Web site [Stormfront] and do not agree with extremist or racially prejudiced views.鈥 Not only that, but the Post, based on information provided by the Southern Poverty Law Center, also reported that Don Black had recently toned down Stormfront, banning many symbols of Nazism that formerly were common on the site, including swastikas and SS lightning bolts, and getting rid of particularly offensive terms, including 鈥渘-----.鈥
White supremacists were not happy. In racist Web forums, they ripped both Don and Chloe Black, denouncing them for caring more about money than their beliefs.
, the head of the neo-Nazi Vanguard News Network (VNN), was particularly incensed. 鈥淚t鈥檚 not that small a deal,鈥 wrote Linder to a defender of Chloe Black who was minimizing the importance of her comments. 鈥淚t shows that at the end of the day money matters more than principle to WN [White Nationalist] leaders.鈥
Others were cruder in their comments. 鈥淲hat鈥檚 so hard to understand or face about the idea that Don Black (Black is a very common Jewish surname) from Palm Springs [Black actually is from West Palm Beach, Fla.] Florida (a city with the highest Jewish population per capita than anywhere else in the world outside of Israel) is a kosher motherf-----!?鈥 wrote 鈥渕elcur鈥 on VNN. , head of the neo-Nazi American Nationalist Socialist White Peoples Party and a friend of Linder鈥檚, attacked the Stormfront founder under the headline, 鈥淒on Black W----- Himself to the Jew.鈥 White accused Black of selling out 鈥渢o the Jew in exchange for a bit of media exposure and some promotion for his dying and has been website Stormfront.鈥
At least one prominent anti-Semite defended Black: April Gaede, mother of the teen twins who make up the neo-Nazi singing group . 鈥淰ery few people in White Nationalism have the ability to earn a living openly being racial,鈥 wrote Gaede. 鈥淚f she can earn a living and support her family and nationalism then who cares.鈥 However, Gaede鈥檚 post was not well received. 鈥淏ut at the cost of helping the m---聽and jews? Don鈥檛 be stupid,鈥 wrote 鈥淎kingu鈥 on VNN. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 like teaching an attack dog to attack yourself!鈥
In a Stormfront post, Don Black, who the Palm Beach Post reported had recently suffered a stroke, dismissed the hoopla as absurd and blamed the 鈥済utter press.鈥 He also mocked his increasingly disgruntled Stormfronters, noting, 鈥淲ith the never-ending internal drama among members, we often joke about 鈥楬ow the Stormfront Turns.鈥欌