Richard Barrett was an American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 lawyer

Lawyer

A lawyer, according to Black's Law Dictionary, is "a person learned in the law; as an attorney, counsel or solicitor; a person who is practicing law." Law is the system of rules of conduct established by the sovereign government of a society to correct wrongs, maintain the stability of political...

, white nationalist

White nationalism

White nationalism is a political ideology which advocates a racial definition of national identity for white people. White separatism and white supremacism are subgroups within white nationalism. The former seek a separate white nation state, while the latter add ideas from social Darwinism and...

, and self-proclaimed leader in the nationalist Skinheadz movement. Barrett was a speaker and editor of the All The Way monthly newsletter. He was general counsel of the Nationalist Movement, which he founded in Mississippi.

Barrett was born in New York City

New York City

New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...

, and according to his biography, his family moved away to avoid the influx of Jewish and Puerto Rican

Puerto Rico

Puerto Rico , officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico , is an unincorporated territory of the United States, located in the northeastern Caribbean, east of the Dominican Republic and west of both the United States Virgin Islands and the British Virgin Islands.Puerto Rico comprises an...

 immigrants. He graduated from Rutgers University

Rutgers University

Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey , is the largest institution for higher education in New Jersey, United States. It was originally chartered as Queen's College in 1766. It is the eighth-oldest college in the United States and one of the nine Colonial colleges founded before the American...

, later returning his diploma to a then-Marxist

Marxism

Marxism is an economic and sociopolitical worldview and method of socioeconomic inquiry that centers upon a materialist interpretation of history, a dialectical view of social change, and an analysis and critique of the development of capitalism. Marxism was pioneered in the early to mid 19th...

 professor, Eugene Genovese, following infantry service in the Vietnam War

Vietnam War

The Vietnam War was a Cold War-era military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. This war followed the First Indochina War and was fought between North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the government of...

. He graduated from Memphis State University Law School in 1974.

In 1968, Barrett served as executive director of the South Carolina

South Carolina

South Carolina is a state in the Deep South of the United States that borders Georgia to the south, North Carolina to the north, and the Atlantic Ocean to the east. Originally part of the Province of Carolina, the Province of South Carolina was one of the 13 colonies that declared independence...

 branch of the American Independent Party

American Independent Party

The American Independent Party is a right-wing political party of the United States that was established in 1967 by Bill and Eileen Shearer. In 1968, the American Independent Party nominated George C. Wallace as its presidential candidate and retired Air Force General Curtis E. LeMay as the vice...

, on behalf of George C. Wallace's presidential bid. He organized and chaired Youth for Wallace, and in 1969 he organized and chaired the National Youth Alliance

National Youth Alliance

The National Youth Alliance was a right-wing political organization founded on November 15, 1968 at the Army and Navy Club by Willis Carto, head of the right-wing Liberty Lobby. The aim of the group was to recruit students to counter liberal and Marxist groups on college campuses like Students for...

 (which later transformed into the National Alliance). In 1976, he was chairman of Democrats for Reagan

Ronald Reagan

Ronald Wilson Reagan was the 40th President of the United States , the 33rd Governor of California and, prior to that, a radio, film and television actor....

, and in 1977 he served as judge-advocate of the Veterans of Foreign Wars

Veterans of Foreign Wars

The Veterans of Foreign Wars of the United States is a congressionally chartered war veterans organization in the United States. Headquartered in Kansas City, Missouri, VFW currently has 1.5 million members belonging to 7,644 posts, and is the largest American organization of combat...

.

In 1982, Barrett published The Commission, a memoir

Memoir

A memoir , is a literary genre, forming a subclass of autobiography – although the terms 'memoir' and 'autobiography' are almost interchangeable. Memoir is autobiographical writing, but not all autobiographical writing follows the criteria for memoir set out below...

 advocating the resettlement of "those who were once citizens" to "Puerto Rico, Mexico, Israel, the Orient, and Africa." Contending that non-whites

White people

White people is a term which usually refers to human beings characterized, at least in part, by the light pigmentation of their skin...

, especially blacks

Black people

The term black people is used in systems of racial classification for humans of a dark skinned phenotype, relative to other racial groups.Different societies apply different criteria regarding who is classified as "black", and often social variables such as class, socio-economic status also plays a...

, were inferior: "The Negro

Negro

The word Negro is used in the English-speaking world to refer to a person of black ancestry or appearance, whether of African descent or not...

 race... possess[es] no creativity of its own [and] pulls the vitality away from civilization." He advocated sterilization and abortions of the "unfit".

In 1989 Barrett visited England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

. He attended the Annual General Meeting of the National Front

British National Front

The National Front is a far right, white-only political party whose major political activities took place during the 1970s and 1980s. Its popularity peaked in the 1979 general election, when it received 191,719 votes ....

 political party where he signed "The New Atlantic Charter" pledging solidarity between the party and the Nationalist Movement. He also linked up with Alan Harvey to support apartheid in South Africa

South Africa

The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...

. The following year Barrett played host to Nick Griffin

Nick Griffin

Nicholas John "Nick" Griffin is a British politician, chairman of the British National Party and Member of the European Parliament for North West England....

.

In 1992, Barrett argued the case of Forsyth County, Georgia v. The Nationalist Movement

Forsyth County, Georgia v. The Nationalist Movement

Forsyth County, Georgia v. The Nationalist Movement, 505 U.S. 123 , was a case in which the United States Supreme Court limited the ability of local governments to charge fees for the use of public places for private activities...

before the United States Supreme Court. In 2004, Barrett organized a booth at the Neshoba County Fair in Mississippi for the public to shake hands with Edgar Ray Killen

Edgar Ray Killen

Edgar Ray "Preacher" Killen is a former Ku Klux Klan organizer who conspired in the murders of three civil rights activists—James Chaney, Andrew Goodman and Michael Schwerner—in 1964....

 and sign a petition of support. Killen, who did not appear at the aforementioned event, was later convicted of manslaughter for his role in the 1964 Ku Klux Klan

Ku Klux Klan

Ku Klux Klan, often abbreviated KKK and informally known as the Klan, is the name of three distinct past and present far-right organizations in the United States, which have advocated extremist reactionary currents such as white supremacy, white nationalism, and anti-immigration, historically...

-led murders of three civil rights activists

Mississippi civil rights worker murders

The Mississippi civil rights workers murders involved the lynching of three political activists in Neshoba County, Mississippi on June 21, 1964, during the American Civil Rights Movement....

. In an interview, Barrett predicted that the nation would rally around Killen. Barrett represented Tennessee activist James L. Hart

James L. Hart

James L. Hart is an American political activist.-Biography:Hart ran as a Republican for the House of Representatives for Tennessee's Eighth District in 2004. His campaign was unconventional in part in listing for itself an out-of-state address, in Kentucky...

 in 2006, when Hart was removed from the ballot by the GOP on the grounds of not being a bona fide

Bona Fide

Bona Fide is a studio album from rock band Wishbone Ash. It is the first studio album in six years and is the only studio album to feature guitarist Ben Granfelt...

member of the party due to his promotion of eugenics

Eugenics

Eugenics is the "applied science or the bio-social movement which advocates the use of practices aimed at improving the genetic composition of a population", usually referring to human populations. The origins of the concept of eugenics began with certain interpretations of Mendelian inheritance,...

. Barrett's efforts were not successful, and Hart was forced to run as a write-in candidate

Write-in candidate

A write-in candidate is a candidate in an election whose name does not appear on the ballot, but for whom voters may vote nonetheless by writing in the person's name. Some states and local jurisdictions allow a voter to affix a sticker with a write-in candidate's name on it to the ballot in lieu...

.

Barrett was found dead in his home on April 22, 2010, in Pearl, Mississippi

Pearl, Mississippi

Pearl is a city in Rankin County, Mississippi, United States. The population was 21,961 at the 2000 census. It is part of the Jackson Metropolitan Statistical Area....

, after reports of his house being on fire. Sheriff Ronnie Pennington said the death was being investigated as a homicide, as he was apparently stabbed. Pennington also said that the murder was not racially motivated. Vincent Justin McGee, 22, was arrested on April 22. Three more arrests were subsequently made. In his confession, McGee alleged that Barrett had made sexual advances to him, sending him into a rage

Gay panic defense

The gay panic defense is a legal defense against charges of assault or murder. A defendant using the gay panic defense claims that he or she acted in a state of violent temporary insanity because of a little-known psychiatric condition called homosexual panic. Trans panic is a similar defense...

. McGee also said that at the time he murdered Barrett, he was not aware of the fact that Barrett was a white supremacist.

McGee said that he stabbed Barrett after Barrett reportedly dropped his pants and told McGee to perform oral sex

Oral sex

Oral sex is sexual activity involving the stimulation of the genitalia of a sex partner by the use of the mouth, tongue, teeth or throat. Cunnilingus refers to oral sex performed on females while fellatio refer to oral sex performed on males. Anilingus refers to oral stimulation of a person's anus...

. McGee was charged with capital murder, robbery, and arson. Prosecutors are seeking a life sentence for McGee.

External links

• Richard Barrett ADL profile of Barrett
• 250 protest Barnett's rally
• Barrett's New Jersey protest
• Richard Barrett Racist Hall of Shame member
• White Supremacists and the Mississippi State Fair – Tavis Smiley
  Tavis Smiley
  Tavis Smiley is a talk show host, author, liberal political commentator, entrepreneur, advocate and philanthropist. Smiley was born in Gulfport, Mississippi and grew up in Kokomo, Indiana. After attending Indiana University, he worked during the late 1980s as an aide to Tom Bradley, the mayor of...
  
   interviews Richard Barrett on National Public Radio
• Lott's daughter hits back at segregationist – article about protest against Barrett
• Google report of Barrett's death
• WJTV report on Barrett's death
• FBI file on Richard Barrett