ARYAN
DEFLATIONS
A dozen years after the death of its founder, the remnants of the
once-infamous Aryan Nations have just about disappeared
BY BILL MORLIN
22 splc intelligence report
of North Idaho — deliberately burned to
the ground after a devastating civil suit
brought by the Southern Poverty Law
Center (SPLC) and the group’s resulting
bankruptcy in 2000 — white supremacists have regrouped largely through
Internet connections and forums, along
with small in-person gatherings.
There are, however, groups that still
revere the name.
A motorcycle club called the Sadistic
Souls and based in Grovespring, Mo.,
claims allegiance to the Aryan Nations,
and it recently struck up an alliance with
the United Klans of America. But the
Sadistic Souls bikers appear more interested in riding their machines, swilling
beer and posing for photos with their
SPECIAL (AN CHURCH); CORBIS/EVAN HURD/SYGMA (BUTLER)
The Aryan Nations — once the bestknown white supremacist group in the
nation — all but faded into racist history
as 2015 drew to a close.
A mere 12 years after the death of
Aryan Nations founder Richard Girnt
Butler, there is no longer an official
“Aryan Nations World Headquarters”
or a website promoting his racist ideology, which mixed anti-Semitic Christian
Identity theology, Hitler-worship and the
white supremacy of the Ku Klux Klan.
That’s not to say, of course, that white
supremacy, bigotry, racism, neo-Nazi
ideas and a lingering fascination with
Butler have disappeared.
But rather than gathering at Butler’s
Aryan church and clubhouse in the woods