Nothing in Matthew Hale's manners gives away his status as one of the most notorious racists in the United States. Still gawky at 31, Hale—the Pontifex Maximus of the World Church of the Creator (WCOTC)—responded to my e-mail request for an interview with a note beginning “Dear Mr. Arellano.” After respectfully answering all my questions, he concluded with “Yours truly,” even though I am a member of the “mud people” his church says are ruining the world.
Hale is a charismatic young man who could play in Peoria—which, incidentally, is where the WCOTC urges all followers to move in preparation for the upcoming racial holy war, or RAHOWA, an acronym that, when shouted, serves as the church's rallying cry.
Hale was supposed to appear March 30 at the Newport Beach Mariners Library. Advertised for nearly a month in advance in Orange County's white-supremacist community, the event was called off a week ago by Hale before he ever rented the room.
According to the WCOTC's Orange County chapter website, the organization suspects “Jewish forces” within the city prohibited the event. But Hale (who ended his e-mail to me with an advertisement for a sermon proclaiming, “The Jew is through in 2002!”) offered a more pragmatic reason: he didn't want to risk his ass.
“Essentially, the library has rules governing the use of its meeting rooms that are blatantly unconstitutional,” Hale wrote. He pointed out two rules he says violate the First Amendment: a library administrator's power to end a meeting at any time, and the library's option of requiring a million-dollar insurance policy in advance of an event.
Regarding this latter rule, it's reasonable to point out that in announcing the scheduled Newport Beach visit of Pontifex Maximus, Hale's local website (www.geocities.com/wcotcnewport beach/) hinted at the possibility of violence: “SECURITY IS NEEDED. So if any of you big and buff skins would like to help out, WE NEED YOU!”
Knowing that violent protests follow him, Hale supporters say, Pontifex Maximus simply postponed the event. “I fully intend to speak there in the future,” Hale said, “but it may be necessary to file a lawsuit first.”
Such a lawsuit wouldn't be his first. Last year, Hale successfully sued a public library in Schaumburg, Illinois, for the right to speak there.
Meanwhile, Hale is looking for a few good Orange County white men and women to spread his gospel. In a March 18 interview on the Orange-based Internet show Radio White (www.radiowhite.com), Hale told host Ken Etiquette that the WCOTC is only beginning to reach its potential in California.
“Any white person who has any semblance of race must be alarmed by the takeover of the state by the mud people,” he said. “If someone wants to take the bulls by the horns in California, we'd love to hear from them.”
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