Obama Suspect a White Supremacist

Daniel Cowart is a Member of Supreme White Alliance

Oct 30, 2008 Dresden Quinn Jones

In the days since the arrest of two men allegedly plotting to assassinate Barack Obama, more information on their associations has come to light.

Daniel Cowart of Tennessee was arrested along with Paul Schlesselman, a resident of Alabama, on October 24, 2008, for plotting to kill presidential candidate Barack Obama as a part of a multi-state racially motivated killing spree. Cowart, 20 and Schlesselman, 18, met via the Internet and hatched their plan, which was then uncovered by federal agents.

Cowart and the SWA

Recently, it has been revealed that Daniel Cowart was a member of The Supreme White Alliance, a hate group that is featured on a social networking site and touts Cowart as a member. SWA president Steven Edwards is attempting to distance the group from Cowart’s actions, telling The Associated Press, “We don’t go out and start trouble. We’re more like a social group. We just hang out” (“Center: Cowart Had Ties to Hate Group”). However, the group’s social networking page lists Cowart as its third member and Steven Edwards is listed as one of Cowart’s friends. Edwards is the son of Ron Edwards, the imperial wizard of the Imperial Klans of America. Photos obtained by The Southern Poverty Law Center of SWA members show the group, including Cowart, holding a celebration ot mark the birthday of Adolph Hitler.

The nomination of Barack Obama for President of the United States has sparked some life into realtively unorganized and unmotivated groups like SWA. Websites for hate groups have seen an increase in traffic since Obama's June 3rd nomination. When interviewed by The Washington Post for an article titled "Hate groups busier after Obama's victory" (June 23, 2008), Billy Roper, who runs a hate group called White Revolution, stated, "I haven't seen this much anger in a long, long time."

Assassination Plot and Killing Spree

Cowart and Schlesselman allegedly planned to channel that anger into a killing spree of African Americans, in which they intended to target a school with a large black population, a gun store and anyone they might have needed to rob along the way. They plotted to kill 88 African Americans and behead another 14. Their final stand was to shoot and kill Barack Obama while wearing white tuxedoes and top hats ( “Alleged Plotter Against Obama was Member of Supreme White Alliance” ). The two were apparently fully prepared to die in the attack.

Cowart and Schlesselman are being held in federal custody, charged with illegal possession of a sawed-off shotgun, conspiracy to rob a federal firearms licensee and making threats against a major candidate for the office of the president.

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