Supremacist postings revealed
CHARLOTTE -- A city council candidate dropped out of the race Friday after it was disclosed that he posted comments to a white supremacist Internet bulletin board more than 4,000 times.
Doug Hanks said the postings on the site were fictional and designed to win white supremacists' trust as he researched a novel he was writing.
"I needed information for the book and some other writings I was doing," Hanks told The Associated Press on Friday. "Obviously, when you go to a site like that as a reporter, nobody's going to give you the time of day. I did what I thought I needed to do to establish myself as a credible white nationalist."
Hanks' 4,000 postings to the Web site over the past three years were first reported Thursday by The Rhinoceros Times, a weekly newspaper.
Web postings
In a June 1 posting, Hanks wrote: "When Blacks start acting equally, only then will they enjoy the benefits of being treated equally. I treat a rabid dog differently from a healthy one. In fact, this gives me a terrific idea! Let's treat all the Blacks like the rabid beasts they are. 'Yeller! Here Boy!' "
Michael Dickerson, director of elections for Mecklenburg County, said Hanks formally withdrew from the race Friday morning. Hanks had filed papers seeking the Republican nomination for one of four at-large seats on Charlotte's council.
Hanks' novel, called "Patriot Act" and self-published under the name D.A. Hanks, is described on Hanks' Web site as " 'Unintended Consequences' and 'Harrison Bergeron' meets 'The Turner Diaries'. ... The book presents some unique methods of improvising weaponry when our guns are banned, as well as preparing and caching your weapons when that inevitable day arrives." The Web site also advertises an 80-page guide by Hanks that tells how to build a rifle "that requires no Government paperwork!"
Seeking an audience
Hanks told the AP that he thinks the Patriot Act has sent the nation sliding "downhill into a totalitarian society" but that he wanted his novel about it to appeal to more than just "the gun crowd."
"I saw how successful these 'Turner Diaries' had been, and that was the path to take," he said.
"The Turner Diaries," a racist novel by William Pierce that begins with a truck bombing of FBI headquarters as part of a war against the government, is thought to have inspired Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh.
"That [white supremacist readership] was who I was trying to target for better sales of the book," he said. "They have more of a tendency to word of mouth, to say, 'Hey, you ought to pick this up.' "
Hanks, who describes himself as a contractor, minister and conservation officer, was active in a debate last winter over whether a Confederate battle flag would be allowed to fly over a public cemetery in Charlotte. In January, he scaled a flagpole and reattached the flag. The city later removed both the flag and the pole.
But he said his support for that fight was distinct from racist beliefs.
"I believe wholeheartedly that the Confederate flag was [taken] down for the wrong reasons," he said Friday. "If there had been a black regimental flag there, I would have done the same thing."
Republican Mayor Pat McCrory condemned Hanks.
"He's a man of total inner hatred in both his heart and soul, and it doesn't matter what party he's in," McCrory said.
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