White-Rights Speech in Pennsylvania
Library Triggers Violence; 25 Arrested
A January 12 speech at the Martin Memorial Library in York, Pennsylvania, by Matthew Hale, founder of the World Church of the Creator, drew an audience of 70. It also brought hundreds more out into the streets, where clashes between supporters of the white supremacist and anti-racist demonstrators resulted in the arrests of 25 people.
Michael Cook, of the World Church’s York area chapter, told the library when he reserved the meeting space in November that it was for his church; it was only in December that officials learned which church Cook meant. They decided not to cancel the event because they thought doing so would not hold up to a legal challenge.
Hale dropped a First Amendment lawsuit in August against the Schaumburg (Ill.) Township District Library after officials agreed to his appearance in the meeting room despite their concern for public safety.
Hale said he wanted to speak in York because of racial tensions there: Last year nine white men, including former mayor Charles Robertson, were arrested in the 1969 shooting death of a black woman during race riots there, the January 13 Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported.
Posted January 21, 2002.
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