Christian Identity and the Y2K "Conspiracy"

by Laura Maggi

According to Reynolds, some racist and extremist leaders are using the threat of computer malfunctions in the year 2000 to support their predictions about a coming Armageddon at the end of the millennium. Some of these groups have begun to prepare for the social breakdown they anticipate by hoarding food, stockpiling weapons and equipping themselves with survivalist gear.

Reynolds says the Christian Identity movement makes up a significant portion of the groups professing doom for the year 2000, and he estimates that as many as 50,000 people in the United States are involved with the Christian Identity movement.

Reynolds describes "Identity" as a "hard-core Christian sect" derived from a 19th-century British sect. Identity followers believe Anglo-Saxon white people are the true tribe of Israel and consider Jewish people to be "evil incarnate," he said.

According to Reynolds, several pastors associated with the Identity movement have been preaching about the Y2K computer problem for a few years, often connecting it to the doomsday scenarios they paint for their followers.

Who in racist or extremist hate groups are talking about the Y2K computer bug?

REYNOLDS: For example, James Wickstrom, who operates out of Michigan, is the pastor and leader of a Christian Identity group called the Posse Comitatus. He has done two prison terms over the years. He is an extremely volatile speaker and leader in the hard-core Identity movement and he has been really pushing the Y2K scenario for more than two years.

He is hammering away that this would be on the one hand the collapse of this system that they say is controlled by an international Jewish conspiracy to enslave the American public, and white people in particular. The idea is that this whole Y2K thing is part of a conspiracy.

The Israelites, as they refer to themselves, these white, Anglo-Saxon Christians, they see themselves as the true chosen people. They say they should retreat, stockpile food and weapons and prepare for the collapse of society.

But they also plan to take advantage of the collapse of society in order to further their advantage, the white homeland here in America.

Is concern about the computer bug heightened because it comes at the end of the millennium, a significant time for many people?

This very extreme apocalyptic view of the year 2000 and the Y2K so-called millennium bug and the problems that will result in power outages or whatever has been going on. They have been beating this drum for several years. This has been accelerating. Wickstrom and others in the Identity movement, who have all picked up on it to one degree or another and have used it in their proselytizing and their sermons and so forth, have created an atmosphere that is quite heightened. They fear imminent collapse -- some Armageddon or a war-like situation. Wickstrom is just one example. This is a situation that is tailor-made for doomsday prophets and survivalists and terrorists.

How pervasive are fears about the computer bug in particular?

The whole movement is worried about Y2K. That is in the air. It is everywhere. For those who are deep into the movement, they see it as a conspiracy to enslave the American public under the New World Order or they see it as just the logical breakdown of our system. For those people it will be prime opportunity to retreat out of this system, this satanic or communist or New World Order evil system. This is the triggering element. It is just cranked up 200 degrees hotter than rest of the public has seen it.

What are the leaders of these groups telling their followers?

They are taking advantage of it. The cynical ones are making buckets full of cash, selling generators, survival gear. You have that, but then the darker side is the exhortations to prepare for war, prepare for doomsday scenarios. By doing so it gives the opportunity for terrorists out there, people who are contemplating bombing campaigns, bank robberies, sabotage to take advantage of the scenario for the year 2000 because it is in so much of the public mind.

Who are these groups?

There are approximately 40,000 to 50,000 people associated with Christian Identity. In the militia movement, the so-called patriot movement, there are perhaps as many as a million people, including folks from the very benign edges (of the militia movement), folks that are anti-tax, anti-federal government but are not arming themselves but are conducting themselves so that they are cutting themselves off from the system.

Are the groups using the Y2K computer situation, something that is obviously a real problem lots of people are talking about, as a tool to step up recruitment?

Yes, the patriot and Identity groups have used this as a bully pulpit to spread other conspiracy notions and hatred and fear out there when they are gathered on the subject of Y2K. It is an excellent propaganda tool. But not everybody is going to fall for that. One (recruit) out of fifty, that is great as far as they are concerned.

What will law enforcement be doing?

I think all we are going to see with law enforcement, they are going to be a bit more alert in their intelligence regarding Y2K, regarding the time and the year. Just that. I think it has put all of law enforcement and emergency preparedness and so forth on a keener pitch, rather than going proactive with anything.

It is like when April 19th rolls around. There is always a heightened awareness because of the events that have occurred in this country at that time dealing with white separatists and so-called Patriot groups, such as Waco (the Davidians) and the Oklahoma City bombing.

My sense of it is that law enforcement, just like every other government agency, is primarily concerned that they themselves are in compliance (with the Y2K programming bug) for any kind of possible breakdowns in their jurisdiction.

Are you trying to keep law enforcement and prosecutors informed?

With our Intelligence Report, we monitor the racist and anti-democratic movements in this country, the patriots, militia organizations and everything in between. The Intelligence Report goes out to law enforcement to give them a sense of what is going on in the country. Two issues ago, we did a Y2K issue.

What can communities do to counteract a misleading message about Y2K?

Communities should not allow the disruption or fragmentation of their community to be set off or ignited by an organization that promotes hate and division. You do that by being reasonable and counteracting with something positive in the community. Also by being aware of who these people are and what their message is and not being taken in by them.