Oct 28, 2008 9:45 am US/Eastern
Sister: Obama Plot Suspect Is Sorry
HELENA-WEST HELENA, Ark. (CBS) ―
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Paul Schlesselman (l) and Daniel Cowart, were arrested in alleged assassination plot against Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama.
AP
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Federal agents say they have broken up a plot to assassinate Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama and shoot or decapitate 102 black people. The men, Daniel Cowart, 20, of Bells, Tenn., and Paul Schlesselman 18, of West Helena, Ark., are being hel
CBS
The family of an 18-year-old man accused of plotting a national killing spree that would end with the assassination of Barack Obama says he didn't like black people, but the plot wasn't serious.
Kayla Schlesselman (SLESH'-sil-man) said Tuesday at the family's Arkansas home that she talked to her brother Paul and that "he's sorry about everything he's done." He's accused of hatching the plot with another teen in Tennessee.
She says her brother didn't like their tiny community of Helena-West Helna because it was prominently black. She also says he believed he was the master race, and would say things like "white power" and "Heil Hitler."
But the teen's father, Mike, says he doesn't believe his son would have carried out the plot and that it was "just a lot of talk."
The two men arrested in the plot to kill Barrack Obama and scores of other non-whites are both avowed racists who met on the internet and planned to act out their white supremacist fantasies on the eve of our national election, reports CBS station WCBS-TV in New York City.
Both 20-year-old Daniel Cowart of Bells, Tennessee, and Schlesselman of West Helena, Arkansas were picked up in a Tennessee Wal-Mart last Thursday buying nylon rope and ski masks to use in a home invasion "fundraiser" for their ultimate plan.
According to a federal agent's affidavit, the pair were embarking on an interstate killing spree in which 88 non-whites would die, 14 of whom would beheaded. The numbers 88 and 14 have special significance in the white racist underworld. In fact among young people having the number 88 on an article of clothing can be a secret signal of like-mindedness.
Roberta Richin, the Executive Director of the Council for Prejudice Reduction on Long Island tells WCBS: "The 88 means 'Heil Hitler,' and it's the eighth letter of the alphabet so it's 'HH.' The 14 is a statement that is a commitment to Aryan worldwide power. Racists would know what they are."
Roberta also says that, from her experience working on hate crimes with both the Nassau and Suffolk county police departments, we should take no comfort in the fact that the plot emerged in another part of the country. "They are everywhere," she assures us, "and they can come out of anywhere. They are small and vocal, and dangerous."
The Council for Prejudice Reduction is a public-private partnership devoted to advancing equity and reducing prejudice especially in public schools.
A look at Daniel Cowart's webpage reveals some of the familiar signs of white supremacy fringe groups including apparent Nazi worship and a fixation of violence and firearms. Moving from talk, though, to action can depend on the general tenor of discourse in the more moderate sectors of the public.
In other words, spiraling political rhetoric can drive extremists to extreme actions.
Roberta says she fears some national figure saying or doing something that could become "a tipping point," for extremists. "The fringe stays in control," she says, "depending on how much the rest of the country stays in control. The extremes are really defined by the center. So the more moderate and balanced and peacefully coexisting we all are, the more moderate and in control the extremes are."
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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