Appalling Apparel: WCOTC Sells Benjamin Smith T-Shirts
World Church of the Creator (WCOTC) leader Matt Hale sent out an e-mail announcing that WCOTC is selling T-shirts commemorating Benjamin "August" Smith as a "First Amendment martyr." Smith went on a shooting spree in Chicago over the Fourth of the July Weekend last summer. He killed two people and wounded nine others, focusing his attacks on Jews and people of color. He committed suicide before being apprehended.
Hale has refused to condemn Smith's action, but maintains that violence is not promoted by his racist group. In the e-mail Hale says that, if he had been granted a license to practice law by the Illinois Bar, Smith would not have gone on the rampage. Hale, a law school graduate, was denied a license by the Illinois Bar because of WCOTC's racist views. The Illinois Supreme Court has since upheld the Bar's action. Hale concludes that "had the First Amendment truly been upheld, BOTH BROTHER SMITH AND HIS ÎVICTIMS' WOULD BE ALIVE RIGHT NOW" (Emphasis in original.)
The T-shirts have WCOTC's logo on the front surrounded by the words RAHOWA (racial holy war) and Delenda est Judaica (Judaism must be destroyed). On the back, Benjamin Smith is pictured with the title "First Amendment Martyr." Hale said the shirts are $15 for "those with the guts to wear them."