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World Church of the Creator (WCOTC) leader Matt Hale spoke to three University of Montana classes on October 15. He was invited by sociology Professor Rob Balch, who teaches a class on group behavior and uses the racist right to illustrate group behavior dynamics. As Hale took the podium, it was easy to see that the audience was impressed. He didn't fit the general stereotype of a white supremacist. Wearing a suit and tie, Hale looked more like the president of a chess club than a racist. Hale began by saying he didn't believe he could change anyone's views in the audience, but he appreciated the opportunity to speak. "This is the first time I've been invited to speak and made it," he said, alluding to his lawsuit against Illinois State University for canceling an invitation.

The amiable attitude of the crowd became more hostile as Hale continued. Hale said he had noticed a horrible trend early in his education. He had been taught tolerance and diversity, but began to notice that most of the great inventions and civilizations throughout history were created by white people. He began to think, "If everyone is equal, the other races would've contributed." His search for answers brought him to World War II and Hitler. "I had to agree with Hitler's views on race," he said.

Hale toned down WCOTC's hardcore language. He never uttered the phrase "mud people," a term WCOTC uses to describe people of color. An audience member asked him about the term, and he refused to acknowledge he uses it. Hale said it was a term "some people use" to describe non-whites. However, his contempt for people of color was apparent. He stated, "Blacks commit violence out of impulse. There is no thought involved." To show white superiority, Hale said, "White serial killers are intelligent." Hale's descriptions of Jewish people were blatantly anti-Semitic, but he stopped short of calling them parasites as the White Man's Bible does on numerous occasions.

Hale claimed that "race mixing is its own form of hatred," because it dilutes and weakens the white race. He also said discrimination and hate are natural emotions and are, therefore, right. "We discriminate everyday, even when we go to the grocery story," Hale said. "It is right to discriminate because it's natural." He viewed hate as acceptable because it is a defense mechanism.

An audience member asked if WCOTC would endorse anyone in the upcoming presidential election. Hale said WCOTC views politicians as "white elites" who are part of the problem. "Pat Buchanan is too moderate," he said. "When Pat wants to come out and say, ÎYes, I'm a racist,' we'd think about it." Hale said he gave up politics after running for city council and receiving 14 percent of the vote. Instead, he began searching for a church. "Politics is the most corrupt field there is," he said. "Religion was the way to go. It encompasses values." It was during this transition that he found WCOTC.

Hale refused to say anything bad about Benjamin Smith who went on the shooting spree last July in Chicago. "He treated me with friendship," Hale said. "I do disapprove of what he did." Hale maintained throughout his speech that WCOTC did not promote violence. However, he said if all others measures fail, violence may be the only answer.

According to email messages sent by WCOTC, Hale considers his time at U of M a major victory. In an October 9th message, Hale said his U of M appearance was the first of its kind in WCOTC's 26-year history. He urged students at other universities to push for speaking engagements at their institutions. He hopes that "the fantastic success that transpired in Montana can be replicated again and again."

Hale's speech wasn't the only WCOTC message to appear in Missoula since its Northwest Rendezvous. On September 9th, the week following WCOTC's annual gathering in Superior, Missoula's south hills were hit with a literature drop of Facts That the Government and the Media Don't Want You to Know. This area has been papered before with WCOTC literature. WCOTC did another literature drop on the night before the Network's conference in Missoula.