“We’ll have to see how successful the current one is,” Lucas said. He took a blue-leather visitor’s chair in front of Lang’s desk, as Lang sat down again.
Gibson said, “Charles, I need to finish with that email. Would either of you like a drink before I do that? Orange juice? Lemonade?”
Lucas said, “No, thanks. I just ate breakfast.”
Lang said, “Not yet, but bring me a lemonade when you finish with the mail.” Gibson left, and Lang turned back to Lucas.
Lucas said, “You know why I asked to see you—I’ve been told that you’re one of the leading experts on these alt-right groups,white supremacists, neo-Nazis, and so on. We’re looking particularly at a group called 1919.”
“1919. Extraordinarily interesting. Came out of nowhere. You’re aware of the 88 meme...”
“The letter ‘H’ is the eighth letter of the alphabet so ‘88’ is code for ‘HH’ which is code for ‘Heil Hitler,’” Lucas said. “1919 is SS, as in the Nazi SS.”
“Exactly right.” Lang had never stopped smiling, his eyes bright. “I’ve researched these groups for years, but I’d never encountered 1919 before, but now, it seems obvious. Not the existence of the group, but the existence of the name.”
“You wouldn’t know who might have invented it, where it might have come from...”
“No, no, not a clue. I’ve spoken to some of my contacts in the field and they’re asking around. I’ve put out word that I would like to speak to the 1919 folks.”
“That might be a little risky?” Lucas made it a question.
“Oh... some of them aren’t harmless, you know, but they generally seem to appreciate my attention,” Lang said. “The biggest problem most of these groups face is misunderstanding...”
“I would think their biggest problem, if you’ll excuse the language, is that they’re racist assholes and they’re widely hated,” Lucas said.
Lang’s smile faded a bit. “Let me finish my thought, if you would, Marshal. The biggest problems most of these groups face is misunderstanding. Most are extremely conservative in the traditional sense of that word, but most have no particular liking for Adolf Hitler or the German National Socialists. Yet, when they go public with their beliefs, the media immediately brandsthem as ‘Nazis.’ Now, you used the word ‘racist.’ Perfectly good word, until recently. Look at what’s been happening with the Democratic Party in the struggle between the so-called Progressives and the so-called moderates. All of these people are liberal by normal standards, but they accuse one another of being racist at the slightest deviation from the Progressive party line. And heaven help the poor Republicans—they’re all racists, every last man jack of them. Once accused, once labeled, there’s barely any way to escape. The same is true with these—I hate the term ‘alt-right,’ but everybody uses it—these alt-right groups. The media won’t allow them to be alt-right without being Nazis.”
“But 1919isSS,” Lucas said.
Lang’s wide smile returned. “Yes, it is. It makes them almost unique. Very interesting.Veryinteresting. From my perspective, of course. As a scholar.”
“Of course,” Lucas said. “Listen, I need to ask, if I were to go looking for them, where would I start? It seems like they’d be pretty far off on the extreme right end of things. The clippings on the website include everything from old Klan people to, you know, actual saluting goose-stepping neo-Nazis.”
“The most extreme of these people would be unlikely to talk with a marshal. You’re the enemy,” Lang said.
“So you wouldn’t be able to make an introduction.”
Lang’s chair was on a swivel, and he’d been swiveling from side to side as they talked, and now he slowly turned all the way around, his lips pursed, looking at the ceiling. It had the feel of a well-rehearsed act, Lucas thought.
When Lang came back around, he said, “That might not bequite right. However, before we get to that, I would like to ask... why do you think this group is alt-right? 1919?”
“The files they posted...”
“Are all alt-right, or extreme right, or crazy right—the KKK and so on. But if some child should get shot, those very groups are the most likely to be attacked by the federal government. Why would they invite that? It seems to me just as likely that the posts were put up by some left-wing group, who might be able to make the same phone call to a senator that the alt-right people might make, without the risk of being attacked by the government.”
“You’re the first person to suggest that,” Lucas said.
“I wouldn’t doubt it, since there seems to be a hunger by the liberal deep state to eradicate the alt-right,” Lang said. “Now, you want to know about who might organize something like that. Let me suggest that you check the American National Militia. They’re certainly not Nazis. They’re more like what I would classify as anarchists—extreme libertarians. They don’t want a powerful fascist government, they don’t want any government at all—and they may very well have committed violent acts. I don’t know that for sure, that’s what I hear. The actual leader of the group is unknown to me, or to anyone other than a few members. He’s supposedly called Old John. There was some controversy over in Kentucky about a group of men doing firearms training—sniper training—and practicing guerilla tactics at a camp in a forested area, and they were said to be members of the ANM. There were quite a number of them, so it is a substantial group.”
“What violent acts? What’d you hear?” Lucas asked.
Lang leaned forward and put his forearms on his desk. “A number of things. There was a developer in Erie, Pennsylvania, who asked the city council to use its power of eminent domain to condemn a series of older condominiums that took up a prime city block, so that he could build one of those mixed-use business and condominium projects. Replace something old and ugly with something new and expensive. Brew pub, fern bars, that sort of thing. Starbucks. The council was going along with it when the developer got plugged between the eyes in what looked like a road-rage incident. There was a rumor among certain extremist groups on the left that he was killed to stop the eminent domain process. And that happened. The old condominiums are there to this day.”
“People think the ANM did it?”
“That was the rumor on the alt-left, if I can call them that. Then there were two shootings in Michigan. Do you know what tax deed states are?”
“Mmm... not exactly,” Lucas said.
