If you’re a big racist, this is your kind of art. I found these paintings on the homepage of the Creativity Movement, a self-professed religion promoting “White Civil Rights, White Self-Determination and White Liberation via 100 percent legal activism.” And yes, it’s all wrong, but something about the paintings stuck with me. They’re the kind of awkward renderings Napoleon Dynamite might come up with if he was into military chicks and Nazism, which is a combo you just don’t see enough of. I tried to interview the artist, a guy named Ron McMann, but he wouldn’t speak to me. Luckily, the leader of the Creativity Movement—one Reverend James Logsdon—did agree to talk, so I called him at his home in Bloomington, Illinois. We were meant to discuss art, but we ended up in a conversation about life. From a very, very racist perspective.
VICE: Hi James. So when I write the article I’ll probably refer to you as a racist. Is that OK?
Reverend James Logsdon: Oh yeah, that’s fine. Racist is not a negative word. Over the last 30-40 years it’s become a bad word but there was a time in America and Australia too, when being racist was normal. It’s just these liberals that say society was horrible back then. Was it? You look at the 1950s, was society really that bad? So now the term, racist, no, I use that word with pride.
OK, let’s talk art. I’ve noticed all this blond hair, clean, Nordic landscapes – it all seems to scream purity. Can you tell me why?
Well, we’ve adopted the whole Aryan thing from Nazi philosophy. You know the blonde hair and blue eyes are all supposed to be the most pure aspects of the white race but that’s just genetics. People can have blond hair and blue eyes and not be of that purist European genealogy. Likewise, white people can also have brown or red hair so the idea that people have to be blond to be pure, I don’t support that. I would personally rather show pictures of white families as a symbol of pure genealogy. The symbolism of purity in terms of blood line is important to us but not the specifics. I personally don’t support the Nazi stuff at all.
And what’s with all the hot girls?
Women are the future of any race; of any people. Also we’re looking to inspire people and there’s nothing more that inspires a man than a woman. That’s just in general, for any heterosexual man anyway.
What percentage of pro-white movement are women?
I’d say 10 – 15 percent. Very few women become involved as activists and the problem is that we’ve got a lot of aggressive men who can be intimidating. You know, skinheads and fights – they’re not very appealing images to women.
Are you aggressive?
Well, five and a half years in a maximum security prison here in Illinois, yeah, I would say I’m an aggressive person. I’m also a former closed fist boxer so I’ve been a fighter all my life. As I’ve become more of a family man though, I’ve began to settle down.
So you’re a family man?
Yep. Married with four kids. So I’m pretty much what you might say is normal but unfortunately in this movement, and I’ll be blunt honest with you, 80 to 90% of the people involved are social outcasts. They were people who were never accepted and they find the pro-white movement easily accepting. That then encourages the negative stereotype that we have in the movement. That’s a stigma that me and a few others are trying to fix.
Can I ask why you’re so angry?
Well, I was raised by a Vietnam veteran and he was very disgruntled with Asians. This meant I was raised in an aggressive and, what you might say, racist household. Then I had to go to an all black school and I was the minority so I had to put my back against the wall. Being angry was always just going to happen.
Were you friends with any of the black students at school?
Oh I wouldn’t say friends but acquaintances, yeah. I wouldn’t use the word “friend” loosely anyway. I think if you have one or two friends, true friends, in your whole life then you’re lucky.
Alright, let’s go back to the art. What’s good art and what’s bad art?
I think good art is technical ability. I’ve seen a lot of art out there that is just complete garbage. It gets promoted by some of these art enthusiasts because of its message and I’m looking at it and you just see a bunch of paint blobs. Here’s another aspect of art – I’m covered in tattoos and I consider a lot of tattoo artists to be amazing, especially if they can do a free-hand.
Do you look like Edward Norton in American History X?
No, he’s got more tattoos than me. I’ve only got 19 and a lot of those are actually complete shit. I’ve got this 18 inch Celtic knight blending into a tribal art piece on my stomach and chest and it’s just completely horrible. It’s just a big black blob that’ll cost me $10,000 to remove.
I’ve seen a photo of it. It’s the one with the swastika and it looks pretty permanent. This makes me ask, have you ever wondered if you’re wrong?
You know, the only time I’ve wondered if I’m wrong, is when I’ve ran for my own people and they’ve given me nothing but negativity. It’s not that I feel then that I’m wrong in my mission, it’s that I’m wasting my time. Every time I’ve gone to a rally over the years, over 95% of the people who’ve showed up to protest are my own people. They just don’t even want to be saved. This makes me think it’s fruitless.
Does this make you feel alone?
Oh completely.
Completely. But that doesn’t mean I shouldn’t do it. The important thing is that when I lay my head down at night I know I’m doing the right thing.
So if you’re doing the right things, have your beliefs and actions made your life better?
Absolutely not. A few years ago I was building houses and I had 19 guys working for me and I was making $70,000 a year. Now, I can’t get a job pumping gas. Now the first thing any employer does is Google my name and believe me, no employer wants to be tied to someone with my history. So actually, it’s completely destroyed my life but in the long run I know it’ll be worth it.
Worth it how?
Believe me, things are going to get very, very ugly. You just look at the common decline of society; you’d have to be blind to say that doesn’t exist. And whatever the effects in my life, I just have to look beyond that. I have to put myself aside so that we can all have a better future.
By Julian Morgans
Follow Julian on Twitter: @MorgansJulian
http://www.vice.com/read/rev-james-logsdon-doesnt-know-art-but-he-knows-he-likes-racist-art