Louis Beam: In His Own Words
Samples of Louis Beam's speeches and writings, 1983-2002.
For 30 years, Louis Ray Beam has been a leading firebrand of the American revolutionary right.
An angry man, full of rage since his years as a helicopter machine gunner in Vietnam, Beam has gained a reputation as a white-hot movement speaker with a flair for the dramatic and a fondness for vivid phraseology.
He also is famous for his essays on such topics as "leaderless resistance" and what he sees as the disappearing divide between the traditional right and left.
Here, gathered from essays and speeches from the 1980s to the present, are some of his words:
From "Understanding the Struggle," Essays of a Klansman, 1983:
In the United States today a great war is raging, a war that, despite its supreme importance to mankind, is unknown to all but its participants. The conflict is between forces of good and evil, life and death. It is a struggle that, by its outcome, will decide the future of the world. ...
The totality of white existence is on the line — hedging, hanging, pendulously swinging in the balance — as our actions and deeds weigh the difference on the scale of fate.
From "Foreword," Essays of a Klansman, 1983:
Our goal — a Racial Nation of and by ourselves — nothing less. No compromise, no concessions, no quid pro quo, no rest or cessation of effort and will until we have our National State. Those who work for our Nation are our allies; those who oppose it are adversaries.
From "It Is Time," Essays of a Klansman, 1983:
The time is past for talk. ... We must begin the preparations necessary to retrieve our country from the hands of the enemy which now controls it. It should be plain to everyone what is needed: knives, guns and courage.
Our Forefathers ... knew what to do. No trembling in boots, no debate about the legalities of shooting British agents, no talk of loss of job or bills to be paid. They killed their oppressors, shot them in the stomach or in the face, slit their throats, and relished the warmth of the tyrants' blood between their fingers.
Where are such men today?
From "Forget! Hell No," Essays of a Klansman, 1983:
When we came home [from Vietnam] they threw blood in our faces, and feces on our caskets. No excuses now will change that. It could have been prevented. But there was no desire to prevent it. It was allowed, encouraged, and even promoted by the very people who sent us over there.
Now they think they can bury some poor soul in Arlington National Cemetery, and at the same time bury the guilt along with their conscience. Never! They can erect all the black marble slabs they want, have all of the 15-year-late parades they care to, but it will change nothing.
From "Leaderless Resistance," Inter-Klan Newsletter & Survival Alert, 1983
This 'orthodox' pyramid scheme of organization ... is not only useless, but extremely dangerous for the participants when it is utilized as a resistance movement against communism, because experience has revealed over and over again that so-called 'secret army' organizations are sitting ducks for enemy infiltration, entrapment and destruction of the personnel involved. ...
The so-called 'phantom cell' mode of organization ... does not have any central control or direction. ... [A]ll members of phantom cells will [instead] tend to react to objective events in the same way, usually through tactics of resistance and sabotage.
From "Computers and the American Patriot," 1984:
It may very well be that American know-how has provided the technology which will allow those who love this country to save it from an ill deserved fate. Computers, once solely the domain and possession of governments and large corporations, are now bringing their power and capabilities to the average American. ...
Imagine, if you can, a single computer to which all leaders and strategists of the patriotic movement are connected. Imagine further that any patriot in the country is able to tap into this computer at will. ...
Such a computer is already in existence and operational. We hereby announce the Aryan Liberty Net.
From "Within or Without the System," 1987:
Working 'within the system' has not produced a SINGLE positive result toward restoring constitutional government. ... A single example, though hundreds can be given, should suffice to demonstrate this.
For over 40 years now, the naked symbol of a world government has resided on American soil: the United Nations building in New York City. ... Yet ... patriots have been incapable of removing one brick from this structure by 'working within the system.' ...
There are two paths open to those who love the great America of their Forefathers: Rebellion or departure.
From "Leaderless Resistance," second version, The Seditionist, 1992:
The concept of Leaderless Resistance was [originally] proposed by Col. Ulius Louis Amoss. ... Col. Amoss feared the Communists. This author fears the federal government. Communism now represents a threat to no one in the United States, while federal tyranny represents a threat to everyone. ...
We are a band of brothers, native to the soil, gaining strength one from another as we have rushed into a battle that all the weaker, timid men say we can not win. Perhaps... but then again, perhaps we can.
It's not over until the last freedom fighter is buried or imprisoned, or the same happens to those who would destroy their liberty.
From Speech at Estes Park, Colo., 1992:
We, like political environmentalists, have opposed the construction of that great work, the New World Order; and by so doing, we each became enemies of the state. ...
We claim that their world order means an end to the Constitution and to freedom. They say we are radicals and enemies of the state. Let there be no mistake about it, no doubt in anyone's mind. Both sides are right in their claims, and both sides will be required to act upon their beliefs. ...
I warn you calmly, coldly and without reservation that over the next 10 years you will come to hate government more than anything else in your life. ...
Men, in the name of our Father, we are called upon to make a decision — a decision that you will make in the quietness of your heart in the still places in the night. ...
[Y]ou must answer the question: Will it be liberty or will it be death? As for me, give me liberty or give me death. Thank you.
From "Battle in Seattle: Americans Face Off the Police State," 1999:
While some in the so-called right wing sit at home and talk ... some other really brave people have been out confronting the Police State [in the violent 1999 anti-globalization protests in Seattle]. Instead of hoarding guns that will never be fired, these people were out bravely facing the guns of the New World Order. ...
The New American Patriot will be neither left nor right, just a freeman fighting for liberty.
New alliances will form between those who have in the past thought of themselves as 'right-wingers,' conservatives, and patriots with many people who have thought of themselves as 'left-wingers,' progressives, or just 'liberal.' ...
The old words of divide and conquer will come to mean less and less to thinking people. ... Wake up and smell the tear gas, freedom is calling its sons and daughters.
From "World Trade Center Was Jump Point for Global Police State," 2001:
I shall now take this opportunity to tell you something that you will not believe. ... The government of the United States had advance knowledge of the 'attack' on the WTC [World Trade Center].
Elements within the security structure and ruling elite ... allowed it to occur for their own maleficent objectives. ... We are entering a period ... [where] each conflict including the one in Afghanistan will lead to another. ...
All Americans will be potential targets as other people in other lands send their fighters to avenge the deaths of those we have killed and will kill. ...
[W]e must begin to take personal responsibility for the government in Washington, if for no other reason than the fact that others hold us responsible.
