The Christian Science Monitor has a very good article on the rise of skinheads in the Pacific Northwest. The citizens there are banding together to oppose them.

It was a Saturday morning recently when Jason Martin heard a knock at his front door. As he stepped outside, he was astounded to find 200 people there cheering, then singing "God Bless America," and praying the "Lord's Prayer" together. "It made me feel very humble, very received, very respected, very encouraged," he recalls. Later that day, more than 500 people in town marched and rallied in support of Mr. Martin, an African-American minister who had wakened up three nights earlier to find a cross burning on his front lawn.

Pastor Martin's story - especially how his community responded to a frightening example of bigotry - is an important chapter in the Pacific Northwest's evolution from recurring racism and hate to what experts say is an inspiring model of how communities can reverse this troubling legacy of national life.....There's been a second cross-burning in Washington State. Racial profiling has become an issue in Portland, Ore., where there have been two recent instances in which black motorists pulled over by white police officers were shot and killed. There have been several episodes of hateful literature distributed in the region, most recently last week in a suburb of Portland where white supremacist tracts were included in bags of candy meant to attract kids.

The number one authority on this topic in our book is Journalist and Author David Neiwart, who writes the blog Orcinus from his home in the Pacific Northwest.

In related news, white supremacist Matthew Hale, leader of the former World Church of the Creator (now known as the Creativity Movement), was convicted today of soliciting the murder of a federal judge and obstruction of justice.