b) Allegations of distribution of David
Duke materials
Numerous attendees alleged that Richard Hayward brought David Duke materials to distribute at the 1992 Roundup.
Before the 1992 Roundup, Hayward called Rightmyer and asked whether David Duke could come and speak to the Roundup attendees. Rightmyer refused. Hayward then appeared at the Roundup with piles of Duke for President materials that he wanted to distribute to the attendees. His car was covered with Duke materials. [ / Hayward claimed in his October interview that he did not stay at the 1992 Roundup but had left shortly after arriving. Based on our investigation, he appears to have confused 1992 with 1993 when witnesses said he stormed out of the Roundup. ] He was told he could not drive his car into the Roundup as it was and if he wanted to come in, he would have to park outside the campground. Hayward parked his car off to the side and then returned to the registration desk, where he left a pile of Duke materials, which several credible witnesses told us were immediately thrown into the trash bin. These witnesses also told us that Hayward was instructed by the people at the registration desk not to distribute the Duke materials. He did not comply with this direction and Duke bumper stickers had to be removed from the beer truck. At one point a Duke banner appeared on the truck but was also quickly taken down. Rightmyer testified that he confronted Hayward at the Roundup regarding the banner and told him they had talked about such materials on the telephone and he had made his views perfectly clear that he did not want Duke materials there. Rightmyer recalled being told later by a Canadian that the banner had been thrown into a dumpster. We heard this same claim from several witnesses. [ / One DOJ agent recalled seeing such a banner on the side of the bunkhouse. We do not know whether this is also true or merely a mistaken memory. Wherever it appeared, the witnesses were consistent that it was quickly torn down. Hayward alleged that it was auctioned off. Other witnesses suggested that during the auction some people joked about auctioning off the banner to see how much money it would raise but that it was never actually auctioned. We found more credible the accounts that the banner was given to a Canadian attendee who subsequently threw it into the dumpster at Grumpy's. ]
Hayward had also brought some Duke hats and shirts that he had hoped to sell. Hayward claimed that there was considerable demand for his Duke materials. A friend of Hayward's, however, reported that Hayward was not successful in finding buyers and had to borrow money to get back to Michigan after the Roundup.
In July 1992, after the Roundup that year, Hayward wrote an article for the NAAWP News, a newsletter of the National Association for the Advancement of White People, a group founded by David Duke. [ / While Duke has claimed publicly to have disassociated himself from his Klan activities, he was instrumental in creating this alternative white power group. Dave Holland, the founder of the Southern White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, suggests that the Klan name is not the future of the white power movement but rather organizations are adopting names such as the White Patriot Party or the National Democratic Front or other names that will get the organizations where the Klan cannot go. See Raphael Ezekiel, The Racist Mind 94 (1995). This group would appear to be an example of this phenomenon. ] In this article Hayward claimed that many Duke supporters attended the 1992 Roundup and that a Duke banner had
been auctioned off for charity. The leaders of the Roundup learned about Hayward's article and told him it should not be published. [ / One of these individuals was responsible for throwing away the Duke materials at the desk. Hayward incorrectly identified this person as working for the Alabama Bureau of Investigation. A copy of the article also came to the attention of the Anti-Defamation League in Miami (ADL) which in turn sent it to the Fort Lauderdale Police Department (FLPD), suggesting that the Department might be interested because it was mentioned in Duke's newsletter. A Roundup attendee from the Internal Affairs department of the FLPD apparently was directed to draft a response to the ADL inquiry, but the FLPD had no record of an official response being sent. ]
Rightmyer testified that he also contacted Hayward, who initially claimed that someone else wrote the article and had misunderstood him. Hayward finally admitted that he wrote the article. Rightmyer demanded that Hayward retract it, but he refused. As a result, Hayward was not invited to return to the 1993 Roundup.
While it is undisputed that Hayward brought Duke materials to distribute at the Roundup, Hayward contended that they were well-received while others claimed otherwise. Many credible witnesses indicated that the Duke materials left at the registration desk were thrown out and that Hayward was instructed to put the rest away. Even Hayward's friends contended that his actions were not welcome. Numerous witnesses said that the banner and bumper stickers were quickly removed when posted. Consistent with these conclusions, there is substantial evidence that a new rule was instituted the following year to make it explicit that such materials were not welcome at the Roundup.
When confronted about his article contending that the Roundup supported Duke, Hayward tried to evade responsibility for the article, claiming someone else wrote it and misunderstood him, despite the fact that his byline is on the story. His
unwillingness to admit the truth when confronted indicates the untrustworthiness of his testimony regarding these events.
Significantly, for the first time Rightmyer apparently decided that someone would not be invited to return to a Roundup due to what he considered racist behavior. [ / Interestingly, Rightmyer did not recall deciding that Hayward would not be invited back. A friend of Hayward's, however, remembered Hayward calling him up and reporting that he had not received an invitation to the 1993 Roundup and asking this friend to intercede on his behalf. The friend said he telephoned Rightmyer and convinced him to let Hayward return. He was told to have Hayward bring his check when he arrived at the campsite. Rightmyer and others did recall that Hayward presented a check when he arrived and then stopped payment on it after he left. Because this person's memory is so clear as to these details and other undisputed facts are consistent with this version, we believe that in fact Hayward was not initially invited to return. ] The next year, however, Rightmyer was convinced to change his mind and give Hayward another chance. This repeated unwillingness to take a firm stand against those engaging in racist conduct at the Roundups undoubtedly sent the wrong message to the attendees and set the stage for further deplorable episodes at subsequent Roundups.