Michael McDaniel is a very busy man. While his work is important for Wyoming, it’s to the state’s shame that he must do it at all.
McDaniel runs Wyoming Hate Watch, which tracks instances of racism, sexism, homophobia, xenophobia and other biases in the “Equality State.” Everything he posts on his Facebook page is public, discovered on either mainstream or social media.
His feed is a wretched assortment of hate. Scrolling through the page, a reader encounters actions, comments, photos and memes that are twisted and disturbing.
I read five months of posts and found a litany of startling content debasing and dehumanizing women, ethnicities and minority groups. These include claims that transgender individuals are subhuman, white supremacy and Nazism are admirable, Muslims are evil and anyone who doesn’t speak English isn’t really an American.
Hate, of course, is no stranger to Wyoming. The murder of gay University of Wyoming student Matthew Shepard in 1998 became an infamous stain on the state. The crime spurred LGBTQ groups and individuals to convince Congress to pass civil rights legislation that gives federal protection to people based on sexual orientation.
Throughout its history, Wyoming has seen lynchings, Ku Klux Klan rallies, and countless assaults on minorities. Before federal civil rights laws were enacted, many Wyoming restaurants would not serve African-Americans.
Today, Wyoming is one of only four states that do not have a hate crime law on their books. It also has a low incidence of such crimes, according to state and federal data. Only four crimes where hatred of the victim’s identity was listed as a major factor have been counted in Wyoming in 2019. James Simmons, former head of the Casper NCAAP chapter, said the lack of a bias crimes law means police and prosecutors usually categorize them as assaults and “suspicious behavior.”
As Wyoming Hate Watch demonstrates, though, that doesn’t mean there aren’t terrible examples of hatred occurring throughout the state, from small communities to the largest cities. Fortunately, the website also shows there are many people who denounce incidents of hate and violence and offer support to victims.
Testifying at a recent hearing conducted by the Wyoming Advisory Committee to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights in Casper, McDaniel stressed that his group doesn’t attempt to “out” people who secretly act on hate-filled beliefs. Instead, he said, the people and groups that wind up on Wyoming Hate Watch are open and usually proud of their actions.
“In Wyoming, it is often difficult to spot a racist because many of them until recently have been relatively closeted,” McDaniel wrote in a July post that featured a Gillette man who regularly displays white supremacist material on his public Facebook page.
A family portrait the man posted shows a Nazi flag and a framed photo of Adolph Hitler in his living room. He doesn’t hide his hate at all, but he and his wife were upset that he was outed by Hate Watch. The man lost his job at a local hotel after irate readers called his employer.
“I have a recording in which his significant other called myself, thinking she was talking to a National Socialists Movement of Natrona County top official, in which she confirmed she wanted NSM to kill me,” McDaniel wrote.
While the vast majority of commenters express disgust, racist offenders also have supporters who say they should be left alone.
Another post shows a man purportedly from Douglas with a chest full of swastika tattoos, standing next to a boy wearing a “white pride” T-shirt. In the comments, a woman wrote, “You don’t even know the man! OMG this make me sick!”
Wyoming Hate Watch responded, “While we are all for equality, Nazi ideology does not espouse the belief [of] equal treatment of minority populations, hence, we do not see the issue here.”
McDaniel’s Facebook group also regularly spotlights officials and office seekers who express bigoted views, so they can be held accountable by voters. As an observer of Wyoming politics, I view this as a community service. Many people don’t read candidates’ campaign literature or closely follow their remarks in news stories. The public needs to know about these beliefs and behaviors.
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Many of the people who appear on Wyoming Hate Watch’s page find they don’t like the attention, and their views quickly disappear from Facebook.
A frequent target of Wyoming Hate Watch is another public Facebook group, “Keep Wyoming Free.” The latter’s page routinely features hate-filled articles, comments and memes aimed at the LGBTQ community, Muslims, immigrants and native Americans. Many of its most recent posts fixate on the allegation that pedophile Jeffrey Epstein didn’t commit suicide but was killed by Democrats.
Last week the white nationalist group Patriot Front, which was created by perpetrators of violence at the infamous 2017 Charlottesville, Virginia, rally, papered downtown Cheyenne with racist, anti-immigrant posters. Both Facebook groups posted the story, including Gov. Mark Gordon’s denunciation of the act as reprehensible. “Wyoming is not a place where bigotry and hatred is tolerated,” the governor declared.
Followers of Keep Wyoming Free, though, did not seem bothered by the white supremacist message. Commenters personally attacked Gordon and a state legislator who praised his response. I won’t repeat those slurs here.
Wyoming Hate Watch also called out the Republican Women of Sheridan County for having Tom Trento, a prolific writer for the anti-Muslim jihadwatch.org, as its featured Reagan Day Dinner speaker. The group noted that Trento spreads false information, such as his claim that 80% of mosques in the U.S. “teach sedition.”
“Wyoming Republican support for Trento is a clear affront to the very small Muslim population within the state and is clear support for white nationalism,” McDaniel wrote.
I don’t get on Facebook as much as I used to. I use it to keep in touch with friends, wish people happy birthday and occasionally post a music video I like. Mundane stuff, but it helps keep me relatively sane. I don’t waste much time reading political manifestos, mostly because they’re usually boring.
But I will return regularly to Wyoming Hate Watch. I’m glad to see that the group is sticking up for minorities in the state who need our support, protection and love in the face of such sickening hatred.
I’ll probably look for something calm and entertaining after perusing the page, though. Now I understand why all those cute kitten videos are popular. Mentally, they are a much-needed respite.
We can’t cure all the ills in the world like racism and hate, but we should do what we can to call attention to them.
I grew up in Wyoming. I left 37 years ago. I will never live there again. Whenever I visit family that lives there I get very depressed and saddened as I witness the worsening bigotry, racism and misogyny.
And now I’m more disappointed that I read the comments and this Facebook is no longer on Facebook. If anyone knows of where to put more story’s out there about this place please send me information on anything that could possibly shed more light on the messed up reality here.
Finally found someone who’s not afraid to speak up about the way it is here. It’s very hard and discouraging to speak about the way it is for me and my children here with no data or reports about this topic out there. It’s been hard here n I can’t wait to leave. I need help though because of what my son is going through here.
I would like tell a story that shows the humanity and the regard and respect that people of Wyoming have for my best friend. He is a black man from Los Angeles. He’s a clothing designer, hip hop personality, host of a Los Angeles radio show, and he is a frequent guest in my home in Cody, WY as I am in his home in Long Beach, CA. My name is Michael C. File, not be confused with my father, Michael File. We are often confused so I want to clarify. I’m not going to disclose my friend’s name as I’ve not spoken with him about this response. However, if you watch my YouTube video podcast, The Mic’d Files, you’ll get to know my brother. I live in Cody. This is not a diverse community.It is not unlike most Wyoming communities. I am a member of FOE 818 here. I’ve yet to see a minority member of this club in Cody. We are charitable and we strive to take care of people. Now, I took my friend into the club when he flew into Cody. I didn’t know what would happen, but was curious to find out. The bartender is a friend and he met my friend in LA when we went to a Laker game a few years back. They became fast friends. There was an older cowboy gentleman who we called Uncle Ralph, who sat at the end of the bar, was a friendly old timer, but equally enjoyed being left alone if you didn’t know him. Before I knew it, my friend was at a table seated with white people all around him. He’d had a drink bought for him. He was engaged in conversation and there was not a single racist or ignorant comment made toward my friend. during his stay he was asked to DJ at The Silver Dollar Bar, which is closer to a honky tonk than anything. The people of this community have treated my friend as one of us. He’s more popular than me and when we walk in a place together, people flock to him, give him hugs shake his hand, and genuinely are happy to see him. The second time he visited, he was initiated into FOE 818 as the first black member ever. For me, that made me very happy to be a member of this community. My friend and I met in federal prison at FCI Terminal Island. Federal prison is the most racist place I’ve been. We were not supposed to hang out with each other, but you know what? That man got me out of more situations than anybody. He spoke up for me in front of black staff, including the captain and my case manager. They asked why he would speak on behalf of a white man, to which he replied that they had me wrong and I was a good person. One of the happiest days I’ve ever had was when my friend called me from prison after my release and told me Obama had commuted his sentence and he was going home. I flew to LA with my 7 year old son and went to a Dodger playoff game. We got off the plane and I told my son his Uncle was going to be happy to see him. Do you know what my son has never asked me? Why does he have a black uncle. So, people should know that while there are plenty of racist people in this state, chances are that they’ve never met somebody of color. Chances are they grew up in an environment where they were taught that racism is right. Chances are, were my friend and I to walk into a room with those people, their perceptions would change. It doesn’t hurt that we are fairly big, ex-convicts. Myself being a long haired white man covered in tattoos and him being a larger man than me. The commonality is that neither of us see race in people, although it’s a factor that comes up when discussing our friendship. I’d like anybody who reads this to keep in mind that there are positive stories in this state regarding race. I discuss political, racial, and cultural issues on my video podcast. I have friends across the country of all backgrounds. There is no place I cannot go in this country. I’ve walked down sidewalks in neighborhoods where people have not seen a white man and his son walking. My son approaches people and shakes their hands, introduces himself, as do I, and we walk on about our way. The race issue I see in this state is that most people have never been introduced to a person of different background. I honestly believe it is fear, more than hate, that motivates these behaviors in most circumstances. There will always be bad people, and they exist in every different walk of life. However, there are stories like this that should be told. My store shows that a group of people in this state will open the door for a man they hadn’t met, a man that looked like somebody they’d never met, and they showed him hospitality, love, and welcomed him into their lodge. Guess what? I get the same treatment when I’m in Los Angeles and I’m typically the only white man in my circle of friends. So this race thing has got to go away, it’s only a matter of having the conversations with one another and then realizing that beyond the color of our skin is a human being who wants the same things in life, to raise decent children, to be comfortable in their life, to love their neighbors, and to call one another by our names rather than our race.
Just stumbled onto this article, and was disappointed, as it appears that Wyoming Hate Watch is no longer on Facebook. I had wonderful experiences during my years of living in Wyoming, but the extreme intolerance our family experienced just became too much. Equality state, not so much. Some really good people there, quagmired in mediocrity.
Racism is based on fear of the unknown or different than ones life experiences. I grew up in an eastern city that separated from the African American based on redlining and city lines. I think many whites did understand the need for equality, hence the passing of the Great Society to correct the issues. In my perception the Great Society, while doing a great deal of good, was a failure as people that I went High School with feel like they “have done enough”. That cohort does not see that the half measures implemented by the Government only papered over the issues as economic anxiety began to overtake the formerly stable white middle class as the auto industry disappeared. The Great Society was minimal diluted response at “reparations” (40 acres and a mule) from the black perspective, but from the white perspective it just reinforced stereo types of welfare queens even though the true beneficiaries of welfare and government largesse still benefited whites predominantly. The popular book Hillbilly Elegy went a long way in giving poor whites the idea they are the “same” as poor blacks. In my opinion, since I lived near Middletown, Ohio, old JD Vance was wide of the mark, but his audience had the cash and desire to absolved from feeling “guilty” about the sins of their forefathers.
Since I have lived in the West I have come to realize the African American experience is similar to the First Peoples issues and to a great extent the taking of land from the Spanish Settlers as “American” settlers ignored their claims to the lands. Everyday and in every statement I hear from Westerners always begins with “riding the brand” of the rugged 5th generation cattle rancher that has survived terrible hardship to “earn” what this continued way of life by the “grace of god”. I would argue that god had little to do with it as “success” had more to do with Manifest Destiny carried out by the American Army, Land Grants, the Homestead Act, the 1872 Mining Act, the Taylor Grazing Act, fossil fuels, The Farm Bill and the Electoral College. This combination programs has ensured the success of those whom dictate the future that get elected to our State Houses. It is obvious many ignore the gifts they were given as the collapse of the Gering-Fort Laramie irrigation tunnel so aptly illustrates.
So when I look at Wyoming’s past, along with the claims of those that were marginalized to bring about the successful of today, I understand why bigotry is on the rise as economic anxiety grows in this State and throughout the country. The human always has a tendency to blame outside forces for his/her woes instead of examining the choices/consequences that made their bed. If we are to exterminate bigotry we have to open and honest discussions about what we fear and the true reasons for that fear appear to be economic. Repressing speech on Facebook does little to address these issues and my opinion sends them to dark places to continue to fester.
Some of us are forming the Riverton Peace Mission to counter the racism and hate here, especially towards Native Americans. The shooting by a city employee of two Northern Arapaho men at a detox center 2015 led to some facilitated community meetings and an annual March, but little change if any. The shooting of Andy Antelope in the head close range by a Riverton police officer September 21 at Walmart got a mere bump on the news radar, not the outrage the attempts to minimize and deflect and possibly cover up should be getting. Thanks Drake for writing this article and thanks Michael McDaniel for Hate Watch, which I hope includes Fremont County.