Greg Letiecq: Just a Small Town McCarthy

Upon watching the documentary "9500 Liberty" yesterday, I found myself fascinated with some of the Organizations and people discussed at length in the documentary. I became particularly fascinated with a man by the named of Greg Letiecq. His presence throughout the entire documentary, perhaps more than any other person in Prince William Country Virginia, kind of confused me. Early on, while I didn’t necessarily agree with his views, he seemed a far cry from a crazy person. He talked about how, though we need to deport illegals, we must do so with love and care. Quickly, things made a turn for the worst. He began discussing how a gang of violent Anarchists from Southern Mexico called the Zapatistas were invading the town. My professor, who is extremely educated in the Latin American studies, informed us that this group is very isolated to their region of Mexico and that any claim that they’re here is completely unfounded. Soon, they began showing the things said on his blog, his posts struck me as the paranoid ramblings of a mad man, and the comments…. Well, lets just say “racist filth” is an understatement.

What really blew me away about this guy was that, as insane as the things on his blog sounded, he was aligning himself with local politicians and appeared to have a great deal of influence in his community. I found him to be such a curious character that I figured it was time to some research. What I discovered amazed me. First off, the things this man says in his region of Virginia has made him enemies on a National level. The legendary anti-hate organization Southern Poverty Law Center has an entire profile on him (calling him a “Nativist”) and he has been openly criticized in several blogs and even in the nationally read Washington Post. In the article, written in 2007 even before the height of Mr. Letiecq’s popularity, begins by discussing some of his claims such as “Illegal immigrant ice cream vendors might be spreading leprosy in Manassas” and “Prince William County has been infiltrated by ‘unassimilated marxist radicals.” Upon doing my own reading of his blog, Black Velvet Bruce Li, I found his messages to be just as unfounded when discussing everything from the prison sentencing of illegals to his constant baseless accusations of, what a shock, "Marxism" against President Barack Obama.

Honestly, I don’t know whether or not Mr. Letiecq believes everything he says (I mean, calling another human being an “open air toilet” is pretty harsh by any decent human’s standards) and honestly that’s not the point. I believe that he is taking subjects that are already touchy and adding fuel to the fire by capitalizing on the fears of his fellow community members. He is leading witch hunts and fabricating everything he can at every turn. The worst part is, he is enabled by average people. Which makes me think, could another Greg Letiecq pop up anywhere? Including my back yard?