Weird Little Guys

A closer look at one of the men on the Pioneer Fund's team of scientists for segregation reveals that he wasn't a scientist at all.Sources & Further Reading:Tucker, William (2002). The Funding of Scientific Racism: Wickliffe Draper and The Pioneer Fund. University of Illinois Press.Jackson, John P. Jr (2005). Science for Segregation: Race, Law, and the Case Against Brown v. Board of Education. New York University Press.Sussman, Robert Wald (2014). The Myth of Race: The Troubling Persistence of an Unscientific Idea. Harvard University Press.Van den Haag, Ernest (1969). The Jewish Mystique. Stein and Day.Ernest van den Haag, Academic Freedom and Tenure, 15 Pace L. Rev. 5 (1994)DOI: https://doi.org/10.58948/2331-3528.1354Available at: https://digitalcommons.pace.edu/plr/vol15/iss1/2Chianese, Gloria (2006). Fascismo e lavoro a Napoli: Sindacato corporativo e antifascismo popolare (1930-1943).https://catalog.archives.gov/id/538438703?objectPage=3https://ilmanifesto.it/melamerson-una-coppia-in-fuga-a-vietrihttps://oll.libertyfund.org/pages/the-intellectual-portrait-series-a-conversation-with-ernest-van-den-haaghttps://web.archive.org/web/20031010001427/http://home.comcast.net/~neoeugenics/pioneer.htmhttps://holidaycoast.it/en/Vietri-sul-Mare-and-Salerno%3A-highlights-on-designer-ceramics-with-Europe/https://www.ilvescovado.it/it/storia-e-storie-19/verso-il-25-aprile-l-antifascismo-vietrese-105190/articlehttps://www.nytimes.com/1969/11/23/archives/the-jewish-mystique-by-ernest-van-den-haag-252-pp-new-york-stein.htmlhttps://www.nytimes.com/2002/03/27/nyregion/e-van-den-haag-87-educator-and-backer-of-death-penalty.htmlhttps://chroniclesmagazine.org/cultural-revolutions/ernest-van-den-haag-r-i-p/https://vdare.com/articles/in-memoriam-ernest-van-den-haaghttps://kirkcenter.org/essays/ernest-van-den-haag-19142002/https://sousamendesfoundation.org/family/melamersonhttps://archives.albany.edu/description/catalog/apap135https://files.supersite.aruba.it/media/31058_cfca3f8a5fa8002f9ebf82670aba47c97078fb72.pdfSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Last week, the DOJ's Civil Rights division announced they were moving to dismiss more than 50 desegregation cases against school districts all over the country. Like the weird little guys trying to overturn the Brown v Board of Education decision in the 1960s, the Trump administration is trying to take us all back to a version of America they think was great.Sources & Further Reading:Reardon, Sean & Grewal, Elena & Kalogrides, Demetra & Greenberg, Erica. (2012). Brown Fades: The End of Court-Ordered School Desegregation and the Resegregation of American Public Schools. Journal of Policy Analysis and Management. 31. 876-904. 10.2307/41653800. https://selc.wordpress.ncsu.edu/files/2013/03/Brown-Fades.pdfWang G, White JS, Hamad R. The end of court-ordered desegregation and US children's health: quasi-experimental evidence. American Journal of Epidemiology. 2024 Nov 4;193(11):1530-1540. doi: 10.1093/aje/kwae082https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC12096290/ U.S. Commission on Civil Rights. (2007). Becoming less separate? School desegregation,justice department enforcement, and the pursuit of unitary status. Washington, DChttps://www.usccr.gov/files/pubs/docs/092707_BecomingLessSeparateReport.pdfhttps://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/justice-department-ends-over-50-half-century-old-desegregation-cases-throughout-united https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/justice-department-dismisses-half-century-old-louisiana-consent-decreehttps://awpc.cattcenter.iastate.edu/communication/speech-march-washington-aug-28-1963 https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/freedom-black-women-speak-march-washington-jobs-and-freedomhttps://calendar.eji.org/racial-injustice/jun/18 https://www.k-12legalinsights.com/2026/03/some-recent-motions-for-unitary-status-seem-to-be-facing-less-careful-scrutiny/https://www.cbsnews.com/news/doj-seeking-to-end-school-desegregation-cases/https://www.naacpldf.org/case-issue/why-are-schools-still-segregated/https://www.nytimes.com/2026/09/24/us/politics/justice-department-desegregation-cases.htmlhttps://www.ed.gov/grants-and-programs/grants-birth-grade-12/school-and-community-improvement-grants/training-and-advisory-services-equity-assistance-centershttps://www.regulations.gov/document/ED-2026-OESE-0958-0001https://www.justice.gov/crthttps://web.archive.org/web/20240301102317/https://www.justice.gov/crthttps://www.reuters.com/legal/government/ex-employees-us-justice-department-blast-destruction-civil-rights-unit-2025-12-09/https://redlinecivilrights.org/education/https://www.jurist.org/news/2026/07/us-federal-court-ends-decades-long-school-desegregation-lawsuit-in-louisiana/https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/6105774/smith-v-concordia-parish/https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/14791822/boudreaux-v-st-mary-parish/https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/5295676/thomas-v-st-martin-parish/https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/72066767/navy-v-sch-bd-of-st-mary-prsh/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In the decade after the Supreme Court's ruling in the Brown v Board of Education case, segregationists used every tool available to prevent integration. By the early 1960s, a group of Pioneer Fund-backed scientists had teamed up with the lawyer they hoped could get their pseudoscientific argument against Brown in front of a judge.Sources & Further Reading:Tucker, William (2002). The Funding of Scientific Racism: Wickliffe Draper and The Pioneer Fund. University of Illinois Press.Jackson, John P. Jr (2005). Science for Segregation: Race, Law, and the Case Against Brown v. Board of Education. New York University Press.Sussman, Robert Wald (2014). The Myth of Race: The Troubling Persistence of an Unscientific Idea. Harvard University Press.Gould, Stephen Jay (1996). The Mismeasure of a Man. Penguin Books.McMillen, Neil (1971). The Citizens’ Council: Organized Resistance to the Second Reconstruction, 1954-1964. University of Illinois PressReardon, Sean & Grewal, Elena & Kalogrides, Demetra & Greenberg, Erica. (2012). Brown Fades: The End of Court-Ordered School Desegregation and the Resegregation of American Public Schools. Journal of Policy Analysis and Management. 31. 876-904. 10.2307/41653800. https://selc.wordpress.ncsu.edu/files/2013/03/Brown-Fades.pdfAlbert P . Blaustein & Andrew H. Field, "Overruling" Opinions in the Supreme Court , 57 MICH. L. REV. 151 (1958). Available at: https://repository.law.umich.edu/mlr/vol57/iss2/2Amy M. Gardner, Comment, "An Attempt to Intervene in the Confusion: Standing Requirements for Rule 24 Intervenors," 69 University of Chicago Law Review 681 (2002).https://chicagounbound.uchicago.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=5684&context=journal_articleshttps://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2026/04/08/how-often-does-the-supreme-court-overturn-its-own-decisions/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Wickliffe Draper's Pioneer Fund started out in 1937 by funding screenings of Nazi propaganda films in high schools. But like most American racists, the 1954 Supreme Court decision in the Brown v Board of Education case changed how he approached the fight for white supremacy.Sources & Further Reading:Tucker, William (2002). The Funding of Scientific Racism: Wickliffe Draper and The Pioneer Fund. University of Illinois Press.Jackson, John P. Jr (2005). Science for Segregation: Race, Law, and the Case Against Brown v. Board of Education. New York University Press.Sussman, Robert Wald (2014). The Myth of Race: The Troubling Persistence of an Unscientific Idea. Harvard University Press.McMillen, Neil (1971). The Citizens’ Council: Organized Resistance to the Second Reconstruction, 1954-1964. University of Illinois PressKevin M. Kruse, The Paradox of Massive Resistance: Political Conformity and Chaos in the Aftermath of Brown v. Board of Education, 48 St. Louis U. L.J. (2004).Available at: https://scholarship.law.slu.edu/lj/vol48/iss3/13Thompson, Susan C. "Racial Injustice: A History of the Segregated School System in Jackson, Mississippi." Georgia State University, 2018. https://doi.org/10.57709/12100172Sadler, Cynthia Jones, "Standing in the Shadows: African American Informants and Allies of the Mississippi State Sovereignty Commission" (2011). Electronic Theses and Dissertations. 268. https://digitalcommons.memphis.edu/etd/268 https://www.mississippifreepress.org/how-integration-failed-in-jacksons-public-schools-from-1969-to-2017/https://www.nytimes.com/1964/05/06/archives/antiintegrationad-seeks-teachers-aid.htmlhttps://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/local/1998/02/20/justice-department-lawyer-george-s-leonard-86-dies/238e9399-ef53-4983-9814-40b2250a2223/https://ldfrecollection.org/content/archives/ba006941-a08b-4c85-b0d7-2f2e5ff00e85https://www.nytimes.com/1964/08/21/archives/jackson-schools-end-segregation-43-negroes-sign-up-quietly-for.htmlhttps://www.mississippifreepress.org/meridian-schools-no-longer-under-federal-supervision-stemming-from-1965-desegregation-lawsuit/https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB929056013324992946https://www.nytimes.com/1964/03/19/archives/mississippi-agency-channels-260000-to-antirighits-drive.html https://da.mdah.ms.gov/sovcom/document/images/png/cd12/113717https://mississippiencyclopedia.org/entries/coordinating-committee-for-fundamental-american-freedoms/https://www.bls.gov/data/inflation_calculator.htmhttps://www.splcenter.org/resources/reports/nativist-lobby-three-faces-intolerance/https://www.splcenter.org/resources/hatewatch/eugenics-voter-id-laws-thomas-farrs-connections-pioneer-fund/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Sometimes when a weird little guy gets shot, the guy who killed him is just a weirder little guy. Original Air Date: 9/18/2025 Sources:Schmaltz, William H. (2000). Hate: George Lincoln Rockwell and the American Nazi Party. Washington, D.C.: Brassey'sSchmaltz, William H. (2013). For Race And Nation: George Lincoln Rockwell and the American Nazi Party. River's Bend PressSimonelli, Frederick J. (1999). American Fuehrer: George Lincoln Rockwell and the American Nazi Party. Urbana: University of Illinois Press.Lee, Martin A. (1997). The Beast Reawakens. Boston: Little, Brown and Company.Rosenthal, A. M.; Gelb, Arthur (1967). One More Victim: The Life and Death of an American-Jewish Nazi. New York: New American LibrarySee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.