Art Jones Hasn’t Changed His Bigoted Platform in Four Decades

Art Jones (of the America First Committee and the American Nazi Party), boldly espouses white supremacy and homophobic policy, and is not afraid to use them as a political platform. He has done so in the past, and continues to do so today.

Jones has run for the same Illinois 3rd Congressional District seat six times, beginning in 1992, but was unsuccessful with each attempt. Jones was disavowed by the Republican Party and removed from the ballot in 2016. However, Jones was unopposed in the March 20, 2018 Republican primary for Illinois 3rd Congressional District, and went on to represent the party in the November 6, 2018 general election. The 3rd Congressional District includes portions of Chicago as well as several towns in suburban Cook County, such as Berwyn, Cicero, and Lemont. More than 56,000 people voted for him, primarily from suburban Cook County, garnering 26.5% of the votes. In the March 2020 Republican primary, he will face a challenger and is unlikely to win the party’s nomination.

A business card (see below) circulated by the America First Committee advertises their method to preserve “The Liberty.” Among their tenets are beliefs that all men are not created equal (1), that “Natural Law” dictates that “Racial Integrity” and “genetic heredity” must be maintained (2), and that education’s highest purpose is to preserve elements of “White, Western Culture” (7). Interestingly, the card does not explicitly condemn people based upon sexual orientation, but Jones made his position against the “cockroaches, [i.e.] the queers” quite clear in his recorded message on the (Heterosexual) America First Hotline in 1982, as heard in the video below.”

unnamed (1)

unnamed (2)

Jones appeared in two Super-8mm films by Bill Stamets, which were transferred to video: “Novo Dextro: Purity and Danger” (1982) and “Chicago Politics: A Theatre of Power” (1987) that are archived at Media Burn. Here are two excerpts, including a contextual clip of Mayor Harold Washington speaking at a gay and lesbian rights rally in Lincoln Park on July 1, 1984.

Watch the full version of Novo Dextro and Chicago Politics: A Theatre of Power at our website


We’re in ReelChicago!

Check out this great writeup by Dan Patton about our new National Endowment for the Arts-funded artist-in-residency program that will allow us to collaborate with artists during the preservation of their work.

 

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