Currently-serving military members, elected officials, and a national security expert claiming to have Department of Defense security clearance are among the members of the neo-Confederate group Sons of Confederate Veterans (SCV), leaked data shows. The Guardian, which broke the news of the leak, says the membership data was provided to it by a “hacktivist” whose identity the outlet is shielding, and the information includes the names, addresses, telephone numbers and email addresses of almost 59,000 past and present members of the organization. The anonymous hacker said they noticed the website was misconfigured in a way that made membership lists, recruiting data and other information public. An activist with a Confederate flag gathers at the Gettysburg National Military Park on July 1, 2017 in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. The U.S. Park Service issued protest permits for three groups, including Sons of Confederate Veterans, and Real 3% Risen, on the 154th anniversary of the battle. The data includes 91 individuals who listed addresses associated with government agencies as their contact email and 74 people who used addresses associated with different branches of the U.S. military.
According to The Guardian, active members of the group were included in those who listed addresses associated with government agencies and members of the military. Atlanta Antifa, previously reported on the data and said Georgia lawmakers were listed as current members of the group. SCV, a group for male bloodline descendants of Confederate veterans, is headquartered in Tennessee. According to the website, the organization is “strictly patriotic, historical, educational, fraternal, benevolent, non-political, non-racial and non-sectarian,” and “neither embraces, nor espouses acts or ideologies of racial and religious bigotry.” Members of the group have advocated to keep Confederate monuments from being taken down. Among the high-profile members of the group include Scott Wyatt, who from the 97th district in Virginia’s House of Delegates, which represents counties north of the former Confederate capitol of Richmond.
via atlantablackstar: ‘I Am Not a White Supremacist’: Active Members of Neo-Confederate Group Who Are Linked to Politics and the Military Say They Just Like History and Aren’t Racist