Monday, September 14, 2009

Lafayette Anti-Duke Activist Dies in Santa Fe

The Lafayette, LA woman that helped expose David Duke by infiltrating his organization passed away in Santa Fe, New Mexico on Saturday. Elizabeth Ann "Beth" Rickey, who was the niece of Branche Rickey, the MLB executive that broke the color barrier by signing Jackie Robinson, was found dead in her hotel room after battling homelessness and several health issues. 20 years ago, when David Duke won the State Representative seat Rickey became upset that her party would support such a man. Even then his involvement in the KKK was well known, but Duke presented it as a foolish childhood whim that he was done with, so Rickey infiltrated his organization and exposed that he was still involved in many hate groups. She recorded anti-semetic conversations, ramblings and speeches to neo-nazi groups and then leaked those recordings to the media. She is credited with finishing off his political career for good. Tom Sharpe with The Santa Fe New Mexican has the whole interesting story here.

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