a) Controls over Roundup attendance
Events sponsored by traditional racist entities are generally very selective about who may attend and only those with bona fide racist credentials are permitted. If the Roundup was intended to be only for whites and a place for racist activity to be tolerated, such controls would be expected, yet none in fact were instituted. [/ See, e.g., Ezekial, supra note 116, at 15, 29, 38. ] Indeed, the content and distribution of the forms provided no means for screening those who had signed up to attend.
We interviewed law enforcement attendees who appear to have views starkly in conflict with any racist agenda. For example, one Department of Justice attendee has spent a significant portion of his career fighting segregation and was very active in the civil rights movement in the 1960s and 1970s. Another Justice employee who attended a Roundup spends his free time working with young black children in his church. And a retired Treasury agent used to investigate Klan activity. Such backgrounds would seem inconsistent with knowing attendance at an inherently racist event. Moreover, if the Roundup had placed strict controls on attendance to intentionally promote racist activities, such persons likely would have lacked the "right credentials."
Furthermore, non-law enforcement attendees were technically required to have a law enforcement sponsor, who could be anyone in law enforcement and not just from a preselected list. It thus could not be assumed that all law enforcement shared the same "racist agenda" so that only "appropriate" sponsors would be involved. Consequently, large numbers of persons about whom the organizers knew nothing attended as guests. At the 1995 Roundup alone, over 100 non-law enforcement guests signed in, having given nothing but their name and a small fee to cover the cost of beer. If a clearly inappropriate racist purpose was intended or even allowed to dominate the Roundup, the chances that some persons might disagree with that purpose and expose it were far too great.
The registration process, therefore, suggests that the event was not intended to be either secretive or a haven for law enforcement officers to engage in overt racist conduct.