In August we noticed on the HateWatch web page (http://www.hatewatch.org) that the Michigan Militia Corps was listed as a "Hate Group" in a national list of hate groups. Their definition of "Hate Group" follows: A hate group is defined as, "an organization or individual that advocates violence against or unreasonable hostility toward those persons or organizations identified by their race, religion, national origin, sexual orientation or gender also including organizations or individuals that purposely disseminate historically inaccurate information with regards to these persons or organizations." Well, this was simply unacceptable so I contacted our state command's executive officer, Tom Wayne, and we sent a notice of intent to sue HateWatch, and it's director Samuel Macy, for libel. They had a chance to get out of it - apologize and remove us from the list. At first Mr. Macy was reluctant to do so, instead renaming the list from just "Hate Groups" to "Hate Groups and Militias." This, again, was unacceptable. I replied, reminding him of the original demands. The following letter was recieved via e-mail soon after: Thank you for your email of Wednesday September 3, 1997. We have discussed this matter and wish to avoid ligitation. We will post the following apology to the Michigan Militia Corps on our page for a period of 10 days, the time desginated by your letter. Please note that not only have we deleted any reference to the Michigan Milita Corp from our site but have reworked the page in question. Our page now links into Klanwatch's list of active hate groups. - http://http://www.splcenter.org/klanwatch/kw-2.html. and it goes without saying that The Michigan Militia corps is not listed here either. Please let us know if this is acceptable. Sincerely, Sam Macy Hatewatch _____________________ I, Samuel Macy, as director of HateWatch, wish to apologize to the Michigan Militia Corps and all its members. HateWatch listed the Michigan Militia Corps as a hate group when indeed there was no evidence that the Michigan Militia Corps is. We define a hate groups as, "an organization or individual that advocates violence against or unreasonable hostility towards those persons or organizations identified by their race, religion, national origin, sexual orientation or gender also including organizations or individuals that purposively disseminate historically inaccurate information with regards to these persons or organizations." Neither I nor any staff members of HateWatch believe that the Michigan Militia Corps meets these criteria. We apologize for our failure to distinguish the Michigan Militia Corps and other militia units from hate groups. We believe that militia organizations are not equivalent to hate groups and we regret this misunderstanding. Samuel Macy Director of HateWatch [Spelling errors in original] The apology was posted on the HateWatch web page from September 10 - 20, 1997.