During one of the most politically divisive years in recent memory, the number of active hate groups in the US has actually decreased as right-wing extremists migrate further to online networks, reflecting a more difficult fragmentation of white nationalist and neo-Nazi groups. is to track.
In his annual report, released on Monday, the Southern Poverty Law Center said it had 838 active hate groups operating in the U.S. by 2020. This is a decrease compared to the 940 documented in 2019 and the record high of 1,020 in 2018, the law center said. , xenophobia and anti-government militias.
“It is important to understand that the number of hate groups is only one measure to measure the level of hatred and racism in America, and that the decline in groups should not be interpreted as a reduction in major beliefs and actions motivated by hatred. is not, “said the report, which was first shared exclusively with The Associated Press.
The law center in Montgomery, Alabama, said many hate groups have switched to social media platforms and the use of encrypted programs, while others have been completely banned from mainstream social media networks.
The law center said online platforms enable individuals to communicate with hate and anti-government groups without joining, keep in touch with people and take part in real-life actions, such as the siege of the US Capitol last month.
White nationalist organizations, part of the hate groups mentioned in the report, declined from 155 to 128 last year. The groups have experienced huge growth over the past two years after Donald Trump’s campaign and presidency were raised, the report said.
The number of anti-immigrant, anti-Muslim and anti-LGBTQ hate groups has remained largely stable while their organization has been hampered by the coronavirus pandemic.
In short, the levels of hatred and triviality in America have not diminished, said Margaret Huang, president and CEO of SPLC.
“What’s important is that we have to start taking into account all the reasons why these groups persisted for so long and were able to gain so much influence in the last White House, that they actually feel encouraged,” Huang told AP.
When President Joe Biden’s government began moving in last month, the Department of Homeland Security issued an earlier national terrorism bulletin. in response to an increasing threat from home-grown extremists, including anti-government militias and white supremacists. The extremists are merging under a broader, more loose movement of people who reject democratic institutions and multiculturalism, Huang said.
The SPLC report appears almost a month after a mostly white crowd of Trump supporters and members of far-right groups violently violated the U.S. Capitol building. At least five deaths have been linked to the assault, including a Capitol police officer. Some in the crowd waved the Confederate battle flags and wore clothes with neo-Nazi symbolism.
Federal authorities have made more than 160 arrests and asked for hundreds more for criminal charges related to the deadly January 6 assault. Authorities also linked about 30 defendants to a group or movement, according to an AP review of the court records.
These include seven defendants linked to QAnon, an internet conspiracy movement that has recently expanded into a powerful force in mainstream conservative politics; six linked to the Proud Boys, a misogynistic, anti-immigrant and anti-Semitic group with ties to white rule; four linked to the Oath Keepers, a paramilitary organization recruiting current and former Army personnel, law enforcement and first responders; four linked to the Three Percenters, a military movement against the government; and two leaders of ‘Super Happy Fun America’, a group with ties to white nationalists known for organizing a so-called ‘straight pride’ parade in downtown Boston in 2019.
Trump bipartisan critics have blamed him for inciting the attack on the Capitol, which some right-wingers say is a success and is being used as a recruiting tool to increase membership, according to the SPLC.
The legal center has also fueled racist conspiracy theories and white nationalist ideology in the political mainstream in the last year of the Trump presidency, marked by a wide-ranging settlement of systemic racism.
According to a SPLC survey conducted in August, 29% of respondents said they personally know someone who believes that white people are the superior race. The poll also found that 51% of Americans believed that the looting and vandalism that took place in the country around Black Lives Matter demonstrations was a bigger problem than excessive violence by the police.
Demonstrations over the murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis police in May last year sparked a push to make the November election a referendum on white rule. In Trump’s unfounded allegations of widespread voter fraud, a reality was that the turnout among black and Hispanic voters played a key role in the handover of Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, the first wife and first person of black and Southern Asian heritage holding office. .
During his inaugural address, Biden issued a strong rejection of white supremacy and domestic terrorism, which is rare for such consequential speeches.
In its latest report, the SPLC made several recommendations for the new administration. It called for the establishment of offices within the Department of Homeland Security, the Department of Justice and the FBI to monitor, investigate and prosecute cases of domestic terrorism. It also insisted on improving the collection, training and prevention of federal hate crime; and to introduce federal legislation that shifts the funding of criminal models and prevents violent extremism.
People who support or express hatred and insignificance are not always members of far-right groups. But that does not mean they can not be activated to violence, says Christian Picciolini, a former extremist judge and founder of the Free Radicals Project, a group that helps people shut down from hate organizations.
Nor does it mean that they cannot be reached and deradicalized, he said.
“We need to have a dual approach to stopping what is happening now, but also to make sure that we do not create a problem for ourselves in the future, to understand how the propaganda that these people recruit is spread,” said Picciolini. .
“Right now, it’s online in a very self-service format,” he added. “We have a big problem.”
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Morrison reports from New York. AP author Michael Kunzelman contributed from College Park, Maryland.
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Morrison is a member of the AP’s Race & Ethnicity team. Follow him on Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/aaronlmorrison.