During one of the most recent years of political division of memory, the number of active hate groups in the United States declined as far-right extremists migrated to online networks, reflecting a split in white nationalist and neo-Nazi groups that are harder to track.
In its annual report, released Monday, the Southern Law Poverty Law Center said it identified 838 active hate groups operating in the United States in 2020. This is a decrease from the 940 documented in 2019 and a record high of 1,020 in 2018, he said. the legal center, which tracks racism. , xenophobia and anti-government militias.
“It is important to understand that the number of hate groups is nothing more than a metric to measure the level of hatred and racism in the United States and that declining groups should not be interpreted as a reduction in beliefs and fanatical actions motivated by hatred “. said the report, shared for the first time exclusively with The Associated Press.
The Montgomery, Alabama-based legal center said many hate groups have moved to social media platforms and the use of encrypted apps, while others have been totally banned from major social media.
Still, the legal center said, online platforms allow people to interact with hate and anti-government groups without becoming members, maintain connections with like-minded people, and participate in real-world actions, such as the siege of last month at the United States Capitol.
White nationalist organizations, a subset of the hate groups listed in the report, fell last year from 155 to 128. These groups had seen tremendous growth the previous two years after being boosted by the campaign. and Donald Trump’s presidency, according to the report.
The number of anti-immigrant, anti-Muslim and anti-LGBTQ hate groups remained largely stable, while their organization in person was hampered by the coronavirus pandemic.
Simply put, levels of hatred and bigotry in the United States have not diminished, said Margaret Huang, president and CEO of SPLC.
“The important thing is that we start to consider all the reasons why these groups have persisted for so long and have been able to have so much influence in the last White House, that they actually feel excited,” he said. Huang in the AP.
Last month, as the administration of President Joe Biden began to establish itself, the Department of Homeland Security issued a first national terrorism bulletin. in response to a growing threat of home-grown extremists, including anti-government militias and white supremacists. Extremists join a broader, more affiliated movement of people who reject democratic institutions and multiculturalism, Huang said.
The SPLC report comes out 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 of the crowd waved Confederate battle flags and wore clothes with neo-Nazi symbolism.
Federal authorities have made more than 160 arrests and have sought hundreds more on criminal charges related to the Jan. 6 deadly murder. Authorities have also linked approximately 30 defendants to a group or movement, according to a review of PA court records.
It includes seven defendants linked to QAnon, an Internet conspiracy movement that recently grew and became a powerful force in mainstream conservative politics; six linked to the Proud Boys, a misogynistic, anti-immigrant and anti-Semitic group with links to white supremacism; four linked to the Oath Keepers, a paramilitary organization that recruits current and former military, law enforcement and first responders; four linked to the Three Percentages, an anti-government militia movement; and two leaders from “Super Happy Fun America,” a group linked to white nationalists known for organizing a parade called “Direct Pride” in downtown Boston in 2019.
Trump’s bipartisan critics have blamed him for inciting the Capitol attack, which some far-right groups have declared a success and use as a recruiting tool to increase their affiliation, according to the SPLC.
The last year of Trump’s presidency, marked by a broad countdown on systemic racism, also propelled racist conspiracy theories and white nationalist ideology into the political current, the courthouse said.
According to an SPLC survey conducted in August, 29% of respondents said they personally knew someone who believes whites are the superior race. The survey also found that 51% of Americans considered looting and vandalism across the country around Black Lives Matter demonstrations to be a bigger problem than excessive police force.
Protests over the assassination of George Floyd by Minneapolis police last May propelled the success of the November election into a referendum on white supremacy. Nestled in Trump’s unfounded claims of widespread election fraud, it was a reality that turnout among black and Hispanic voters played an important role in delivering victory to Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, the first woman and first person of black and South Asian heritage who held this position. .
During his inaugural speech, Biden issued a strong repudiation of white supremacy and domestic terrorism, which is rare for such consequent discourses.
The SPLC made several recommendations for the new administration in its latest report. He 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 called for improved data collection, training and prevention on federal hate crimes; and to enact federal legislation that moves funding away from punishment models and toward the prevention of violent extremism.
People who support or express hatred and bigotry are not always members of far-right groups carrying letters. But that doesn’t mean they can’t be activated in violence, said Christian Picciolini, a former far-right extremist and founder of the Free Radicals Project, a group that helps people disassociate themselves from hate organizations.
Nor does it mean that they cannot be achieved or deradicalized, he said.
“We need to have a kind of dual approach to stop what’s happening now, but also to make sure we’re not creating any problems in the future, to understand how the propaganda that recruits these people spreads,” Picciolini said. . .
“Right now, it has a very online self-service format,” he added. “We are facing a very big problem.”
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Morrison reported from New York. AP writer 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.