In fact, during one of the most politically divisive years in recent history, the number of active hate groups in the US has declined as far-right extremists continue to migrate to online networks, due to a fragmentation of white nationalist and neo-Nazi groups that are more difficult to reach. track.
In his annual report, released Monday, the Southern Poverty Law Center said it identified 838 active hate groups operating in the US in 2020. That’s a drop from the 940 documented in 2019 and the record of 1,020 in 2018, the Law Center said, which tracks racism. , xenophobia and anti-government militias.
“It is important to understand that the number of hate groups is only one measure of the level of hatred and racism in America, and that the decline in groups should not be interpreted as a reduction in intolerant beliefs and actions driven by hatred. prompted, ”said the report, first shared exclusively with The Associated Press.
The Montgomery, Alabama-based advocacy center said many hate groups have moved to social media platforms and the use of encrypted apps, while others have been banned from mainstream social media networks altogether.
Still, the law center said, online platforms allow individuals to interact with hate and anti-government groups without joining, liaise with like-minded people, and participate in real-world actions, such as the US Capitol siege last month.
White nationalist organizations, a subgroup of the hate groups mentioned in the report, fell from 155 to 128 last year. Those groups had seen tremendous growth over the past two years after being boosted by Donald Trump’s campaign and presidency. the report said.
The numbers of anti-immigrant, anti-Muslim and anti-LGBTQ hate groups remained largely stable, while their personal organization was hampered by the coronavirus pandemic.
The bottom line is that levels of hatred and bigotry in America have not abated, said SPLC President and CEO Margaret Huang.
“What’s important is that we’re going to take into account all the reasons why those groups have persisted for so long and have been able to gain so much influence in the last White House that they really feel encouraged,” Huang told the AP.
Last month, as President Joe Biden’s government began to settle, the Department of Homeland Security released an early national terrorism bulletin in response to a growing threat from homegrown extremists, including anti-government militias and white supremacists. The extremists are merging under a broader, more riotous movement of people who reject democratic institutions and multiculturalism, Huang said.
The SPLC report comes out nearly a month after a predominantly white crowd of Trump supporters and members of far-right groups forcibly breached the Capitol building. At least five deaths have been linked to the attack, including a Capitol police officer. Some in the mob waved Confederate battle flags and wore clothes with neo-Nazi symbolism.
Federal authorities made more than 160 arrests and sought hundreds more for criminal charges in connection with the January 6 deadly attack. Authorities have also linked about 30 defendants to a group or movement, according to an AP review of court records.
That includes seven defendants affiliated with QAnon, a once fringe Internet conspiracy movement that recently became a powerful force in mainstream conservative politics; six allied with the Proud Boys, a misogyny, anti-immigrant and anti-Semitic group with ties to white supremacy; four are linked to the Oath Keepers, a paramilitary organization that recruits current and former military personnel, law enforcement officers and first responders; four allied with the Three Percenters, an anti-government militia movement; and two leaders of “Super Happy Fun America,” a group with ties to white nationalists known for hosting a so-called “straight pride” parade in downtown Boston in 2019.
Trump’s dual critics have blamed him for instigating the attack on the Capitol, which has been declared a success by some far-right groups according to the SPLC, and using it as a recruiting tool to increase membership.
The last year of Trump’s presidency, marked by widespread reckoning on systemic racism, also propelled racist conspiracy theories and white nationalist ideology into the political mainstream, the law center said.
According to an SPLC survey conducted in August, 29% of respondents said they personally know someone who believes whites are the superior race. The poll also found that 51% of Americans thought looting and vandalism across the country around Black Lives Matter demonstrations were more of a problem than excessive police force.
Protests against the police murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis last May led to an attempt to turn the November election into a referendum on white supremacy. Nestled in Trump’s baseless allegations of widespread voter fraud, a reality was that the turnout among black and Spanish voters played a major role in handing the victory to Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, the first woman and first person of black and South Asian descent to held that office. .
During his inaugural address, Biden strongly rejected white supremacy and domestic terrorism, which is rare for such consistent speeches.
The SPLC has made several recommendations for the new administration in its latest report. It called for offices to be set up within the Department of Homeland Security, the Justice Department and the FBI to track, investigate and prosecute domestic terrorism cases. It also pushed for improvement in the collection, training, and prevention of data on federal hate crimes; and to enact federal legislation that shifts funding from punitive models to the prevention of violent extremism.
People who support or express hatred and bigotry are not always card-bearing members of far-right groups. But that doesn’t mean they can’t be incited to violence, said Christian Picciolini, a former far-right extremist and founder of the Free Radicals Project, a group that helps people break away from hate organizations.
It also doesn’t mean they can’t be reached and deradicalized, he said.
“We need some kind of two-pronged approach to stop what’s happening now, but also to make sure we don’t create problems for us in the future, to understand how the propaganda is being spread that is recruiting these people,” said Picciolini . .
“Right now, it’s in a very self-serve format online,” 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.