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In one of the most politically controversial years in recent memory, the number of hate groups active in the United States actually declined as far-right extremists migrated to online networks. , reflecting a break-up of white nationalist and neo-Nazi groups that are more difficult to track.
In its annual report, published Monday, the Southern Poverty Law Center said it had identified 838 active hate groups operating across the United States in 2020. This is a decrease from the 940 documented in 2019 and the record 1020 in 2018, the legal center, which tracks racism, xenophobia and anti-government militias.
“It is important to understand that the number of hate groups is only one measure by which to measure the level of hatred and racism in America, and that the decline of groups should not be interpreted as a reduction in sectarian beliefs and actions motivated by hatred ”. says the report, initially shared exclusively with The Associated Press.
The Montgomery, Alabama-based legal center said many hate groups have moved to social media platforms and used encrypted apps, while others have been banned completely from traditional social media networks.
Yet, the legal center said, online platforms allow individuals to interact with hate and anti-government groups without becoming members, to maintain connections with like-minded people, and to take part in real-world action. , like last month’s siege on the US Capitol.
White nationalist organizations, a subset of the hate groups listed in the report, declined last year from 155 to 128. These groups had grown tremendously in the previous two years after being energized by the campaign and the presidency of Donald Trump, according to the report.
The number of anti-immigrant, anti-Muslim and anti-LGBTQ hate groups has remained largely stable, while their organization in person has been hampered by the coronavirus pandemic.
The bottom line is, the levels of hatred and bigotry in America have not declined, said Margaret Huang, SPLC president and CEO.
“What’s important is that we’re starting to take into account all the reasons why these groups have persisted for so long and may have had so much influence in the last White House that they feel emboldened,” Huang told the AP.
Last month, as President Joe Biden’s administration began to take hold, the Department of Homeland Security issued its first national terrorism bulletin. in response to a growing threat from local extremists, including anti-government militias and white supremacists. Extremists are coming together under a larger, looser 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 violently violated the U.S. Capitol building. At least five deaths have been linked to the assault, including a Capitol Hill policeman. Some of the crowd waved Confederate battle flags and wore clothing with neo-Nazi symbolism.
Federal authorities have made more than 160 arrests and searched for hundreds more on criminal charges related to the deadly January 6 assault. Authorities have also linked around 30 defendants to a group or movement, according to an AP review of court records.
This includes seven defendants linked to QAnon, a once marginal internet conspiracy movement that has recently become a powerful force in mainstream conservative politics; six linked to the Proud Boys, a misogynist, anti-immigrant and anti-Semitic group linked to white supremacism; four were linked to the Oath Keepers, a paramilitary organization that recruits current and former military, law enforcement and first responders; four linked to the Three Percenters, an anti-government militia movement; and two executives from “Super Happy Fun America,” a group linked to white nationalists known for hosting a so-called “pure pride” parade in downtown Boston in 2019.
Trump’s bipartisan critics have criticized him for instigating the attack on Capitol Hill, which some far-right groups have claimed to be successful and are using as a recruiting tool to increase membership, according to the SPLC.
The last year of the Trump presidency, marked by a broad recognition of systemic racism, also propelled racist conspiracy theories and white nationalist ideology into mainstream politics, the Legal Center said.
According to an SPLC survey in August, 29% of respondents said they personally knew someone who believed white people to be the superior race. The poll also found that 51% of Americans believed that the looting and vandalism happening across the country around the Black Lives Matter protests was a bigger problem than excessive police force.
Protests against the murder of George Floyd by Minneapolis police last May prompted the November election to be a white supremacist referendum. Nestled in Trump’s baseless claims of widespread electoral fraud, there was a reality that black and Hispanic voter turnout played a significant role in handing the victory to Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, the the first woman and the first person of Black and South Asian descent to hold this position. .
In his inaugural address, Biden issued a strong repudiation of white supremacy and domestic terrorism, which is rare for such consecutive speeches.
The SPLC made several recommendations to the new administration in its last 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. He also urged to improve federal data collection, training and prevention on hate crimes; and for the enactment of federal laws that divert funding from punishment models to prevent violent extremism.
People who support or express hatred and bigotry are not always card-carrying members of far-right groups. But that doesn’t mean they can’t be activated in violence, said Christian Picciolini, former far-right extremist and founder of the Free Radicals Project, a group that helps people disengage from hate organizations.
It also doesn’t mean that they can’t be reached and de-radicalized, he said.
“We have to have a kind of dual approach to stop what is happening now, but also to make sure that we don’t create problems for ourselves in the future, to understand how the propaganda that recruits these people spreads,” he said. declared Picciolini.
“Right now, it’s in a very self-serve online 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 Race & Ethnicity team. Follow him on Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/aaronlmorrison.
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