During one of the most politically divisive years in recent memory, the number of active hate groups in the United States has actually decreased as far-right extremists migrated to online networks, reflecting a division of more difficult white and neo-Nazi nationalist groups of track.
In its annual report, released on Monday, the Southern Poverty Law Center said it identified 838 active hate groups operating in the U.S. in 2020. This is a decrease from the 940 documented in 2019 and the record 1,020 in 2018, said the legal center, which monitors racism, xenophobia and anti-government militias.
“It is important to understand that the number of hate groups is just a metric for measuring the level of hatred and racism in America, and that the decline of groups should not be interpreted as a reduction in prejudiced beliefs and actions motivated by hate,” he said. the report, first shared exclusively with The Associated Press.
The Montgomery, Alabama legal center said that many hate groups have switched to social media platforms and the use of encrypted applications, while others have been banned entirely from conventional social media networks.
Still, the legal center said, online platforms allow individuals to interact with hate and anti-government groups without becoming members, maintain connections with like-minded people and participate in actions in the real world, such as last month’s siege. to 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 have seen great growth in the previous two years after being spurred on by the campaign and the presidency of Donald Trump, the report said. .
The number of anti-immigrant, anti-Muslim and anti-LGBTQ hate groups has remained virtually stable, while their personal organization has been hampered by the coronavirus pandemic.
In short, the levels of hatred and intolerance in America have not decreased, said SPLC President and CEO Margaret Huang.
“What is important is that we start to count on 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 were really encouraged,” Huang told the AP.
Last month, when President Joe Biden’s government began to establish itself, the Department of Homeland Security issued one of the first national terrorism bulletins in response to a growing threat from local extremists, including anti-government militias and white supremacists. Extremists are joining a broader and less affiliated movement of people who reject democratic institutions and multiculturalism, said Huang.
The SPLC report comes out almost a month after a largely white crowd of Trump supporters and members of far-right groups violently violated the U.S. Capitol building. At least five deaths were linked to the attack, including a Capitol police officer. Some members of the crowd waved the Confederate battle flags and wore clothes with neo-Nazi symbolism.
Federal authorities made more than 160 arrests and searched hundreds of others on criminal charges related to the January 6 deadly attack. Authorities also linked about 30 defendants to a group or movement, according to a review of the court’s records by the AP.
This includes seven defendants linked to QAnon, a formerly 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 with ties to white supremacy; four linked to Oath Keepers, a paramilitary organization that recruits current and former military personnel, police and first responders; four linked to Three Percenters, an anti-government militia movement; and two leaders of “Super Happy Fun America,” a group with ties to white nationalists known for organizing a so-called “pure pride” parade in downtown Boston in 2019.
Trump’s bipartisan critics blamed him for inciting the attack on the Capitol, which some far-right groups have declared a success and are using as a recruiting tool to increase membership, according to the SPLC.
The last year of Trump’s presidency, marked by a broad recognition of systemic racism, has also propelled racist conspiracy theories and white nationalist ideology into the mainstream, the legal center said.
According to an SPLC survey conducted in August, 29% of respondents said they personally knew someone who believes that whites are the superior race. The survey also found that 51% of Americans thought the looting and vandalism that occurred across the country around the Black Lives Matter demonstrations was a bigger problem than the excessive use of police force.
Protests against George Floyd’s death by Minneapolis police last May spurred pressure to make the November election a referendum on white supremacy. Nestled in Trump’s baseless allegations of widespread electoral fraud was a reality that participation among black and Hispanic voters played a significant role in delivering victory to Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, the first woman and first person of black heritage and South Asia to hold that position.
During his inaugural speech, Biden issued a strong repudiation of white supremacy and domestic terrorism, which is rare in such important speeches.
The SPLC made several recommendations to the new administration in its latest report. He requested the establishment of offices in the Department of Homeland Security, the Department of Justice and the FBI to monitor, investigate and prosecute cases of domestic terrorism. It also urged to improve the collection, training and prevention of federal hate crimes; and for enacting federal legislation that diverts funding from models of punishment to prevent violent extremism.
People who support or express hatred and prejudice are not always members of extreme right groups with cards. But that does not mean that they cannot be activated for violence, said Christian Picciolini, a former far-right extremist and founder of the Free Radicals Project, a group that helps people disconnect from hate organizations.
It also does not mean that they cannot be reached and de-radicalized, he said.
“We have to take a dual approach to stop what is happening now, but also to make sure that we are not creating a problem for us in the future, to understand how the propaganda that is recruiting these people is spreading,” said Picciolini.
“It is currently in an online self-service format,” he added. “We are facing a really 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.