Excerpt: "The number of U.S. hate groups increased for the third year in a row, the Southern Poverty Law Center said Wednesday, warning that neo-Nazi and white supremacist groups saw the most expansion last year under the presidency of Donald Trump, who is seen as sympathetic and tolerant toward their actions."
Nazi rally. (photo: AP)
US Neo-Nazi Groups Surged in Trump's First Year: Report
22 February 18
The Southern Poverty Law Center said hate groups targeting Muslims and immigrants saw a big increase in 2017 due to Trump�s rhetoric.
he number of U.S. hate groups increased for the third year in a row, the Southern Poverty Law Center said Wednesday, warning that neo-Nazi and white supremacist groups saw the most expansion last year under the presidency of Donald Trump, who is seen as sympathetic and tolerant toward their actions.
There were 954 hate groups in the country in 2017, marking a 4 percent increase over the previous year when the number rose 2.8 percent, the civil rights watchdog said in its annual census of such groups. Since 2014, the number has jumped 20 percent, it said.
Among the more than 600 white supremacist groups, neo-Nazi organizations rose to 121 from 99. Anti-Muslim groups increased for a third year in a row, to 114 from 101 in 2016, the report said.
Last year brought "a substantial emboldening of the radical right, and that is largely due to the actions of President Trump, who's tweeted out hate materials and made light of the threats to our society posed by hate groups," Heidi Beirich, director of the SPLC�s Intelligence Project, told reporters.
"President Trump in 2017 reflected what white supremacist groups want to see: a country where racism is sanctioned by the highest office, immigrants are given the boot and Muslims banned."
In just one year in office Trump ordered several travel bans, targeting several Muslim-majority countries, which are seen as his version of the �Muslim ban� he promised during his presidential campaign in 2016. Such orders are being challenged in the courts as several judges ruled the bans unconstitutional.
Trump is also notorious for using derogatory and vulgar language when talking about immigrants and refugees such as his recent comment describing Haiti and African nations as �shithole countries�.
In August, Trump came under fire for saying "both sides" were to blame for violence at a white supremacist rally in Virginia where Heather Heyer was killed after a white supremacist plowed his car into a crowd of counter-protesters. "It's as if our culture has been infused by these ideas," Beirich said.
The report by the Southern Poverty Law Center also comes days after yet another shooting took place in the United States at a high school in Florida in which shooter Nicolas Cruz has reportedly said he wanted to kill Blacks and Latinos while photos showed him wearing Trump�s �Make America Great Again� hat.
The group also added two male supremacy groups to its census for the first time. The male supremacist movement "misrepresents all women as genetically inferior, manipulative and stupid and reduces them to their reproductive or sexual function," the SPLC said in its report.
Meanwhile the watchdog said that in backlash against Trump and the rise of white alt-right groups, Black nationalist organizations have increased by 20 percent, to 233, in 2017.
The Southern Poverty Law Center, founded in 1971, defines hate groups as organizations with beliefs or practices that demonize a class of people. The research center, however, acknowledged that its report likely failed to capture the full extent of hate-group activity. It said many of them, especially from the alt-right, operate mainly online.
|
THE NEW STREAMLINED RSN LOGIN PROCESS: Register once, then login and you are ready to comment. All you need is a Username and a Password of your choosing and you are free to comment whenever you like! Welcome to the Reader Supported News community. |
Comments
We are concerned about a recent drift towards vitriol in the RSN Reader comments section. There is a fine line between moderation and censorship. No one likes a harsh or confrontational forum atmosphere. At the same time everyone wants to be able to express themselves freely. We'll start by encouraging good judgment. If that doesn't work we'll have to ramp up the moderation.
General guidelines: Avoid personal attacks on other forum members; Avoid remarks that are ethnically derogatory; Do not advocate violence, or any illegal activity.
Remember that making the world better begins with responsible action.
- The RSN Team
The economy is improving - 25 people found a job sweeping a floor and emptying the trash - that is not improvement, that is hoping you have a few dollars for food today!
The only improvement is in the 1% - they continue to make out like bandits, which they are!!! Weren't we told until the day 'the bottom fell out of the economy" in 2008 that the economy was strong. I believe DubYah was saying that - these morons must be living in some parallel universe!!!
In the real world poverty is reality and getting worse all the time!!!
And, yes, raising the top marginal tax rate would encourage people to donate to charity, i.e., invest in their communities.
IMHO, the lowering of the highest marginal tax rates undermines businesses and it undermines communities... it undermines America!
And then this nasty jerk Robert Rector, Senior reserch fellow, no less, have the nerve to disparage people who have fallen on hard times. He questions their need because "they live in nice size homes with wide screen TV."
The cold fish doesn't realize, that IS the tragedy for so many people who HAD good lives. nice homes, and all that goes with it. Now they lost jobs, maybe had some health issues, and we know that many have to take expensive medications, they can no longer
The good life is laying in broken pieces around them. They are losing what they worked so hard for, and the home may be forclosed on any day.
And that disgusting excuse for a human, Robert Rector throws dirt at these unhappy people, while he dreams up how to get us into war as soon as possible.
Get me a bucket, I am getting sick
People can no longer afford the expensive medication they need to stay alive.
Why would AP even think of asking Heritage for a comment. They are the Reaganite group that has done more to promote legislation that has destroyed the middle class than any other.
By default (read greed) or design the middle class is disappearing. Now the military gets the right to detain and hold indefinitely citizens without cause, warrant, hearing, or trial. All this on suspicion of clearly undefined terrorist support activities. Sounds sorta South of the boarder hunh?
I appears that the consolidation of power is nearly complete. The MIC machine has all but eliminated running an honest outsider for office to attempt corrections. I guess round up dissidents would be the next order of business. Think Warsaw.
OWS has the right idea, albeit a bit late. Point out the problem, gather citizens, apply pressure by masses of numbers, make corrections.
OWS problem is that without direction (read "do list") of corrective measures it is difficult to gain a following (look what happened the last time we followed a nebulous cause "hope & change").
OR we could suck up to hope the greedy & hope they will be benevolent (like they have been thus far)
OR head for the hills
Well, I'm open to suggestion.
reminds me of the far side cartoon of a dinosaur at the podium at a dinosaur convention saying "the future looks bleak, earth is cooling and we have a brain the size of a walnut"
"If Congress and the states make further cuts, we can expect the number of poor and low-income families to rise for the next several years."
These self-righteous politicians with no connection to reality may find themselves out of a job sooner than they think.