SPLC releases annual report on hate and extremism
The Southern Poverty Law Center today (Tuesday, June 4) released its annual Year in Hate & Extremism Report, which documents 595 hate groups and 835 anti-government extremist groups, including a “growing wave of white nationalism increasingly motivated by theocratic beliefs and conspiracy theories,” noted a press release announcing the report.
That is a total of 1,430 hate and anti-government groups tracked nationwide last year, compared to a total of 599 such groups in 2020.
The number of such groups tracked last year stood at 1,225 — a group of more than 200 such groups in one year. The report provides a “comprehensive analysis of the groups and organizational infrastructure upholding white supremacy in the United States,” according to the press release.
These groups have “intensified their efforts over the past year to recruit new members, increase their online presence and in-person demonstrations, exploit international and domestic conflicts, lobby the government and, in some cases, directly participate in elections, especially at the local level,” SPLC officials warned, adding that communities of color, immigrant communities, minority faith communities and LGBTQ communities are “all targeted by and experience the negative effects of hate-filled rhetoric and anti-government conspiracies through actions such as banning books, protesting drag story hours and using school boards as politcal battlegrounds.
