The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), a progressive non-governmental advocacy organization for civil rights, on Tuesday released its annual report on the scope and danger of hate groups and of the anti-government extremist groups that operate within the United States.
The report titled “Year of Hate and Extremism” documents 1,225 active groups that are “stripping communities of their rights” through public demonstrations, flyers and media attention in 2022.
“The far-right movement moved deeper into people’s lives in 2022, with resistant communities pushing back,” the SPLC noted.
The report also shows how the tactics of those groups changed after the attack on the United States Capitol on January 6, 2021 to organize locally and follow your agenda in the places where it is easiest to gain power.
In 2022, the far-right movement succeeded in digging into people’s lives in a visible and material way, even if it did not have widespread electoral success. Your fingerprints are everywhere: homes, schools, doctor’s offices, libraries, bars, restaurants, churches, and other community spaces.
“Taking on the most hateful factions in our country is critical to dismantling white supremacy and promoting civil rights for all people,” he said in a statement. Margaret Huang, President and CEO of the Southern Poverty Law Center.
“We are exposing a concerted effort by hate groups and extremist actors to terrorize communities and gain control of public institutions by any means necessary,” Huang said.
“These groups are coming to Main Street America and disrupting people’s daily lives, all too often with dire consequences for communities of color, Jews, and the LGBTQ+ community,” Huang added.
Hate groups hold rallies, post propaganda, and gain media attention to recruit members, raise funds, and intimidate and threaten Latino, African American, Jewish, and transgender minorities in particular.
For example, the white nationalist group Patriot Front is one of the most active in holding demonstrations in local communities across the country. In all, the SPLC tracked 4,739 public demonstrations by that group in 2022.
The report singled out groups mobilizing in public schools, which SPLC described as “extremists”. Specifically, the report documented 12 groups against the inclusion of students who attacked public education, banned books, and removed curriculum focused on race, discrimination, and LGBTQ+ identities.
By the end of 2022, at least 84 anti-student inclusion bills had been introduced or introduced in 26 states. Florida made waves when Governor Ron DeSantis signed the Florida Parental Rights in Education Act, better known as the “Don’t Say Gay” law.
Moms for Liberty, a Florida-based group, is listed in the SPLC report as a far-right anti-government organization who engages in activities against student inclusion and is considered part of the modern parental rights movement.
“Extremist hate and anti-government groups intend to stage public hate spectacles that violently harass, threaten, and harm Black, Brown, Asian, Jewish, LGBTQ+, and immigrant communities,” said Susan Corke, director of the Intelligence Project at the SPLC, in a statement.
While SPLC tracked a rise in what the report called extremist groups, such as Moms for Liberty, the report found that the number of active militia groups had decreased from 92 groups in 2021 to 61 active militia groups in 2022.
According to the SPLC, the drop in militia mobilization follows recent federal convictions of members of the Oath Keepers and Proud Boys following the January 6, 2021 attack on the US Capitol.
Keep reading:
– Children’s books that are being banned in the United States
– They issue a new travel alert to Florida due to their new laws that threaten the LGBTQ community
– Newsom names Bamby Saucedo of Los Angeles to Hate Crimes Commission
Source: La Opinion
