The Rise of Hate Groups in America!
“The number of hate groups operating in our country in 2016 remained at near-historic highs, rising from 892 in 2015 to 917 last year, according to the latest count by the SPLC. That’s only about 100 fewer organizations than the 1,018 tallied in 2011, which was the all-time high in some 30 years.
The number of hate groups operating in the United States continued to rise in 2008 and has grown by 54 percent since 2000 — an increase fueled last year by immigration fears, a failing economy, and the successful campaign of Barack Obama,” according to the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC). The SPLC identified 926 hate groups active in 2008, up more than four percent from the 888 groups in 2007 and far above the 602 groups documented in 2000," as mentioned in my book, "Fart in the Wind," Get Rid of Emotional Flatulence, Published in 2009.
The SPLC has documented an explosive rise in the number of hate groups since the turn of the century, driven in part by anger over Latino immigration and demographic projections showing that whites will no longer hold majority status in the country by around 2040. The rise accelerated in 2009, the year President Obama took office, but declined after that, in part because large numbers of extremists were moving to the web and away from on-the-ground activities. In the last two years, in part due to a presidential campaign that flirted heavily with extremist ideas, the hate group count has risen again. Read our most recent report or see a full list of active hate groups.
Trump’s run for office electrified the radical right, which saw in him a champion of the idea that America is fundamentally a white man’s country. He kicked off the campaign with a speech vilifying Mexican immigrants as rapists and drug dealers.
Trump retweeted white supremacist messages, including one that falsely claimed that black people were responsible for 80% of the murders of whites.
The number of hate groups operating in the country in 2016 remained at near-historic highs, rising from 892 in 2015 to 917 last year, according to the latest count by the SPLC. That’s only about 100 fewer organizations than the 1,018 tallied in 2011, which was the all-time high in some 30 years of SPLC counts.
And the numbers undoubtedly understate the real level of organized hatred in America. In recent years, growing numbers of right-wing extremists operate mainly in cyberspace until, in some cases, they take action in the real world. Dylann Roof, who was convicted late last year of the racist murder of nine black churchgoers, is an example of that — he had no real-world contact with hate groups before deciding, based on propaganda he read on the Internet, that it was time to start a race war.
By far the most dramatic change was the enormous leap in anti-Muslim hate groups, from 34 in 2015 to 101 last year — a 197% increase.
But that explosion was not unexpected. Anti-Muslim hate has been expanding rapidly for more than two years now, driven by radical Islamist attacks including the June mass murder of 49 people at an Orlando, Fla., gay nightclub, the unrelenting propaganda of a growing circle of well-paid ideologues, and the incendiary rhetoric of Trump — his threats to ban Muslim immigration, mandate a registry of Muslims in America, and more.”
Some very basic levels of ignorance and an obvious lack of a basic human characteristics like compassion, reasoning and clarity, and so forth lie here. All creation expresses diversity, every animal, bird, sea creature, flowers, trees, and so on. Why do these people believe that one is better than the other? The groups that have been dominant in our society are the ones who have been willing to commit heinous acts in order to take or keep control and to maintain monetary status and control.
It’s sickening watching the video’s of the violent acts against people of color. We need to do more than just talk about it. We need to look at these hate groups as terrorist and punish them as criminals as they act outside the 14 Amendment of our Constitution.
14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution
The 14th Amendment to the Constitution was ratified on July 9, 1868, and granted citizenship to “all persons born or naturalized in the United States,” which included former slaves recently freed. In addition, it forbids states from denying any person "life, liberty or property, without due process of law" or to "deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.” By directly mentioning the role of the states, the 14th Amendment greatly expanded the protection of civil rights to all Americans and is cited in more litigation than any other amendment.
Why Does Violence Occur?
Violence occurs when we feel we are not being listened to and have no remedy for the crimes committed against us. Four hundred years of slavery was enough. The Holocaust was enough. Our Creator is the author of diversity and never intended for us all to be the same color. Are we really in the 20th Century and still fighting about color and status? It’s mind boggling and, I can only wonder what God is thinking as he watches from the giant television in the sky shaking his/her head in wonderment. I’m surprised there’s not another Ark being built right now.
Excerpts from splcenter: See: https://www.splcenter.org/fighting-hate/intelligence-report/2017/year-hate-and-extremism for full articles and more statistics.
Author: Vivian Gale, aka Freedom
Life Coach and Author
www.viviangale.com
vivian@viviangale.com -email