Rebecca Beitsch
Thu, March 9, 2023
The United States saw its highest-ever distribution of white supremacist propaganda last year, jumping 38 percent, according to data collected by the Anti-Defamation League (ADL).
The group recorded 6,751 incidents of propaganda activity in 2022 — a jump from 4,876 in 2021 that the ADL attributed to growth in the number of white supremacist groups and their membership.
“There’s no question that white supremacists and antisemites are trying to terrorize and harass Americans and have significantly stepped up their use of propaganda as a tactic to make their presence known in communities nationwide,” Jonathan Greenblatt, president of ADL, said in a statement alongside the report.
Three white supremacist groups — Patriot Front, Goyim Defense League and White Lives Matter — were responsible for 93 percent of this year’s activity, which includes banners, posters and events.
Much of that content was specifically antisemitic in nature, with ADL noting that such propaganda surged from 352 incidents in 2021 to 852 incidents last year.
The uptick in antisemitic propaganda “was largely due to [Goyim Defense League’s] growth and their initiation of propaganda campaigns. The formation of several new antisemitic white supremacist groups in 2022 also contributed to the rise in antisemitic incidents,” ADL found.
The spikes come as national security leaders have repeatedly warned that white supremacists extremists are an increasingly large share of the domestic violent extremists in the U.S.
“Racially motivated violent extremism, specifically of the sort that advocates for the superiority of the white race, is a persistent, evolving threat,” FBI Director Christopher Wray told lawmakers last year.
“It’s the biggest chunk of our racially motivated violent extremism cases for sure. And racially motivated violent extremism is the biggest chunk of our domestic terrorism portfolio,” he added.
White supremacist propaganda hits a five-year high, according to annual survey by ADL
Will Carless, USA TODAY
Thu, March 9, 2023
Incidents of white supremacist propaganda are at their highest level in at least five years.
That's the finding of an annual survey conducted by the Anti-Defamation League, which documents propaganda incidents nationwide, including flyers, banners and graffiti.
In a report released Thursday morning, the ADL found levels in 2022 were the highest since the survey began in 2018. Incidents rose 38% from 2021, to a total of 6,751.
Antisemitic propaganda incidents also more than doubled in 2022 from the year before, the report found, though the number of incidents registered at colleges decreased slightly from 2021.
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“There’s no question that white supremacists and antisemites are trying to terrorize and harass Americans and have significantly stepped up their use of propaganda as a tactic,” said ADL's CEO Jonathan Greenblatt. “This is a cowardly attempt to intimidate marginalized communities and those who don’t align with their twisted worldview and draw in new recruits."
What the annual report measures
The ADL's Center on Extremism monitors white supremacist and antisemitic propaganda campaigns throughout the year, tallying them for an annual total.
The effort catalogs incidents of white supremacist fliers, posters, stickers, banners and graffiti, as well as tallying and monitoring white supremacist events.
Each propaganda incident might range from a single piece of white supremacist graffiti, or the unveiling of a banner in a public place displaying racist or hateful messages, to a drop of dozens or hundreds of racist flyers or stickers.
Where propaganda comes from
As has been the case in recent years, most white supremacist propaganda was distributed by just three extremist groups: Patriot Front, Goyim Defense League and White Lives Matter, which collectively were responsible for 93% of the activity monitored by the ADL.
Propaganda at a record high
The Center on Extremism has been monitoring and tallying white supremacist propaganda since 2017.
In addition to the record high overall levels of propaganda incidents, the annual report also found:
The number of white supremacist events recorded increased to 167 in 2022, a 55% increase from the year before.
White supremacists are increasingly using banners to spread hateful messages. In 2022 the ADL recorded 252 "banner drops" in which white supremacist groups painted racist and hateful messages on banners and hung them from freeway bridges and in other public spaces.
May 19, 2022: A person visits a makeshift memorial near the scene of Saturday's shooting at a supermarket in Buffalo, NY.
In context
Last month, President Joe Biden focused on hate and extremism in his annual State of the Union address.
"There is no place for political violence in America," Biden said. "We must give hate and extremism in any form no safe harbor."
Last year also saw several hate-driven mass shootings, including the May 14 attack on a supermarket in Buffalo by a white supremacist who shot and killed 10 people. A November shooting at an LBGTQ-friendly nightclub in Colorado has also led to extensive hate-crime charges for the man accused in the shooting.
Go deeper on extremism:
Jan. 6 riot: Hundreds of identifiable suspects remain free. Here's why
Financing: Extremists raised $6.2 million on crowdfunding websites
Antisemitism: Number of Americans who believe antisemitic ideas has doubled since 2019
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: ADL annual survey finds rising white supremacist propaganda
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