After 12 gunshots killed Jewish radio host Alan Berg in the driveway of his Denver townhouse in 1984, the FBI traced the weapon used to a white supremacist group called The Order that was behind a string of robberies and bombings designed to kill Jews and Blacks and usher in a white revolution against the U.S. government.
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On Dec. 6 a new film, The Order, opens in theaters featuring Jude Law as Terry Husk, the FBI agent who pursued the group and helped put its leaders in prison. Today The Order is history, but the toxic combination of racism and religion that fueled its rise remains potent today, say groups that track extremism and antisemitism.
The year 2023 saw a historic rise in public displays of white supremacy, according to the Anti-Defamation League, the 111-year-old group that combats antisemitism, bigotry and discrimination. ADL’s Center on Extremism reported these increases:
- Propaganda incidents by pro-white groups targeting communities with racist and/or antisemitic flyers, brochures, pamphlets and posters jumped 12% in 2023, with 7,567 propaganda cases, up from 6,746 incidents in 2022.
- White supremacist events and rallies jumped 63%, with 282 events in 2023, up from 173 in 2022. The largest events were held in Washington, D.C.; Austin, Texas; and Columbus, Ohio; and together they attracted some 230 participants.
Propaganda efforts are a favored means of outreach “because they provoke media and online attention for the groups and messaging while limiting the risk of individual exposure, arrests and public backlash that often accompany more public activities,” says ADL.
ADL says there are about 50 active white supremacist groups, most of them small. The three largest groups — Patriot Front, National Justice Party and Goyim Defense League — were responsible for 92% of reported incidents. The groups harass and attack people who are Jewish, LGBTQ, Black or immigrants.
The Southern Poverty Law Center, founded in 1971, has noted a comparable uptick in activism by groups promoting white power and white nationalism: “Throughout 2022 and 2023, there has been a resurgence of in-person demonstrations among white nationalist, neo-Nazi and far-right reactionary groups throughout the country. For the first time since 2018, these racist activists, who together make up what is known as the White Power Movement, turned out in droves, holding 191 demonstrations in 2022 and 143 in 2023.”
The U.S. Department of Justice also has tracked a rise in hate crimes against various groups:
- Race/ethnicity/ancestry 52.5%
- Religion 22.5%
- Sexual orientation 18.4%
- Gender identity 4.1%
- Disability 1.6%
- Gender 0.9%
Alan Berg was a liberal atheist Jew and a pioneer of shock-jock radio who regularly angered both listeners and guests on KOA radio, a media powerhouse that could reach 30 states. But it was his Jewishness that made him a target.
David Lane, an Order member who died while serving a 190-year prison sentence for killing Berg, was a former member of the Ku Klux Klan who migrated to Christian Identity, a movement that offers a racist take on Christian theology.
Christian Identity teaches that white races are descendants of ancient Israelites and are God’s chosen people.
Christian Identity teaches that white races are descendants of ancient Israelites and are God’s chosen people, but Jews are the spawn of Satan.
ADL has been tracking white supremacist activities since 2017, and in 2018 released its report: “New Hate and Old: The Changing Face of American White Supremacy.” Race hatred remains the movement’s fuel, but its tactics have changed over the years.
The ADL report said the resurgence of white supremacy in recent years shows the influence of the “alt-right,” a term that has evolved over the years.
White nationalist Richard Spencer supposedly was the first to use the term in 2010 when he founded a webzine called The Alternative Right. Spencer later organized the 2017 Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Va. Scenes of violence and of marchers chanting “Jews will not replace us!” led to criticism of the movement.
In 2016, Steve Bannon declared Breitbart News “the platform for the alt right,” and the outlet gave these groups more coverage. Richard Spencer said Breitbart offered a “gateway” to alt-right ideas.
At a time when hate and division seem to be on the rise, hate groups are seeking to expand their influence.
“The normalization of hate in our public and political discourse creates an environment that fuels the groups,” the ADL’s Oren Segal told The New York Times.
Last year, the Heritage Foundation — creator of Project 2025 — announced its Project Esther to combat antisemitism. But as BNG reported last month, the effort excluded established Jewish groups like ADL and focused exclusively on hate from the left, not the right, ignoring celebrities favored by conservative Christian groups, such as Tucker Carlson and Candace Owens.
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