Hate groups are alive, well and busy despite the setbacks the criminal prosecutions and negative public exposure the Oath Keepers and others endured after the January 6 insurrection, according to a new report by the Southern Poverty Law Center.
“The Year in Hate and Extremism 2022” takes a deep dive into the American extremist movement and its numerous expressions, including militia group activities, legislative attacks on schools and LGBTQ people, conspiracy theories and Christian nationalism.
“Over the past three years, the number of active Oath Keepers chapters has declined to 15 chapters in 2021 from approximately 79 active chapters in 2020, to just five active groups in 2022,” SPLC reported. “Although there has been a decline in active Oath Keepers chapters, according to the Committee on Homeland Security and Government Affairs, threats from white supremacists and anti-government extremists have increased in recent years.”
Margaret Huang
Tracking those threats is a key step in opposing hate, SLPC President Margaret Huang said in the report’s release.
“Taking on the most hateful factions in our country is critical to dismantling white supremacy and advancing the civil rights of all people,” she wrote. “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. These groups are descending on Main Street America and disrupting people’s daily lives, too often with dire consequences for communities of color, Jewish people and the LGBTQ community.”
“Taking on the most hateful factions in our country is critical to dismantling white supremacy and advancing the civil rights of all people.”
The report blends expert insights, investigative reporting, public polling and data collection to present a comprehensive appraisal of the activities of anti-government and hate groups and the threats they pose to American communities and democracy.
SPLC documented 1,225 hate groups in 2022 and demonstrated how many, since Jan. 6, 2021, have increasingly moved to the local level through flyer releases, banner displays, marches and other public demonstrations. Their goal is to increase engagement and membership, raise funds and to intimidate people of color and the transgender and Jewish communities, the report found.
“For example, the white nationalist group Patriot Front is one of the most active in holding demonstrations in local communities across the country. In total, the SPLC tracked 4,739 public demonstrations in 2022,” the report says.
Using flyers — which SPLC termed “flyering” — also has become a staple for hate groups looking to stay under the radar with relatively low-risk actions.
“Flyering incidents overall rose 291% from 2018 to 2023, which suggests flyering is still an important tactic hate groups deploy,” the report states. “White nationalist and neo-Nazi groups disseminated the most flyers in 2022, which is a trend that has remained the same since 2018. White nationalist group Patriot Front continues to produce and circulate the most hate group flyering, with 4,801 flyers distributed across all of the lower 48 states.”
Extremist groups also have mobilized against diversity in education by organizing school board protests and campaigns to ban books. They have participated in efforts to remove the topics of race, LGBTQ identity and discrimination from public school curriculums. The report identified a dozen education-focused extremist groups including the Florida-based Moms for Liberty.
“Schools, synagogues and LGBTQ businesses — venues that have traditionally been safe spaces for our children, the Jewish community and LGBTQ people — are now on the frontlines of hatred and violence,” according to Susan Corke, director of SPLC’s Intelligence Project, quoted in the study.
Hate groups also have thrown their weight behind Republican-led efforts in numerous American statehouses to limit diversity, equity and inclusion practices.
“Across the country, states instituted new laws that have forced teachers to cut and alter lessons addressing Black history, impacting student access to inclusive, accurate and education about the country’s history of racism, the report explains. “A wave of anti-LGBTQ demonstrations and harassment campaigns resulted in increased security measures at drag shows, library story hours and Pride celebrations; in many cases, organizers this year canceled queer community events out of safety concerns.”
The SPLC also included ongoing efforts to restrict women’s reproductive rights and transgender health care as part of U.S. extremist activity, SPLC reported. “A historic number of anti-trans bills now restrict the rights of trans people and, often, their ability to seek crucial gender-affirming medical care. And, because of the Supreme Court’s Dobbs (v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization) decision, people in 13 states cannot seek abortions where they live, and face the loss of personal autonomy, injury and even death.”
Despite suffering losses in the 2022 midterms, the GOP has become an extremist organization open to conspiracy theories and hate, SPLC said.
“Republican politicians now mingle freely with members of the organized white nationalist movement and employ their rhetoric more freely than at any other time in recent American history.”
“Hate groups, extremist activists and one of our country’s major political parties have become increasingly intertwined since Donald Trump’s presidency began. Republican politicians now mingle freely with members of the organized white nationalist movement and employ their rhetoric more freely than at any other time in recent American history,” the study said.
“Indeed, 2022 began with a member of Congress speaking at a white nationalist event. In February, hard-right Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., was a featured speaker at the America First Political Action Conference hosted by Nick Fuentes, one of the country’s most prominent white nationalists and an outspoken antisemite who has repeatedly praised Hitler. Rep. Paul Gosar, R.-Ariz., Arizona Sen. Wendy Rogers, R-Ariz., and Idaho Lt. Gov. Janice McGeachin all prerecorded speeches that were played at the event.”
White supremacy and Christian nationalism tie these various movements together today just as they did in January 2021, according to the SPLC study.
“White Christian nationalism is exclusionary and anti-democratic. Adherents view large segments of the U.S. population as un-American and often ascribe labels such as Marxists, communists and even pedophiles to civil rights advocates who champion a pluralistic, multiracial, equitable democracy,” the report says.