“They use the uncertainty and fear caused by crisis to win over new recruits to their ‘us vs. them’ narrative, painting the ‘other’ as the cause of their pain, grievances or loss,” Picciolini told the AP. The current uncertainty caused by the pandemic, job loss, a heated election, protest over extrajudicial police killings of Black Americans, and a national reckoning sparked by our country’s long tradition of racism has created a perfect storm in which to recruit Americans who are fearful of change and progress.
Propaganda, often distributed with the intention of garnering media and online attention, helps white supremacists normalize their messaging and bolster recruitment efforts, the ADL said in its report. Language used in the propaganda is frequently veiled with a patriotic slant, making it seem benign to an untrained eye.
March 17, 2021 Share
White supremacist propaganda reached alarming levels across the U.S. in 2020, according to a new report that the Anti-Defamation League provided to The Associated Press.
There were 5,125 cases of racist, anti-Semitic, anti-LGBTQ and other hateful messages spread through physical flyers, stickers, banners and posters, according to Wednesday’s report. That’s nearly double the 2,724 instances reported in 2019. Online propaganda is much harder to quantify, and it’s likely those cases reached into the millions, the anti-hate organization said.
The ADL, which was founded more than a century ago, said that last year marked the highest level of white supremacist propaganda seen in at least a decade. Its report comes as federal authorities investigate and prosecute those who stormed the U.S. Capitol in January, some of whom are accused of having ties to or expressing support for hate groups and antigovernment militias.
White supremacist propaganda was spotted last year in every state but Hawaii at an average rate of around 14 instances each day, the ADL’s Center on Extremism (COE) reported on its website.
The ADL said the propaganda was distributed by at least 30 White supremacist groups, but mostly just three: Patriot Front, the New Jersey European Heritage Association and the Nationalist Social Club.
The ADL said 80% of all White supremacist propaganda incidents reported last year involved Patriot Front, a Texas-based group that has established a nationwide presence since forming in 2017.
Patriot Front distributed White supremacist propaganda in 48 states during 2020, the ADL reported. The group typically promotes itself with fliers and stickers rife with patriotic imagery and slogans.
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A white supremacist tag is seen on the chalk wall near where Heather Heyer was murdered by James Fields during the first Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Virginia. (Shay Horse/NurPhoto/Shutterstock)
ACROSS AMERICA White supremacists in the United States contributed to a record number of propaganda reports in 2020, according to a new report released Wednesday by the Anti-Defamation League s Center for Extremism.
Nationwide, white supremacist propaganda defined as posters, flyers, and graffiti that are anti-Semitic, racist, and anti-LGBTQ+ was recorded 5,125 times in 2020, according to the report, almost twice the number of incidents recorded in 2019.
The ADL recorded propaganda incidents in every U.S. state except Hawaii last year.