White supremacists are putting out more propaganda than ever, but meeting less
A Hasidic man walks by a police car in a Jewish Orthodox neighborhood in Brooklyn on April 24, 2017 in New York City. Image by Spencer Platt/Getty Images
By Molly Boigon February 12, 2020
The Anti-Defamation League released a report Wednesday on the increase in white supremacist propaganda in the United States during 2019. Here’s what you should know:
- 2019 saw a doubling in propaganda activity since 2018. The ADL said last year’s 2,713 reported cases made up the highest number of incidents they’ve ever recorded.
- There were 630 white supremacist propaganda incidents that took place on campus, nearly double the amount recorded in 2018.
- While there was more propaganda in 2019, there were 20 percent fewer white supremacist events last year than the year prior — only 76, and those were poorly attended.
- Three groups were responsible for about 90 percent of the activity: Texas-based Patriot Front, American Identity Movement and the New Jersey European Heritage Association.
- The Ku Klux Klan is losing influence. Seven different Klan groups distributed propaganda 53 times, almost half their distributions in 2018 and less than the group’s five-year average.
- Every state except Hawaii saw white supremacist propaganda. California, Texas, New York, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Ohio, Virginia, Kentucky, Washington and Florida saw the highest levels of activity.
Molly Boigon is the investigative reporter at the Forward. Contact her at [email protected] or follow her on Twitter @MollyBoigon
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning journalism this Passover.
In this age of misinformation, our work is needed like never before. We report on the news that matters most to American Jews, driven by truth, not ideology.
At a time when newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall. That means for the first time in our 126-year history, Forward journalism is free to everyone, everywhere. With an ongoing war, rising antisemitism, and a flood of disinformation that may affect the upcoming election, we believe that free and open access to Jewish journalism is imperative.
Readers like you make it all possible. Right now, we’re in the middle of our Passover Pledge Drive and we still need 300 people to step up and make a gift to sustain our trustworthy, independent journalism.
Make a gift of any size and become a Forward member today. You’ll support our mission to tell the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
Only 300 more gifts needed by April 30
