The Southern Poverty Law Center has updated its annual census of US-based hate groups. South Carolina is host to 27:
American Aryan Reich
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American Nazi Party
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Aryan Nations 88
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Creativity Alliance
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Dixie Republic
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Ku Klos Knights of the Ku Klux Klan
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Patriotic Flags
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Rebel Brigade Knights of the Ku Klux Klan
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Silent Circle Knight's of the Ku Klux Klan
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The Redneck Shop
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True Invisible Empire Traditionalist American Knights of the Ku Klux Klan
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True Light Pentecost Church
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United Knights Of Tennessee Order Of The Ku Klux Klan
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The Center adds that they "counted 1,018 active hate groups in the United States in 2011. Only organizations and their chapters known to be active during 2011 are included. "All hate groups have beliefs or practices that attack or malign an entire class of people, typically for their immutable characteristics.
"This list was compiled using hate group publications and websites, citizen and law enforcement reports, field sources and news reports.
"Hate group activities can include criminal acts, marches, rallies, speeches, meetings, leafleting or publishing. Websites appearing to be merely the work of a single individual, rather than the publication of a group, are not included in this list. Listing here does not imply a group advocates or engages in violence or other criminal activity."
North Carolina's home to 34, and Georgia to 65.
This seems somewhat suspect. Essentially, they've listed five different chapters of the Klan, three different National Socialist Movement chapters, three League of the South locations, along with two chapters each of the Council of Conservative Citizens, the European-American Unity and Rights Organization, and the Nation of Islam. That seems kind of redundant.
ReplyDeleteIf a company has five different locations in a state, you wouldn't count them as five different companies.
Further, I'm not sure the bunch of knuckleheads running the Redneck Shop, while certainly reprehensible by almost any normal person's standards, qualify as a "hate group."
I'd also be curious to know how many people are in the groups listed. If we're talking about, say, 6-10 people on average in each group, nearly all of whom have an IQ of between 80 and 95, I have to wonder if the Southern Poverty Law Center was using some of these groups as bogeyman to boost the purported number of “hate groups” and create fear.
No question there are some dangerous individuals out there, but putting the Redneck Store on the list doesn’t help your credibility.
Slate has an intersting item that explains, some, how SPLC arrives at its totals. One problem seems to be that the menu is much broader than it used to be for those of a mind to hate (including the amazing category of "moderate racists"):
ReplyDelete"The Klan’s history of violence is another challenge to recruitment. The organization will always be associated with the lynching of innocent African-Americans in the 20th century, which puts off more moderate racists.
"The KKK is also suffering from a proliferation of competitors. People who wanted to join a white supremacist movement back in the 1920s didn’t have a lot of choices. Today, there are countless options, enabling an extremist to find a group that matches his personal brand of intolerance. The more extreme groups in the burgeoning patriot movement cater to anti-Muslim, homophobic, and xenophobic sentiment, with less animosity toward African-Americans and Jews. Aryan Nations offers a heavy focus on Christian identity. Some groups preach more violence, while others offer a veneer of intellectualism. American Renaissance, for example, caters to “suit-and-tie” racists, offering pseudo-scientific papers on white supremacy. The group even holds conferences at a hotel near Dulles airport in Virginia.
"Many young racist activists aren’t bothering to join groups at all anymore, further hampering the Klan’s recruitment efforts. Former KKK Grand Wizard Don Black in 1995 launched the website Stormfront, which enables individuals in the white supremacist movement to share ideas and read news stories reported from a racist perspective. The community-building site, and others like it, lessens the need for racists to socialize at Klan barbecues or introduce their children to Klanta Klaus at the KKK Christmas rally."
http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/politics/2012/03/ku_klux_klan_in_decline_why_did_the_kkk_lose_so_many_chapters_in_2010_.html
It figures that S.C. wouldn't have any "American Renaissance" types. We like our racists simple-minded and violent. At least they're easier to pick out.
ReplyDeleteHere's a link to an article by Mark Potok at SPLC explaining the growth of different sorts of hate groups over time, and in the latest report: http://www.splcenter.org/get-informed/intelligence-report/browse-all-issues/2012/spring/the-year-in-hate-and-extremism
ReplyDelete