Feb 12, 2020 - Politics & Policy

White supremacist propaganda in U.S. jumped 120% from 2018 to 2019

Axios

A marcher walking across the Brooklyn Bridge carrying a sign of "No to Anti-semitism or Racism Not Now, Not Here Nowhere Ever" — A marcher during New York City's No Hate No Fear Jewish Solidarity March on Jan. 1, 2020. Photo: Ira L. Black/Corbis/Getty Images

Incidents of white supremacist propaganda distributed across the U.S. jumped more than 120% from 2018 to 2019, the Anti-Defamation League found, per the AP.

The big picture: Oren Segal, director of the group's Center on Extremism told the AP that there has been greater use of more subtly biased rhetoric — including a focus on "patriotism" — "to make their hate more palatable for a 2020 audience."

2019 is the second straight year to see the circulation of such propaganda material more than double.

The state of play: The group reported 2,713 cases of circulated propaganda from white supremacist groups in 2019 across 49 states. The circulation of the propaganda occurred most often in these 10 states:

California
Texas
New York
Massachusetts
New Jersey
Ohio
Virginia
Kentucky
Washington
Florida

Two-thirds of the propaganda was traced back to the group Patriot Front, which the ADL describes as "formed by disaffected members" of the white supremacist organization Vanguard America.

The white nationalist convicted of killing protestor Heather Heyer during the unrest surrounding 2017's Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Va., was seen marching with Vanguard America at that event.

Go deeper: Hate crimes reach 16-year high according to FBI report

Add Axios on Google

White supremacist propaganda in U.S. jumped 120% from 2018 to 2019

What to read next