Every year, the Southern Poverty Law Center issues a report about the state of hate groups in America. Some Americans are in an especially angry mood, as the growth in the number of such organizations will attest. The center’s 2016
Every year, the Southern Poverty Law Center issues a report about the state of hate groups in America. Some Americans are in an especially angry mood, as the growth in the number of such organizations will attest. The center’s 2016 edition of “The Year in Hate and Extremism” is a portal to the nation’s dark side.
In a political season dense with calls to oppose Syrian refugee resettlement, freeze the immigration of all Muslims to the U.S. and build an impenetrable wall across the border with Mexico, many sentiments that used to be confined to the political fringe have gone mainstream.
Tapping into cultural resentments such as opposition to marriage equality and concerns about the continuing shift in the nation’s demographic makeup, hate groups are proliferating nationwide. Their number has grown to 892 in 2015, up from 784 the year before.
The report also lists black separatists such as the Israelite Church of God in Jesus Christ, the Israelite School of Universal Practical Knowledge and the Nation of Islam for spreading racial and religious intolerance. That’s the trouble with hatred — it comes in too many colors, sizes and preferences.
— Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
