Study: Hate groups in U.S. still on the rise

Almost 1,000 such groups ID’d in 2017

Hate groups continued to expand their reach in the United States last year during a tumultuous 12 months marked by racist violence, social media attacks and the deadly white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Va., according to a nonprofit legal advocacy organization that monitors extremist activity.

The Southern Poverty Law Center identified 954 groups as hate groups, which it defines as “an organization that — based on its official statements or principles, the statements of its leaders, or its activities — has beliefs or practices that attack or malign an entire class of people, typically for their immutable characteristics.” That number was up from 917 in 2016 and 892 in 2015, according to a study the center released Wednesday.

The number of neo-Nazi groups grew from 99 to 121, anti-Muslim groups grew from 101 to 114 and antiimmigrant groups grew from 14 to 22. The law center asserted that the growth among white supremacists was fueled in large part by racially divisive language and actions by President Donald Trump.

“This has been a year that has seen increasing divisiveness and bigotry, particularly in the mainstream of American life,” Heidi Beirich, director of the Southern Poverty Law Center Intelligence Project, said Wednesday.

The report designates as hate groups anti-LGBT organizations, anti-government militias and black nationalist groups, including the Nation of Islam, which profess anti-Semitic, anti-white and anti-LGBT rhetoric. It points out that those groups should not be confused with “mainstream black activist groups such as Black Lives Matter that work to eliminate systemic racism in American society and its institutions.”

For the first time, the center added to its hate list two mens’ rights groups — Return of Kings and A Voice for Men.

“They demonize women as an entire population,” Beirich said. “It’s the same kind of language … trying try to make women look like a lesser form of humanity.”

Many of the groups the center identified as hate groups reject that label. “The listing is a complete farce,” said Paul Elam, CEO of A Voice for Men.