Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Report: Florida ranks second in nation for number of hate groups
Florida was recently ranked as the 10th-best state to reside in the U.S., but it also has an ugly side.
Florida, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center, has 68 known hate groups, the second-most in the nation after California, which has 72.
But adjusted for population, the Sunshine State’s dark side is worse than California, which has nearly twice as many residents — 39 million compared to Florida’s 21 million.
The Southern Poverty Law Center found 47 of Florida’s hate groups are associated with White supremacy The other 21 hate groups are associated with Black separatists, a political movement that seeks separate economic and cultural development for those of African descent.
The group, which advocates for racial justice, said 14 of Flor
ida’s 68 hate groups are statewide while the rest are local groups in urban, suburban and rural areas.
Fort Lauderdale was specifically mentioned in the report, which said the city was on the low end of the group’s Florida “hate map,” which tracks hate groups.
Among the groups identified by the report in Fort Lauderdale are D. James Kennedy Ministries, an anti-LGBTQ group, and and the general hate group Nation of Islam.
Broward, Palm Beach and Miami-Dade counties had both of those groups as well as Trunews, Stormfront, Israel United in Christ and Floridians for Immigration Enforcement, an anti-immigrant group, among others.
Along Florida’s state line to the north, 29 hate groups were identified in Georgia, 20 in Alabama and nine in Mississippi.
Earlier this week, a U.S. News & World Report ranking found Florida was 10th overall among the “Best States in the U.S.” That was an improvement from 13th in 2019.