AFP, Washington :
The number of hate groups across the United States surged during the first year of Donald Trump’s presidency, echoing his often incendiary stances on race, according to a new report Wednesday.
The Southern Poverty Law Center’s annual survey of extremist groups said the number of hate groups and their chapters rose by four percent last year to 954, with Trump-inspired alt-right and white supremacist groups provoking a backlash from hardline African-American groups.
“President Trump’s first year in office proved to be just as racially divisive as his campaign-but even more consequential,” the SPLC said in it “The Year in Hate and Extremism” report.
In a year that saw them emerge more openly, including in an August 2017 rally that turned deadly in Charlottesville, Virginia, neo-Nazi groups surged in number, to 121 from 99, the report said, in part by recruiting college students.
Anti-Muslim groups also jumped to 114 chapters from 101 in 2017, after a tripling the year before, when Trump marked his presidential campaign with a promise to close the country’s doors to Muslims.
“President Trump in 2017 reflected what white supremacist groups want to see: a country where racism is sanctioned by the highest office, immigrants are given the boot and Muslims banned,” said Heidi Beirich, director of the SPLC’s Intelligence Project.
“When you consider that only days into 2018, Trump called African countries ‘shitholes, it’s clear he’s not changing his tune. And that’s music to the ears of white supremacists.”
This has provoked a backlash, the report said. Hardline black nationalist groups and the African-American Nation of Islam have also grown sharply, their chapters rising to 233 from 193 in 2016.
One notable shift though is the sharp fall of the Ku Klux Klan, which symbolized the oppression of black Americans in the 20th century.
“The decline is a clear indication that the new generation of white supremacists is rejecting the Klan’s hoods and robes for the hipper image of the more loosely organized alt-right movement,” the SPLC said.
Donald Trump Backs Ban On ‘Bump Stocks’ Which Turn Legal Weapons Into Machine Guns
Donald Trump also said school safety was a “top priority” for his administration and he would be holding meetings on the subject this week and also next week, when he meets with governors from all 50 US states.
Cruz legally bought the gun he used in the attack — an AR-15-style semi-automatic rifle-and the White House said Tuesday it would consider raising the age for such purchases.
“I think that’s certainly something that’s on the table for us to discuss and that we expect to come up over the next couple of weeks,” spokeswoman Sarah Sanders told reporters.
About 100 students at the Parkland high school where the shooting took place on February 14 were heading meanwhile to Tallahassee, the Florida state capital, to call for stricter gun control at a rally Wednesday.
Many of the students who survived the shooting have vowed to make the tragedy a turning point in America’s deadlocked debate on gun control.
They are planning a march on Washington next month and on Tuesday, they earned $1 million in pledges from Hollywood A-listers George Clooney and his human rights lawyer wife Amal, and Oprah Winfrey.
The “March for Our Lives” is scheduled to take place on March 24, with sister rallies planned across the country.
“Amal and I are so inspired by the courage and eloquence of these young men and women from Stoneman Douglas High School,” Clooney said in a statement, pledging $500,000 to help fund the event.
“Our family will be there on March 24 to stand side by side with this incredible generation of young people from all over the country.”
Winfrey then tweeted: “George and Amal, I couldn’t agree with you more. I am joining forces with you and will match your $500,000 donation.”
The US Congress is deadlocked on the gun debate, accomplishing nothing since the October shooting in Vegas.
The number of hate groups across the United States surged during the first year of Donald Trump’s presidency, echoing his often incendiary stances on race, according to a new report Wednesday.
The Southern Poverty Law Center’s annual survey of extremist groups said the number of hate groups and their chapters rose by four percent last year to 954, with Trump-inspired alt-right and white supremacist groups provoking a backlash from hardline African-American groups.
“President Trump’s first year in office proved to be just as racially divisive as his campaign-but even more consequential,” the SPLC said in it “The Year in Hate and Extremism” report.
In a year that saw them emerge more openly, including in an August 2017 rally that turned deadly in Charlottesville, Virginia, neo-Nazi groups surged in number, to 121 from 99, the report said, in part by recruiting college students.
Anti-Muslim groups also jumped to 114 chapters from 101 in 2017, after a tripling the year before, when Trump marked his presidential campaign with a promise to close the country’s doors to Muslims.
“President Trump in 2017 reflected what white supremacist groups want to see: a country where racism is sanctioned by the highest office, immigrants are given the boot and Muslims banned,” said Heidi Beirich, director of the SPLC’s Intelligence Project.
“When you consider that only days into 2018, Trump called African countries ‘shitholes, it’s clear he’s not changing his tune. And that’s music to the ears of white supremacists.”
This has provoked a backlash, the report said. Hardline black nationalist groups and the African-American Nation of Islam have also grown sharply, their chapters rising to 233 from 193 in 2016.
One notable shift though is the sharp fall of the Ku Klux Klan, which symbolized the oppression of black Americans in the 20th century.
“The decline is a clear indication that the new generation of white supremacists is rejecting the Klan’s hoods and robes for the hipper image of the more loosely organized alt-right movement,” the SPLC said.
Donald Trump Backs Ban On ‘Bump Stocks’ Which Turn Legal Weapons Into Machine Guns
Donald Trump also said school safety was a “top priority” for his administration and he would be holding meetings on the subject this week and also next week, when he meets with governors from all 50 US states.
Cruz legally bought the gun he used in the attack — an AR-15-style semi-automatic rifle-and the White House said Tuesday it would consider raising the age for such purchases.
“I think that’s certainly something that’s on the table for us to discuss and that we expect to come up over the next couple of weeks,” spokeswoman Sarah Sanders told reporters.
About 100 students at the Parkland high school where the shooting took place on February 14 were heading meanwhile to Tallahassee, the Florida state capital, to call for stricter gun control at a rally Wednesday.
Many of the students who survived the shooting have vowed to make the tragedy a turning point in America’s deadlocked debate on gun control.
They are planning a march on Washington next month and on Tuesday, they earned $1 million in pledges from Hollywood A-listers George Clooney and his human rights lawyer wife Amal, and Oprah Winfrey.
The “March for Our Lives” is scheduled to take place on March 24, with sister rallies planned across the country.
“Amal and I are so inspired by the courage and eloquence of these young men and women from Stoneman Douglas High School,” Clooney said in a statement, pledging $500,000 to help fund the event.
“Our family will be there on March 24 to stand side by side with this incredible generation of young people from all over the country.”
Winfrey then tweeted: “George and Amal, I couldn’t agree with you more. I am joining forces with you and will match your $500,000 donation.”
The US Congress is deadlocked on the gun debate, accomplishing nothing since the October shooting in Vegas.
