Anti-Defamation League reported 2,713 cases of circulated propaganda, compared to 1,214 in 2018
Associated Press | February 12, 2020
Incidents of white supremacist propaganda distributed across the nation jumped by more than 120% between 2018 and last year, according to a new report, making 2019 the second straight year that the circulation of propaganda material has more than doubled.
The Anti-Defamation League’s Center on Extremism reported 2,713 cases of circulated propaganda by white supremacist groups, including flyers, posters and banners, compared with 1,214 cases in 2018.
The printed propaganda distributed by white supremacist organizations includes material that directly spreads messages of discrimination against Jews, LGBTQ+ people and other minority communities – but also items with their prejudice obscured by a focus on gauzier pro-America imagery.
The sharp rise in cases of white supremacist propaganda distribution last year follows a jump of more than 180% between 2017, the first year that the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) tracked material distribution, and 2018.
The printed propaganda distributed by white supremacist organizations includes material that directly spreads messages of discrimination against Jews, LGBTQ+ people and other minority communities – but also items with their prejudice obscured by a focus on gauzier pro-America imagery.
The sharp rise in cases of white supremacist propaganda distribution last year follows a jump of more than 180% between 2017, the first year that the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) tracked material distribution, and 2018.
While 2019 saw cases of propaganda circulated on college campuses nearly double, encompassing 433 separate campuses in all but seven states, researchers who compiled the data found that 90% of campuses only saw one or two rounds of distribution.Advertisement
Oren Segal, director of the league’s Center on Extremism, pointed to the prominence of more subtly biased rhetoric in some of the white supremacist material, emphasizing “patriotism”, as a sign that the groups are attempting “to make their hate more palatable for a 2020 audience”.
By emphasizing language “about empowerment, without some of the blatant racism and hatred”, Segal said, white supremacists are employing “a tactic to try to get eyes onto their ideas in a way that’s cheap, and that brings it to a new generation of people who are learning how to even make sense out of these messages”.
The propaganda incidents tracked for the ADL reporton Wednesday encompasses 49 states and occurred most often in 10 states: California, Texas, New York, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Ohio, Virginia, Kentucky, Washington and Florida.
Last year’s soaring cases of distributed propaganda also came as the ADL found white supremacist groups holding 20% fewer events than in 2018, “preferring not to risk the exposure of pre-publicized events”, according to its report.
That marks a shift from the notably visible public presence that white supremacist organizations mounted in 2017, culminating in that summer’s Charlottesville, Virginia, rally where a self-described white supremacist drove into a crowd of counter-protesters, killing one and badly injuring others.
About two-thirds of the total propaganda incidents in the new report were traced back to a single white supremacist group, Patriot Front, which the ADL describes as “formed by disaffected members” of the white supremacist organization Vanguard America after the Charlottesville rally.
The Anti-Defamation League, founded in 1913 to combat antisemitism as well as other biases, has tracked Patriot Front propaganda using messages such as “One nation against invasion” and “America first”. The report to be released Wednesday found that Patriot Front played a major role last year in boosting circulation of white supremacist propaganda on campuses through a push that targeted colleges in the fall.
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