2005: 803 organized hate groups in the U.S.

[rainbow4321]

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/B/BOMBING_ANNIVERSARY?SITE=FLTAM&SECTION=US

"Before the bombing, we didn't know there were Timothy McVeighs and Terry Nichols and all those stupid people in this country," Coverdale said. "After the bombing, we found out that we didn't have to go overseas to find those people. They're right here."


The number of organized hate groups in the U.S. has risen 33 percent since 2000 and the potential for another domestic terrorist attack is on the rise, said Mark Potok, director of Intelligence Project at the Southern Poverty Law Center in Montgomery, Ala., which monitors hate groups.

"One of the great lessons of the Oklahoma City bombing is that the domestic radical right poses extremely serious threats," Potok said. "It taught us that not all terrorists speak different languages, wear turbans or speak to different Gods."

There were 803 organized hate groups in the U.S. in 2005, including the Ku Klux Klan, neo-Nazis and other white supremacists, up from 602 just six years earlier, according to the SPLC. "We just don't have the luxury of ignoring these other groups in favor of the current threat of the day," said Chip Ellis, research and program coordinator at the National Memorial Institute for the Prevention of Terrorism in Oklahoma City.

[marmar]

1. And with all the issues at the fore today....

Immigration, gay rights, anti-Arab rhetoric, the minority majority in states like California and Texas, and soon in New York and elsewhere, the atmosphere with these extremist group is powder-keg like.

:scared:

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

2. Our current Administration

has encouraged the growth of such groups, inmho, through their atmosphere of intolerance, fear, and hatred of all things not like them.

[ruggerson]

3. I believe the SPLC considers AFA, Focus on the Family

and the Christian Coalition all to be hate groups for the purposes of its monitoring activities.

[Igel]

4. I don't know what to make of the numbers.

The numbers seem to include separate chapters of national groups (e.g., Nation of Islam, Jewish Defense League, as well as neo-Nazi and skinhead, Xian identity, and other groups).

It's possible that they've noticed new ones as the groups' membership's declined, or that they've noticed new ones as the membership has increased, or they've just noticed new ones. Interesting maps and numbers, but how to understand them is a bit harder to figure out.

[Solon]

5. The point being do NOT underestimate them...

Up until 9/11, the WORST terrorist attack against the United States was from Timothy McVeigh and his cohorts. Even after 9/11, the most dramatic example of attempted terrorism on US soil was from another domestic terrorist group, a Militia affiliated group. In Texas a plot was uncovered in 2003 where several thousand pounds of explosives and components to make cyanide bombs were uncovered. Apparently, the perp, a man named Krar had some mail, fake IDs and White Supremcist stuff, misdirected and mailed to someone he didn't know, this person notified police, and when a storage place was raided, the explosives and chemicals were found. He was planning on bombing someplace public, most likely a stadium. If he wasn't caught, then 9/11 would have quickly become overshadowed by a domestic terroristic plot that could have killed many thousands of people.

[Igel]

8. That actually is part of the point.

I don't know if we're underestimating them or if we're overestimating them.

I'm given info about the number of units, not the size or virulence of each. So it's completely possible that these groups were underestimated in 2003, and they're less of a problem now; or that in fact the number of members has increased 10-fold, although the number of groups has only increased by 100 or so, so there's not nearly the sense of alarm we should have.

Interesting, but I still can't tell if they're showing the threat's increasing, or decreasing, or remaining steady.

[theHandpuppet]

6. Oh for Pity's Sake, Never Mind Them!

We've got Quakers and Vegans and Homosexuals to worry about!

:sarcasm:

[Triana]

7. and environmentalists...

...dont forget them!

:sarcasm: