SPLC report says hate group numbers are up 54% since 2000.

[madfloridian]

The Southern Poverty Law Center doesn't come out and say it, but I will. 2000 to 2008...those were the Bush years in this country. They exploited everyone they could, and divided people on purpose.

They set a tone of hate and anger, fear and divisiveness. In all my years I have never such anything like it. A deliberate change to a climate meant to divide us.

The SPLC attributes a lot of it mainly to the election of an African American as president and to the economy. I am sure both had something to do with it, but the rise in hate groups was only 4% from 2007, so the major percentage came earlier in the eight year period.

Hate Group Numbers Up By 54% Since 2000

The number of hate groups operating in the United States continued to rise in 2008 and has grown by 54 percent since 2000 — an increase fueled last year by immigration fears, a failing economy and the successful campaign of Barack Obama, according to the "Year in Hate" issue of the SPLC's Intelligence Report released today.

The SPLC identified 926 hate groups active in 2008, up more than 4 percent from the 888 groups in 2007 and far above the 602 groups documented in 2000. A list and interactive, state-by-state map of these groups can be viewed here.

As in recent years, hate groups were animated by fears of Latino immigration. This rise in hate groups has coincided with a 40 percent growth in hate crimes against Latinos between 2003 and 2007, according to FBI statistics.

Two new factors were introduced to the volatile hate movement in 2008: the faltering economy and the Obama campaign.

The report mentions that many blame immigrants and minorities for the mortgage downturn. I think much blame lies in the fact that the Bush administration used immigrants as scapegoats to win elections. The anger continued to build until the message person for the Democratic House, Rahm Emanuel, told candidates to "move right" on immigration. Thus our party did little to dispel the anger toward immigrants...who BTW did not cause the mortage meltdown.

Someone I respect said it well:

Republicans used immigration to divide the country

Speaking Thursday in Denver, Dean was critical of Republican congressmen Bob Beauprez and Tom Tancredo, whom he said used fear to divide constituents along racial lines. And trading barbs with Republican chairman Ken Mehlman at the NAACP convention in Milwaukee, where both spoke Thursday, Dean said, “We’re not going to divide Americans to win elections. The Republican Party’s ‘Southern Strategy’ used in the 1960s and 1970s lives today. In 2000, they used the racially charged word “quota” to divide African Americans. In 2004, they used gay marriage. And just you wait; in 2006 its going to be immigrants.”

I see the manipulation of the immigrant issue as a major factor in the rise of hate groups. The atmosphere was encouraged the last eight years.

Here is the map from the Southern Poverty Law Center with the number of hate groups they list for each state.

The three states with the largest numbers are Florida with 56, California with 84, and Texas with 66.

Active U.S. Hate Groups. Stand Strong Against Hate

Join people across the nation who are standing strong against hate. Add yourself to our map as a voice for tolerance. The Southern Poverty Law Center counted 926 active hate groups in the United States in 2008. Only organizations and their chapters known to be active during 2008 are included.

All hate groups have beliefs or practices that attack or malign an entire class of people, typically for their immutable characteristics.

This list was compiled using hate group publications and websites, citizen and law enforcement reports, field sources and news reports.

Hate group activities can include criminal acts, marches, rallies, speeches, meetings, leafleting or publishing. Websites appearing to be merely the work of a single individual, rather than the publication of a group, are not included in this list. Listing here does not imply a group advocates or engages in violence or other criminal activity. Download a PDF of the entire map.

Many of the groups in Florida surprised me. Some of the groups I have never heard about.

Interesting report. Sad time for our country.

[salguine]

1. May I suggest DUers who are able

make a donation to the Southern Poverty Law Center? http://www.splcenter.org/center/help.jsp

[madfloridian]

2. Good thought.

They do good work. :hi:

[fujiyama]

3. Hate crimes also probably had an uptick during the election - the idea of a black man being pres.

probably scared a lot of people and I doubt Sarah Palin's talk about our president "pallin' around with terrorists" helped any.

Worsening economic conditions also means scapegoating so there is no surprise it would have increased.

[madfloridian]

4. Yet some of the scapegoating was planned.

And it was planned as a tactic to win elections.

[madfloridian]

5. Limbaugh, Malkin, Drudge, Dobbs et al spreading untruths about mortgage crisis.

More from the SPLC

http://www.splcenter.org/intel/intelreport/article.jsp?aid=1011

"It was a stunning revelation: Illegal immigrants hold 5 million bad mortgages in the United States. Conservative commentators pounced on the statistic last October. Many of them were already blaming immigrants for the subprime mortgage mess. Now they had numerical proof, and from no less an authority than the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

Just one problem: It wasn't true.

...."A Fish Tale Goes Viral
The histrionics over the supposed 5 million bad mortgages is a prime example. On Oct. 9, the conservative online news site Drudge Report included a link to a story on the website of conservative talk radio KFYI-AM in Phoenix that said HUD had reported that 5 million illegal immigrants held bad mortgages. That same day, the Phoenix Business Journal posted an article stating that a HUD spokesman said there was "no basis" for the 5 million figure, and that the agency had no data reflecting the number of bad mortgages held by illegal immigrants.

But a few hours later on CNN's "Lou Dobbs Tonight" — a primary venue for the airing of false allegations about undocumented immigrants — San Diego radio show host Roger Hedgecock cited the bogus HUD statistic as a hard fact. By the following day, others were engaging in the journalistic equivalent of fabricating a "big fish" tale, embellishing the falsehood with their own extravagant claims. Rush Limbaugh stated on his radio program that HUD was "admitting 5 million illegal aliens were given mortgages … with fake Social Security numbers and so forth to go out and purchase homes that they didn't have to pay back." Over at Clear Channel's "The War Room with Quinn & Rose," Jim Quinn claimed that while there were some excesses on Wall Street, the bigger problem was the issuance of "5 million mortgages to illegal aliens who didn't even have to come up with an ID."

"As the mortgage crisis worsened in 2008, more diatribes followed regarding what syndicated columnist Michelle Malkin called "the massive illegal alien mortgage racket." In September, she wrote that it was "no coincidence" that the areas hardest hit by the wave of foreclosures "also happen to be some of the nation's largest illegal alien sanctuaries."

[Boomerang Diddle]

6. I wonder how many have popped up

since Palin's hateful remarks made during the campaign?

[madfloridian]

7. I know what you mean.

It's been a theme among the ones who appeal to the far far right.

[tnlefty]

8. Have you seen the editorial at Buzzflash today?

Pretty scathing analysis of Murdoch owned entities fanning the flames of the nutjobs. It also contains a link to a piece that Glenn Greenwald wrote about Faux and right wing radio stirring up the secessionist/civil war sentiments of the loons.

Southern Poverty Law Center has an e-mail that you can sign up for, Hatewatch Weekly, that I subscribe to so that I'm aware of what's happening currently.

K&R, BTW. :hi:

[madfloridian]

9. Thanks for letting me know about the Buzzflash editorial.

Heading there now.

I may sign up for that newsletter. :hi:

[tnlefty]

10. It's not exactly a newletter.

More of a compilation of links to news stories throughout the country of incidents related to hate crimes, or incidents of recruiting, etc.

I've been a donor to the SPLC for years, and one of these days I'm going to get to Montgomery and look for my name on the Wall of Tolerance! I'm not one for the whole hero thing, but Morris Dees and the staff of the SPLC would certainly qualify for me.

[madfloridian]

11. I found the link to sign up. There are several options.

http://www.splcenter.org/center/subscribe.jsp

I think the first 3 are what I will subscribe to, and the last two look like very good items for teachers. If I were still teaching I would subscribe to one or the other of those.

[tnlefty]

12. Jeeze, I just walked into the bedroom to say something to Mr.

lefty, and the History Channel was covering a cross lighting at a Klan rally. A really young child was there, in a robe and hood, having his torch lit. This makes me want to vomit.

I receive the Intelligence Report in my mailbox quarterly as a donor, and I frequently visit the website, so Hatewatch Weekly, was the way for me to go to catch up on anything that I'd missed.

Thanks again for all that you do to try to raise awareness here. :thumbsup: :hug:

ETA: I can't believe this doesn't have a fifth rec. to get it moved to the Greatest Page.

[Reterr]

13. Proud donor to the SPLC here

:bounce:

Morris Dees is a fricking saint. It must be so scary to be in his position. Hated by some of the creepiest fricking terrorist groups in America.