Report: Supremacist activity flourishes

[133724]

Factions fueled by anti-immigrant passions grow by 33 percent, study says

Groups linked to the Ku Klux Klan, skinheads and neo-Nazis grew significantly more active, holding more rallies, distributing leaflets and increasing their presence on the Internet — much of it focused on stirring anti-immigrant sentiment, a new report released by the Anti-Defamation League says.

“Extremist groups are good at seizing on whatever the hot button is of the day and twisting the message to get new members,” Deborah M. Lauter, ADL civil rights director, said Monday. “This one seems to be taking hold with more of mainstream America than we’d like to see.”

<snip>

Klan resurgent
Between 2000 and 2005, hate groups mushroomed 33 percent and Klan chapters by 63 percent, according to Mark Potok, director of the Southern Poverty Law Center, which tracks hate crimes.

Precise data are difficult to pin down, but Potok’s group counts as many as 150 Klan chapters with up to 8,000 members nationwide. More than 800 hate groups exist around the country, Southern Poverty research shows.

<snip>

Today, many white supremacists blame immigrants, particularly Hispanics, for crime, struggling schools or unemployment, for instance. With many Americans already divided on how to revamp laws and practices to address the nation’s swelling immigrant communities, immigration “is an issue that works for hate groups,” Potok said.

Many Latinos are feeling the effects firsthand. Last September, a Kentucky family originally from El Salvador found a wooden cross burning on their front lawn just weeks after they moved in. Earlier last year, a Latino teenager in Houston was brutally beaten and sodomized while one attacker screamed “White Power!” The victim barely survived, and one attacker was sentenced to life in prison.


http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16995297/


Welcome to the inquisition....

[xchrom]

1. lol -- justproving what some have been saying re:

Immigration.

''Factions fueled by anti-immigrant passions grow by 33 percent, study says''

the idea here is a version of nationalism -- they are going beat fear of mexicans like a drum.

they will twist the facts to suit them -- and try to make hate look normal.

[Heidi]

2. Kick.

:kick:

[oberliner]

3. KKK is growing again, report says

NEW YORK — Huge street protests made millions of immigrants more visible and powerful last year, but they also seem to have revived a hateful counter force: white supremacists.

Groups linked to the Ku Klux Klan, skinheads and neo-Nazis grew significantly more active, holding more rallies, distributing leaflets and increasing their presence on the Internet — much of it focused on stirring anti-immigrant sentiment, a new report released by the Anti-Defamation League says.

"Extremist groups are good at seizing on whatever the hot button is of the day and twisting the message to get new members," Deborah Lauter, ADL Civil Rights director, said Monday. "This one seems to be taking hold with more of mainstream America than we'd like to see."

Old Klan chapters have been revived and new ones started throughout the South, historically the heart of the group, and in other places such as Michigan, Iowa and New Jersey, says the report, which was scheduled for official release today.

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2003558522_hate06.html?syndication=rss

[Kerrytravelers]

4. So... since * was re-coronated, anyone feel safer yet?

I'll never forget reading an article just prior to the 2004 election. A woman who said she was a registered Dem and had voted for Gore said she was voting for * because "we need to be safe." When asked her positions, she said she was pro-choice and all the other things Dems are pro on, but that this war was important and that we need to be safe, first.

Yep. With the KKK growing, I feel safer.

[goclark]

8. My understanding is that CA has a huge KKK nt

[classysassy]

5. Sickness

There is a sickness in the land,those groups are the real terroist.

[redqueen]

6. Idiots...

Yes, it's the immigrants' fault that your leaders pass laws which negatively impact your lives.

:eyes:

[gratuitous]

7. Nobody could have predicted this!

I mean, whipping up anti-immigrant fever and lots of irresponsible bloviating about sealing our borders (lookin' at you, Tancredo), who could have imagined that this would turn out to be a recruiting boon for the Klan and the Skinheads and the Neo-Nazis? Golly!

On a side note, I caught a clip last night on ABC where Diane Sawyer was yakking with the president of Syria. She kept trying to pin him down on whether Syria was allowing terrorists to cross the Syrian border into Iraq to keep the insurgency stirred up. The guy wasn't taking Sawyer's Bush administration bait, though. When Sawyer said, well, why don't you just police your border better? He finally addressed the stupid point by asking Sawyer how well the United States was able to police its own border with Mexico and stop folks from crossing illegally. Surely if the Bush administration thought it was such an easy thing to do, they'd seal their own southern border, right?

Sawyer moved on to her next question.

[heliarc]

9. Hehe

That sounds like a great clip. Do you know if there's video anywhere?

[gratuitous]

10. Try here

http://abcnews.go.com/

Right this minute, under the "Headline" box on the upper right side, is the link to the video and the story of Sawyer's interview with the president of Syria.

[krispos42]

11. Well, illegal immigration is a problem

Sodomizing teenagers and burning crosses is, however, not part of the solution. If this keeps up the Mexicans are going to start burning crucifixes on the lawns of Klansmen... and the guys on the crosses will be other Klansmen!

And, no, it ain't a lower-case 't' for 'tolerance'!

[The Stranger]

12. Christian Fundamentalism is just White Supremacy warmed over.

Connect the dots -- they are everywhere.

[damntexdem]

13. Let's fight them over there so we don't have to fight them over here!

Now, I need a map showing 'over there' and 'over here.' Anybody got one?

[manic expression]

14. If there is any supremacist activity around you, fight it

http://www.antiracistaction.us/pn/

Anti-Racist Action (ARA) is a prominent anti-racist and anti-fascist group in the US. If you know of any supremacist activity around where you live, you can help oppose it.

[SemperEadem]

15. the homegrown terrorists--the ones who need watching

terrorism is terrorism and no reason is good enough for it.

[goforit]

16. Bush's fan club. Who would of thunk it.