The newly released report details how white supremacist groups and other hate groups are growing in number and boldness, including in Arizona.
The Southern Poverty Law Center Year of Hate and Extremism Report Looking ahead to 2023, the organization said 2023 will be the most number of groups the nonprofit has tracked since it began tracking in 1990.
The organization tracked a total of 1,430 hate and anti-government extremist groups across the country, including 38 in Arizona, which has seen a steady increase in the Grand Canyon State since 2000.
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“What we're seeing right now should be a wake-up call for all of us,” SPLC CEO Margaret Huang said in a conference call with reporters Tuesday morning. The increase marks a continuing trend. Last year's report on 2022 A similar increase was observed.
Of the 38 groups in Arizona, 18 are hate groups that target minorities or women, and the remaining 20 are classified as anti-government groups.
“In 2023, anti-Semitic rhetoric has seeped into mainstream discourse with alarming speed,” SPLC senior fellow R.G. Cravens told reporters. Cravens noted that the ongoing conflict between Israel and Palestine has helped incite certain anti-Semitic hate groups.
Many of these groups participated in demonstrations, Handing out flyersThe SPLC stressed that many of these groups, despite sharing some common beliefs, operate as “loosely decentralized networks of organizations.”
The SPLC said there has been a 50 percent increase in white supremacist groups across the country and that politicians' affiliations with white supremacy have emboldened extremists. Policy ideas It has long been supported by extremist groups.
In particular, white supremacist groups have participated in numerous anti-LGBTQ demonstrations, with approximately 50% of those demonstrations targeted at the LGBTQ community.
“The mainstream right is pursuing a policy agenda that is very much aligned with what the white nationalist movement wants,” said Cathy Miller, a senior fellow at the SPLC.
The proposed policies include those that target women and advocate for the removal of their reproductive and other autonomy, and Arizona is one of 10 states that have introduced bills backed by male supremacist groups aimed at ending abortion.
Several anti-LGBTQ protests also took place in Arizona and made headlines. Assault on ASU professor It was conducted by two members of Phoenix-based Turning Point USA. Several Drug Story Hours were also suspended around the state, including one receive a bomb threat When the children were active in the building.
Huang stressed that as this is an election year, more attention needs to be paid to some groups and some groups are already trying to interfere in the next election. Actively seek public office.
“We must act now to counter disinformation, radicalization and intimidation of voters and election officials,” Huang said. “Now more than ever, it is essential to protect and strengthen our democracy.”
