White supremacist propaganda hits record high in US
Chants of ‘6 million more,’ and ‘The Holocaust didn’t happen, but it should have’ heard at one white supremacist protest disrupting a Holocaust memorial event.
By JEREMY SHARONWhite supremicist and anti-Israel propoganda.(photo credit: COURTESY/ADL)
Distribution of white supremacist propaganda in the US hit an all-time high in 2019, according to the Anti-Defamation League, more than doubling figures from the previous year.In total, there were 2,713 recorded cases of literature distribution in 2019 in the US, compared to 1,214 in 2018, with every state except Hawaii reporting at least one incident of white supremacist propaganda.“White supremacists see propaganda distribution – including fliering, leafleting and stickering – as a convenient and practically anonymous way to promote their messages of hate and intolerance,” said ADL CEO Jonathan A. Greenblatt.“While we know extremists and hate groups are emboldened by the current environment, this surge in fliering and propaganda distribution powerfully demonstrates how bigots are able to spread their message without compromising their anonymity.”Of the total number of incidents, some 630 were reported on college and university campuses, nearly double the 320 campus incidents reported nationwide in 2018.The ADL report observed that three groups – Patriot Front, American Identity Movement (previously known as Identity Evropa) and the New Jersey European Heritage Association – were responsible for approximately 90% of the all white supremacist propaganda distribution activity, although there were dozens of other smaller groups active as well.One incident highlighted by the ADL was a protest conducted by the Shield Wall Network, a small white supremacist group based in Arkansas, which disrupted a Holocaust memorial event in Russellville, Arkansas.The group of 15 protesters chanted “Six million more,” waved swastika flags, stomped on Israeli flags and held signs that read “The Holocaust didn’t happen, but it should have” and “YHVH [Yehovah] has the oven preheated.”Another group highlighted by the ADL report was the Daily Stormer Book Clubs (SBC), which although responsible for a relatively small number of propaganda distributions, 82 for the whole year, employed messages of extreme and explicit hatred against Jews and other minorities.SBC’s 2019 fliers included claims that all hate crimes are hoaxes, that the Holocaust was a hoax, and that Jews molest children and “push” pornography “on our children.”In August, SBC distributed a racist flier showing a cartoon image of the “Squad,” a group of four Democratic congresswomen, with the words, “Send them back! Deport the commie brown infestation.”And the New Jersey European Heritage Association distributed explicitly white supremacist propaganda claiming the white race is endangered and promoting the white supremacist “14 Words” slogan: “We must secure the existence of our people and a future for white children.”Some of the group’s propaganda also promoted the conspiracy theory that Israel intentionally targeted the USS Liberty electronic spy ship on June 8, 1967, during the Six Day War.ADL said that the American Identity Movement, responsible for approximately 16% of all propaganda in 2019, moved away from its previous Europe-centric propaganda in favor of a message promoting the preservation of America’s “white culture” under the guise of patriotism.The group’s new propaganda includes slogans such as “Defend America,” “Nationalism not Globalism,” “Protect American Workers,” “Diversity Destroys Nations” and “Embrace Your Identity.”“The barrage of propaganda, which overwhelmingly features veiled white supremacist language with a ‘patriotic’ slant, is an attempt to normalize the white supremacists’ message and bolster recruitment efforts while targeting minority groups including Jews, blacks, Muslims, nonwhite immigrants and the LGBTQ community,” said Oren Segal, ADL’s vice president for the Center on Extremism.
