White Supremacist Propaganda Efforts Skyrocketed in 2018

The number of reported incidents of white supremacist propaganda nearly

tripled in 2018.
By Claire Hansen, Staff Writer March 5, 2019

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Unite the Right protesters march with a police escort to their rally in Lafayette
Square across from the White House on the anniversary of the Charlottesville
protest on August 12, 2018.BILL CLARK/CQ ROLL C ALL/GETTY
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WHITE SUPREMACIST propaganda efforts, including the distribution of fliers,

stickers, banners and posters that tout hateful ideology, nearly tripled last year
compared to 2017, according to new data from the Anti-Defamation League's
Center on Extremism.

Reports of white supremacist propaganda jumped 182 percent, to 1,187 – up

from 421 reports in 2017, according to the data. The propaganda ranged from
veiled white supremacist language to explicitly racist, anti-Semitic and
Islamophobic words and images and other content targeting minority groups.

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The data bolster concerns about recent emboldening of hate groups in the
U.S. Hate crimes increased for the third straight year in 2017, according to the
FBI, in part because of a significant uptick in anti-Semitic acts and crimes
targeting black people, while white supremacists were responsible for the vast
majority of domestic-extremist-perpetrated killings in the U.S. last
year, according to the ADL.

White supremacist groups use leafleting and other means of distributing

propaganda as a recruitment tool and a means of promoting their ideology.
Propaganda distribution also offers anonymity and mitigates risk for white
supremacists who want to maximize attention while limiting individual
exposure and media coverage, the ADL said in its report.

"Posting fliers is a tried-and-true tactic for hate groups, one that enables them
to spread hateful ideas and sow fear across an entire community," Jonathan
Greenblatt, the ADL's CEO and national director, said in a statement. "Hate
groups were emboldened in 2018, but their increasing reliance on hate
leafleting indicates that most of their members understand this is a fringe
activity and are unwilling to risk greater public exposure or arrest."

College campuses, often sites for recruitment by white supremacists, saw the
number of incidents in which propaganda was discovered increase modestly
last year – to 319, up from 292 in 2017. But propaganda distribution in other
locations – like highway banners or printed messages placed inside books at
bookstores or libraries – exploded, jumping from 129 reports in 2017 to 868
last year.

Supporters of two "alt-right" groups – whose members espouse conservative

beliefs that blend racism, anti-Semitism and white nationalism – were
responsible for nearly half of the propaganda incidents last year, heavily
targeting both college campuses and non-campus spaces. Identity Evropa
and Patriot Front were responsible for a bulk of the incidents, while supporters
of Andrew Anglin and his neo-Nazi website, The Daily Stormer, perpetrated
about 60 incidents of propaganda distribution.

The Ku Klux Klan also stepped up flyering efforts, the ADL found. The ADL
counted 97 incidents in which Klan fliers were dropped on doorsteps or in
front of homes in 2018 – the highest number of flyering incidents since at least
2014 and a 20 percent increase from the previous four-year average.

In more than 30 instances, white supremacist groups hung large banners in

highly visible locations, with many of the banners promoting an anti-
immigration messages, the ADL found.

The number of white supremacist rallies or other demonstrations attended by

white supremacists also rose in 2018 to 91 compared to 76 in the previous
year, with many groups favoring a "flash demonstration" tactic designed to
sidestep advance attention, according to the ADL.