a threat at home

By Chris Lopez

The United States has become the new scene of hate. Only as time progresses we begin to see more and more hateful behavior fester up, and as a country, we didn’t adequately acknowledge that threat.

And as a matter of fact, our last president downright overlooked the actions of hate groups and downplayed their aggressive nature.

For example, when Trump supporters and right-wing groups attacked the Capitol on January 6 as Biden’s win was being confirmed, Trump responded to the situation by calling these rioters “special people.”

Trump supported policies that far-right groups wanted to see implemented, such as the Muslim ban, his initiative to build a wall, as it appealed to many “anti” rhetoric. And by gaining their support, he also became more responsible over their acts of aggression for the sake of “patriotism” as he emboldened such actions.

Violent hate groups such as the Proud Boys who have gained mainstream attention have been known to act aggressively.

One of their most recent notable acts of aggression was their part in inciting violence at the storming of the capitol.

They’ve also been known to cause physical harm during their rallies in Oregon, Washington, New York, just about anywhere where there could be counter protesters.

Proud Boys are typically known for the violence they insight against left-wing protesters. Typically against BLM protest, and Antifa demonstrations.

This particular organization was founded in 2016, But far-right groups like the proud boys aren't anything new. America has had groups like these ever since our country was established.

Some more notable groups are the Ku Klux Klan and the Neo-Nazi skinhead movement which were known for their extremist nature and far right views.

According to the Southern Poverty Law Center, the KKK first began to emerge after the Civil War, and they would harass and suppress newly freed slaves and their communities.

The KKK was a Protestant group, with mainly anti-Black/Jewish/Immigrant/LGBTQ/Catholic rhetoric. Today they aren't necessarily on the rise, as they’re not attracting new members, but they are still prominent in the South.

The Skinhead movement began in the 1960’s in the United Kingdom but began gaining traction in the U.S. during the early 1980’s, mostly in the mid-west.

The most important Skinhead group in the American Skinhead movement was the “Chicago’s CASH.” They first caught mainstream media attention after a violent crime spree that involved 6 Hispaninc women, and for vandalism as they painted swastikas over synagogues, and vandalised jewish-owned businesses, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center.

The american Skinhead movement is a violent subculture, it has an anti-Jewish and LGBTQ rhetoric.

The Proud boys are a newer group, they were founded in 2016. They are known for their anit- Muslim and mysogynistic rhetoric.

The group itself denies having any connections to far-right extremist groups, but they are known to have affiliations with known extremists. Jason Kessler, a former Proud Boys member helped organize rallies in Charlottesville that involved the coalition of many other far-right groups such as Neo-Nazis, Antisemites, and local militias.

And even in plain sight, Co-Founder of Proud Boys, Gavin McInnes, approved of Proud Boys member Kyle Chapman announced a new group to “protect” right winged rallies. Which in of itself seems a bit too extreme.

Chapman Himself is known to have a very violent and extensive criminal history, and he’s one of the more well known prominent figures within the hate group. As pictures of him harming others often surface.

And known leaders of this group have been known to spread racist and misogynistic “propaganda.” Whether that be memes on personal social media platforms like facebook or twitter, or on hate sites that publish work that belong to people like McInnes on VDare.com or American Renaissance.

Though these groups may have slightly different beliefs and agendas, what they share in common is a sense of fear.

Christian Picciolini, a former white supremacist skinhead, and who is now working to help people disengage from hate movements, was once a prominent figure within the American Skinhead movement.

When asked about how hate groups in the past look compared to today, he said many prominent leaders of the American Skinhead movement discussed changing the “appearance” of the movement.

Many sub movements had to change in order to better appeal to those they wanted to influence.

They needed “to get away from the tattoos and the shaved heads… go into the world where the average american white racist lives… and look like them and sound like them to recruit them… they were turned off by the swastikas. They were too extreme.” said Picciolini.

But despite the change of face, these newer groups weren’t necessarily less capable of causing significant harm.

“Although the KKK at one point had millions of members, in recent history groups like the Klan, Skinheads, Neo Nazi’s and White Supremist were on the “fringe,” those ideas are no longer on the fringe, they are now apart of the mainstream,” said Picciolini.

And it is this mainstreaming of hate that Picciolini fears is becoming increasingly dangerous. As more and more far-right hate groups continue to spread their reach.

“They sieged on the capitol building, they’re starting to bomb buildings in places like nashville, this goes back to Timothy McVeigh and the Oklahoma city bombing in 1996. So yes I think they actually have more capability to do more damage now then they ever had,” said Picciolini.

Hate crimes spiked in occurrence after Trump won the 2016 election. Before the 2016 election the FBI’s finding led to the fact that reported hate crime had been decreasing. But Trump's victory emboldened groups.

The day after the 2016 election, reported crimes with racial bias jumped from 10 a day to 21 a day, according to the Washington Post.

And NBC news found that in densely populated urban areas, hate crimes rose by 20% in 2016.

“I think they(far right hate groups) got very luck when he was elected because it was the first time in modern history that a president openly supported the policies that they supported… and we saw a rise in hate crimes, we saw a rise in extremist violence, were now dealing with a domestic terrorist threat… and unfortunately even though he’s (Trump) not there anymore it's still gonna continue because he gave them that power,” said Picciolini.

And to this day members of our society are still at risk of becoming radicalized. Not just everyday youth, but even middle aged and elderly folk too.

People who “have a lifetime of potholes(job loss, death, poverty) they dealt with their whole lives… and are redeveloping their sense of identity, community and purpose, and they live in places like facebook, they get all their information and connections are in places like facebook. A lot of conspiracy theories are spread there like QAnon or white genocide, and white nationalism. I think we’re all vulnerable to be honest.”

I used to think that it was young people who were the most vulnerable cause they’re the ones searching for identity community and purpose, you know we all go through at a young age where we wanna know who we are” said Picciolini

In a ted talk Christian explains that when he was 14 and was approached by man who introduce him to the Neo-Nazi community.

For 14 years I felt marginalized and bullied. I had low self esteem, and frankly I didn't know who I was where i belonged or what my purpose was… this man had pulled me in and I had grabbed on to that life line.”said Picciolini

Picciolini saw the original leaders of that organization target young people who felt attacked or marginalized, and would recruit them by lying to them and over exaggerating about certain information.

And today we see a man who was once the President, spread false information and conspiracy theories.

When asked about whether there were similarities as to how Trump talked to his supporters and how “recruiters” for hate groups talked to those they attempted to recruit, Picciolini had this to say:

“I think more generally yes he(Trump) was focused on pointing out that things were being taken away from them(his supporters), and then he pointed out who he was blaming for that, most of the time it was liberals, democrats, and in some cases “shithole” countries. He was putting the blame on people of color” said Picciolini

“Specifically he retweeted consiparcay theroies that have to do with white genocide… there have been several instances where he has done EXACTLY what a white nationalist would do” said Picciolini.

We see people in positions of power give platforms to organizations and groups who spread false information, and in some sort of way attempts to give them some sort of credibility.

And now we see these organizations and hate groups take up entire headlines which further spreads their reach.

We’ll continue to see a rise in hate crimes, and hate groups have not been adequately responded to. And because of the large platform they had gotten, they’ll continue to see a rise in people joining sub hate groups or affiliation with extremist groups.