Racist hate groups are operating at unprecedented levels in the United States right now, according to a new report by the Southern Poverty Law Center. Hate groups in general grew by 40 percent last year, according to the report, with anti-immigrant “nativist extremist” groups growing by 80 percent and “Patriot” groups surging by 244 percent. Though the “tea parties” aren’t considered extremist groups, the SPLC found “they are shot through with rich veins of radical ideas, conspiracy theories and racism,” adding fuel to the fires of hate.
For more on the Southern Poverty Law Center, read Hate Ink., and for a counterpoint, read The Paranoid Center, both from the January-February 2010 issue of Utne Reader.
Source: Southern Poverty Law Center
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