According to a 2011 report by the Southern Poverty Law Center<\/a>, the number of hate groups in the U.S. has been steadily climbing for the last 10 years. White nationalist Patriot groups, first organized in reaction to the violent government crackdown on dissident groups at Ruby Ridge, Idaho<\/a> and Waco, Texas<\/a> in the early 90s, went from 149 groups in 2008 to 1274 groups in 2011.<\/p>\n Add to that the recent stories of Idaho State’s only black lawmaker<\/a> receiving a hand addressed invitation to join the KKK, a couple of murder-suicide cases involving white supremacist leaders<\/a> in Arizona and Pennsylvania, and the bust of 10 white supremacists in central Florida for stockpiling weapons and training for a “race war<\/a>,” and the evidence starts to pile up.<\/p>\n The 2010s are starting to look like the 1980s all over again.<\/p>\n According to veteran right wing watcher (and a greatly admired friend) Chip Berlet<\/a>,<\/p>\n \u201cWe are in the midst of one of the most significant right-wing populist rebellions in United States<\/span> history. We see around us a series of overlapping social and political movements populated by people [who are] angry, resentful, and full of anxiety.”<\/em><\/p>\n Those overlapping movements include a resurgent neo-Nazi faction, Tea Parties, anti-immigrant vigilantes, Christian jihadists<\/a>, assorted white nationalists, and a big chunk of the Arizona State Legislature.<\/p>\n Back in the late 1980s and through the 90s, my activism was mainly pointed at exposing and countering vigilante white supremacists and the religious right wing. Grassroots groups representing both wings of the white right were on the rise back then. But toward the end of the 20th century, things changed. The white supremacist movement went underground, and the religious right had won so much, including taking over much of the grassroots infrastructure of the Republican Party and electing George W. Bush<\/span> president, that they became the mainstream and lost momentum, even as their power and influence was greater than ever.<\/p>\n But the combination of the election of an African American president, the economic crisis, including a bail out of elites by the government, and the changing demographics of our country has the right surging again. Top that off with a heaping helping of post-9\/11 Islamophobia<\/a> and a side of anti-Chinese sentiment<\/span><\/a> and that rebellion is beginning to look like a movement.<\/p>\n I know that to a lot of people, the litany of groups I listed looks pretty fringe-y. And I agree that it’s not as though anything as exotic as neo-Nazism is likely to amount to a major movement in the U.S., especially given our history with Nazi’s in WWII.<\/p>\n However, don’t discount the fringe. The violence they represent is a very real threat and they have a powerful impact on our political culture.<\/p>\n\n
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