Hate, Extremism, Anti-Semitism Tracked In Hudson County, Hoboken

HUDSON COUNTY, NJ — Do you feel unwelcome in your country, state, or city because of your religion or skin color? Documented incidents of hateful messages, extremism, and anti-Semitism climbed nationwide from 2018 to 2019, according to the non-profit Anti-Defamation League, which tracks such incidents.

In their most recent report, released this month, the ADL listed the incidents nationwide and in each state. The Anti-Defamation League's Center on Extremism reported that circulation of white supremacist propaganda rose drastically last year, with 2,713 cases in 2019, compared to 1,214 cases in 2018.

However, according to the report, in New Jersey, documented hateful incidents dropped from 452 to 216. The incidents were no less concerning, the ADL said. They included the anti-Semitic murder spree in Jersey City in December that took the lives of a police officer, as well as a mom of three and four other people.

In Hudson County, four towns besides Jersey City saw documented incidents of hate: Bayonne, Hoboken, North Bergen, and Weehawken.

The incidents even included the July arrests in Bayonne of three people writing swastikas in public places along with the words, "Atomwaffen division."

Atomwaffen is a neo-Nazi group that has been connected with the recent murders of at least Jewish people nationwide — yet has gotten comparably little attention from news programs.

Several other incidents in Hudson County involved supremacy groups distributing literature meant to foment anger.

Here is a list of 2019 incidents in Hudson County:

• Bayonne, 9/18/19: Patriot Front, an alt right group, distributed propaganda that read: "Money does not rule you," "Not stolen conquered," and "Better dead than red."
• Bayonne, 9/19: Three people were arrested for vandalizing various public places with swastika graffiti and "Atomwaffen Division," which is the name of a neo-Nazi group.
• Bayonne, 6/19: Swastika vandalism discovered in a park.
• Hoboken, 9/14/19: Patriot Front, an alt right group, distributed propaganda that read: "Money does not rule you," "Better dead than red," and "Not stolen conquered."
• Hoboken, 2/24/19: Identity Evropa, an alt right group, posted stickers featuring their group logo.
• Jersey City, 12/10/19: David Anderson and Francine Graham, apparent adherents of the Black Hebrew Israelite movement, embarked upon a shooting spree and shootout with police that left one police officer and three civilians dead, as well as the perpetrators. The attack is under investigation but may be motivated by anti-police and anti-Semitic animus. The two are also suspects in a separate murder that occurred days before the attack.
• Jersey City, 9/7/19: New Jersey European Heritage Association, an alt right group, distributed propaganda that that read: "Reclaim your nation reclaim your heritage."
• Jersey City, 9/3/19: Patriot Front, an alt right group, distributed propaganda that read: "Money does not rule you," "Better dead than red," and "Will your speech be hate speech?"
• Jersey City, 9/19: Anti-Semitic flier posted on light poles near a synagogue.
• Jersey City, 8/25/19 Patriot Front, an alt right group, distributed propaganda that read: "Better dead than red," "Not stolen conquered," and "Money does not rule you."
• Jersey City, 3/15/19: New Jersey European Heritage Association, an alt right group, distributed stickers that read: "Reclaim your nation reclaim your heritage" and "Stop white genocide."
• North Bergen, 6/13/19: New Jersey European Heritage Association, an alt right group, distributed fliers that that read: "Mass immigration is genocide," "Reclaim your nation reclaim your heritage," and "What is the Kalergi Plan?"
• Weehawken, 6/13/19: New Jersey European Heritage Association, an alt right group, distributed fliers that that read: "Communism killed 100 million" and "Remember the USS Liberty! 1967 attack against America."

On Friday, a new report came out from New Jersey's Department of Homeland Security, listing specific supremacist threats in the Garden State in the past year.

Meanwhile, the ADL report and incident map about New Jersey can be found here. To read about the other incidents cited by the ADL statewide, click here.