Ohio Has 8th Most Hate Groups In America

CLEVELAND, OH - Ohio has 35 hate groups according to a report by the Southern Poverty Law Center. Over the past two years, the number of active hate groups in the United States has increased.

Nationwide, the number of verified hate groups rose to 917 last year — up from 892 in 2015. According to the findings by the Southern Poverty Law Center, Ohio ranked eighth nationwide in the number of hate groups. California has the most hate groups in the nation, with 79. Neighboring Pennsylvania has 40 hate groups.

In the Greater Cleveland area, the SLPC says there are four prominent hate groups. Those groups include the All Eyes on Egipt Bookstore, a black separatist group, Faith2Action, an anti-LGBT group, the Nation of Islam, a black separatist group, and Soldiers of Odin, an anti-Muslim group.

The Southern Poverty Law Center, a nonprofit legal advocacy organization specializing in civil rights and public interest litigation, attributes much of the increase in hate groups to the rise of Trump. Throughout his presidential campaign and into his nascent presidency, Trump has voiced nationalistic ideals resonating with the extreme right wing fringe, officials said.

"Trump’s run for office electrified the radical right, which saw in him a champion of the idea that America is fundamentally a white man’s country," Southern Poverty Law Center officials wrote.

Southern Poverty Law Center officials encapsulated the political events that have helped fuel the rise of hate groups throughout the country: "A surge in right-wing populism, stemming from the long-unfolding effects of globalization and the movements of capital and labor that it spawned, brought a man many considered to be a racist, misogynist and xenophobe into the most powerful political office in the world," officials said. "Donald Trump’s election as president mirrored similar currents in Europe, where globalization energized an array of extreme-right political movements and the United Kingdom’s decision to quit the European Union."

Trump's eventual election win galvanized the extreme right, emboldening its members to voice their extremist views and, worse, sometimes act on their hatred, according to officials. Their reclaimed energy has led them away from the shadows of society and into the mainstream in a manner not seen since the days of the desegregation effort that swept the country as part of the Civil Rights Era.

"After half a century of being increasingly relegated to the margins of society, the radical right entered the political mainstream last year in a way that had seemed virtually unimaginable since George Wallace ran for president in 1968," officials wrote.

Southern Poverty Law Center officials produced an an interactive map that allows users to see concentrations of hate groups in their region.

Here are the 10 states with the most hate groups:

1. California - 79
2. Florida - 63
3. Texas - 55
4. New York - 47
5. Pennsylvania - 40
6. Virginia - 39
7. Tennessee - 39
8. Ohio - 35
9. Georgia - 32
10. Illinois - 32

In Ohio, the majority of hate groups are either KKK, Neo-Nazis, White Nationalists, or Skinheads. These are the hate groups SLPC reports as active, and where they operate:

• Blood and Honour Social Club, Racist Skinhead, Statewide
• American Vanguard, White Nationalists, Statewide
• Soldiers of Odin, Anti-Muslims, Statewide
• Outlaw Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, Statewide
• National Socialist Movement, Neo-Nazi, Statewide
• Aryan Nations Sadistic Souls MC, Racist Skinhead, Statewide
• Aryan Strikeforce, Racist Skinhead, Statewide
• Ku Klos Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, Statewide
• Supreme White Alliance, Racist Skinhead, Statewide
• Militant Knights of Ku Klux Klan, Statewide
• The Daily Stormer, Neo-Nazi, Worthington, OH
• Nation of Islam, Black Separatist, Nation of Islam, Columbus, OH
• Israel United Church in Christ, Black Separatist, Heath, OH
• Mission: America, Anti-LGBT, Columbus, OH
• ACT for America, Anti-Muslim, Columbus, OH
• The Right Stuff, White Nationalist, Columbus, OH
• Loyal Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, KKK, Columbus, OH
• The Daily Stormer, Neo-Nazi, Columbus, OH
• Pass the Salt Ministries, Anti-LGBT, Columbus, OH
• Non-Universal Teaching Ministries, Christian Identity, Fostoria, OH
• Nation of Islam, Akron, OH
• Divine Truth Ministries, Christian Identity, Bainbridge, OH
• Faith2Action, Anti-LGBT, North Royalton, OH
• New Black Panther Party, Black Separatist, Dayton, OH
• Old Glory Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, Vincent, OH
• Nation of Islam, Black Separatist, Nation of Islam, Dayton, OH
• ACT for America, Anti-Muslim, Cleveland, OH
• Sons of Odin, Anti-Muslim, Cleveland, OH
• Nation of Islam, Black Separatist, Cleveland, OH
• All Eyes on Egipt Bookstore, Black Separatist, Cleveland, OH
• Citizens for Community Values, Anti-LGBT, Cincinnati, OH
• Christ or Chaos, Radical Traditional Catholicism, West Chester, OH

Tony Cantu, Patch, contributed to this report

Photo credit: Marek Peters / www.marek-peters.com via WikiMedia Commons