White Supremacist Propaganda Incidents Up 74% In Rhode Island In Last Year: ADL Report

RHODE ISLAND — Propaganda efforts by white supremacist groups reached a five-year high nationwide in 2022, according to a report Thursday from the Anti-Defamation League’s Center on Extremism.

In Rhode Island, 129 separate incidents in which antisemitic, racial and otherwise hateful material was distributed, were among 6,750 reported nationwide last year. That's a 72 percent increase of antisemitic and racist material reported in Rhode Island in the last year, according to the ADL.

The distribution of racist, antisemitic and anti-LGBTQ fliers, stickers and banners, images, posters or graffiti increased 38 percent nationwide from 2021, and has increased fivefold since 2018, according to the report. Antisemitic propaganda alone more than doubled in 2022, rising to 852 incidents from 352 incidents in 2021.

The ADL H.E.A.T. Map shows Hawaii was the only U.S. state that didn’t report a single incident of white supremacist propaganda last year. The highest levels of activity were in Texas, followed by Massachusetts, Virginia, Michigan, Pennsylvania, California, Utah, Florida, Connecticut and Georgia.

In Rhode Island, the 129 reported incidents included:

• Pamphlets distributed in July 2022 across several communities in the east and west bays, which the ADL attributes to Patriot Front.
• Two men arrested in East Providence who police said were posting fliers for the white nationalist group NSC-131
• The ADL said, the Goyim Defense League, an antisemitic group, scattered packages around Oakland Beach in Warwick. Inside the packages were fliers that read "Defcon 3 on Jewish people," along with an image of Kanye West and a star of David that had been crossed out.

Providence accounted for 18 of those incidents.

Hate crime laws in Rhode Island provide protections based on race, religion, ethnicity, disability. It most recently added protections from workplace discrimination based on gender identity in 2001.

Propaganda campaigns, intended to frighten and harass those who see the hateful messages, are limited-risk operations by white supremacist groups that give a few people an outsized voice, the report said.

At least 50 different white supremacist groups and networks distributed propaganda in 2022, the report said. Three of them were responsible for 93 percent of the activity:

Patriot Front, whose members espouse white supremacist and neo-fascist views, was behind the majority — 80 percent — of the propaganda, a distinction the Texas-based group has held since 2019. It was active everywhere but Hawaii and Alaska, and was most active in Massachusetts, followed by Texas, Michigan, Virginia, Pennsylvania and Utah.

Goyim Defense League, an antisemitic network with crossovers with white supremacist groups whose ultimate goal, the report said, is to expel Jews from the United States, was responsible for at least 492 propaganda incidents, about 58 percent of antisemitic incidents and 7 percent of incidents overall. Its propaganda was reported in 43 states, but was most active in California, followed by Florida, Texas, Georgia, South Carolina, Illinois and New York.

White Lives Matter, a network of white supremacists who engage in “pro-white activism” on a designated day each month, was responsible for 6 percent of propaganda incidents in 2022, and about 14 percent of antisemitic propaganda. The group was active in 36 states, most often n Washington, followed by Montana, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, New York, Virginia, North Carolina and Texas.

The ADL said the massive uptick in antisemitic propaganda was driven by the growth of the Goyim Defense League, but also noted the formation of other antisemitic white supremacist groups in 2022 that were responsible for 7 percent (62 percent) of the incidents nationwide:

Texas-based Aryan Freedom Network, NatSoc Florida, Iowa-based Crew 319, Southern California-based Clockwork Crew (aka Crew 562), Florida Nationalists and the short-lived, New York-based Aryan National Army.

» Click here for the full report.