Politics & Government

Southern Poverty Law Center Ranks Texas Third In Nation With Most Hate Groups

Officials credit rise of Donald Trump with having energized the radical right now emboldened to enter the mainstream of society.

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AUSTIN, TX — The state of Texas has up to 55 hate groups amid a two-year uptick in such entities as of last year, according to new analysis released Wednesday by the Southern Poverty Law Center.

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, Texas ranked third nationwide in the number of hate groups. That places the state behind California and Florida but ahead of New York and Pennsylvania, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center's reckoning.

The group cited the arson at a mosque in Victoria, Texas, as a dramatic example of the rise in hate groups in the state. The deliberate fire came after Donald Trump signed an executive order banning travel for people from a selected list of predominantly Muslim countries, Southern Poverty Law Center officials noted.

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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.

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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. In Central Texas, for example, four hate groups were identified:

  • The Daily Stormer, which the Southen Poverty Law Center calls a neo-Nazi group.
  • Power of Prophecy, a fundamentalist Christian group espousing anti-Semitism.
  • Southern National Congress, a neo-Confederate group
  • The Nation of Islam, categorized as a black separatist group by the Southern Poverty Law Center.
  • Israel United in Christ located in Austin, also labeled a black separatist group.

Hate groups are found throughout Texas, from major cities to small towns. Just north of Austin in Killeen, for example is home to Faith and Heritage defined as a white nationalist group by the Southern Poverty Law Center. Also in Central Texas, the town of Gatesville is home to the Ku Klos Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, according to officials.

Fort Worth has its share of hate groups, including the Loyal White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, the Nation of Islam and the Steadfast Baptist Church, which the Southern Poverty Law Center describes as anti-LGBT.

Dallas wasn't left behind, emerging as home to the white nationalist group Tradionalist Worker Party, the black separatist New Black Panther Party and a Nation of Islam branch, among others.

Following is a list of Texas-based hate groups, as tallied by the Southern Poverty Law Center:

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

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