Extremism, Anti-Semitism In NoVA, DC: 109 Incidents In 2019

WASHINGTON, DC — In 2019, there were 59 incidents of extremism and anti-Semitism in Virginia, according to the Anti-Defamation League. The figure for 2019 decreased from the 68 incidents reported in our state during 2018. In the District of Columbia, 50 incidents were reported last year, down from 64 cases the previous year.

The occurrences in Virginia and DC were among the 4,015 examples of extremist and anti-Semitic incidents that happened nationwide in 2019. The figure reported for 2019 is up almost 32 percent from the 3,052 incidents reported in 2018, according to the ADL.

Here is a sampling of the incidents in Virginia that the non-governmental organization included in its registry:

Anti-Semitic Incident - Vandalism: November 2019

• Location: Waterford
• Description: Swastika vandalism discovered on a road in Louduon County.

Anti-Semitic Incident - Vandalism: October, 2019

• Location: Vienna
• Description: A dumpster outside an office building was vandalized with swastika graffiti..

Anti-Semitic Incident - Harassment: October, 2019

• Location: Alexandria
• Description: Instagram account targeted a middle school aged boy with an image of a swastika.

Extremist murder: Sept. 3, 2019

• Location: Henrico County
• Ideology: Right Wing (White Supremacist)
• Description: James Thomas Seay, a white supremacist with past ties to a number of Klan and other groups, was charged with second-degree murder for the shooting death of his uncle. No motive was made public at the time of the arrest.

Anti-Semitic Incident - Harassment; White Supremacist Propaganda: May 6, 2019

• Location: Haymarket
• Ideology: Right Wing (White Supremacist)
• Description: Loyal White Knights, a Klan group, left anti-Semitic and racist fliers in the driveways of residential homes and along James Madison Highway.

And here is a sampling of incidents in Washington, D.C.:

Anti-Semitic Incident - Vandalism: October 2019

• Location: DC
• Description: Washington Hebrew Congregation was defaced with grotesque graffiti, as well as anti-Israel messages that read "I hate Israel," "F--- Israel Free Palestine," and "F---Jews who like Israel."

Anti-Semitic Incident - Harassment: March 2019

• Location: DC
• Description: Students used swastikas as usernames during an online school assembly.

Related:

• Hate Crimes In Virginia: FBI Report Shows Decrease
• 39 Hate Groups Are Active In Virginia
  
• Virginia Hate Groups: Map Shows Active Racist Organizations

The Anti-Defamation League tracks the incidents through news and media reports, government documents (including police reports), victim reports, extremist-related sources and the Center on Extremism investigations, according to a “Frequently Asked Questions” section on the ADL’s website.

The Anti-Defamation League’s interactive map includes information on incidents involving anti-Semitism, white supremacist propaganda, white supremacist events, extremist-police shootouts, terrorist plots and attacks and extremist murders.

Along with providing the first-of-its-kind interactive and customizable map detailing extremist and anti-Semitic incidents around the nation, the ADL also provides information on the annual quantity of white supremacist propaganda that gets spread throughout the country.

The Anti-Defamation League’s Center on Extremism reported 2,713 cases of circulated propaganda by white supremacist groups in 2019, compared with 1,214 cases in 2018.

Oren Segal, director of the League’s Center on Extremism, pointed to the prominence of more subtly biased rhetoric in some white supremacist material, emphasizing “patriotism.”

By emphasizing language “about empowerment, without some of the blatant racism and hatred,” Segal told the Associated Press, white supremacists are using a “tactic to try to get eyes onto their ideas in a way that’s cheap, and that brings it to a new generation of people who are learning how to even make sense out of these messages.”

The Anti-Defamation League, which was founded in 1913 to combat anti-Semitism as well as other biases, describes its mission as “to stop the defamation of the Jewish people and to secure justice and fair treatment to all.”

You can find the complete interactive map on the ADL’s website.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.