Hate groups increasing

WASHINGTON, D.C. — United Methodist advocates against racism view a new report citing a record number of hate groups across the United States as unsurprising evidence of continuing problems. Ironically, they also view the increase as evidence of some progress in the nation’s struggle to end racial bigotry.

The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), based in Montgomery, Ala., says there are more suspected hate groups in the United States now than ever before. SPLC’s annual survey identified 926 active hate groups in 2008. That’s a 4% increase from the year before and a 54% increase since 2000 when there were 602 such groups.

The three largest racist hate groups are the Ku Klux Klan, Neo-Nazis and Skinheads.

SPLC found that the three largest racist hate groups are the Ku Klux Klan, Neo-Nazis and Skinheads. SPLC also determined that six states had the most hate groups: California, 84; Texas, 66; Florida, 56; South Carolina, 45; and Georgia and New Jersey, 40 each.

Alaska and Hawaii had no reported hate groups. New Mexico, North Dakota and Maine had only one.

SPLC researchers concluded that the election of the first African-American U.S. president, Barack Obama, likely contributed to the rise in racist hate groups. A record number of assassination threats against him both as candidate and now as president have been reported, as well.

Election backlash

"No question there's been a backlash after the election," said Mark Potok, director of SPLC's Intelligence Project. "But it still says a lot for our country that we elected an African-American president."

That backlash comes as no surprise to nearly a dozen United Methodist leaders queried by the denomination’s General Commission on Religion & Race (GCORR).

[The election] has fueled the flames of racism within many as well.

“Sadly, it does not surprise me,” stated the Rev. Andy Oren, a Milwaukee pastor who chairs the Wisconsin Conference Commission on Religion & Race. “While the election of President Obama has been hailed by many, obviously a majority of voters, it has fueled the flames of racism within many as well.”

A reactionary fear of the unknown is at work among many who join hate groups, according to the Rev. Taka Ishii, a Japanese-American pastor of an interracial congregation in Golden Hill, Conn. “We see this African-American president in the media every day,” said Ishii, who is a GCORR board member, “and although a majority of us celebrate his election, some are afraid of his presidential power and believe something awful might happen to them. It is fear of the unknown because he is not white.”

Other factors seen as contributing to the increase in hate groups are the struggling U.S. economy and opposition to undocumented immigrants in the United States, most of whom are Hispanic/Latino. The immigration controversy has been an ongoing source of hate-group recruitment. The economy situation, which fosters fear over loss of jobs and homes, no doubt bolstered those numbers as well.

Economics and systemic racism

“Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. long ago contended that economics is a core part of systemic racism,” pointed out the Rev. Jerry DeVine, a West Michigan Conference district superintendent and GCORR board member. “This is a time of extreme anxiety for many. In such times people often look for quick blame and easy answers rather than working at creating a community of new alternatives. We can see a linkage to racist groups during unsettling and uncertain economic times.”

We can see a linkage to racist groups during unsettling and uncertain economic times.

DeVine described hate as irrational. He said hate feeds on fear, and creates chaos rather than true community. “The rash of gun and ammunition purchases across the country is part of that irrationality,” he said.

“We need to be aware of the activities of these hate groups,” Devine acknowledged, “but not give them any more limelight than needed. We have to have our facts clear so we can respond to their hate rhetoric with reasoned centeredness.”

Dee Weaver, of Dallas and Mildred Mason, of Schenectady, NY, both chair their conference commissions on religion and race, North Texas and Troy, respectively.

“There is a racial component to the immigration issue,” said Weaver, who is Mexican-American. “I believe it. I have lived it.”

Weaver contends that “misinformation and lack of truth” about immigrants and the economy contribute to widespread ignorance and hatred.

Mason identified an additional cause for growing hate groups. “There are more biracial marriages and biracial children, even outside of marriages,” she said. “and that causes some people to hate others.”

A sign of progress?

Some respondents see the increase in hate groups and assassination threats as evidence that racism has not declined but is only becoming less hidden. Yet, others insist the trend is a sign of progress.

“Our society is getting better at covering racism,” asserted Bescye Burnett, a local pastor who chairs the Minnesota Conference Commission on Religion & Race. “Today we call it everything except racism.” Burnett said that because U.S; citizens are not true to themselves as a nation in regards to being inclusive, they keep the same hatreds in their hearts. “Since we fail to get serious about who is our neighbor, we tend to treat others as strangers,” she emphasized.

Our society is getting better at covering racism.

The Rev. Sharon White, director of Advocacy Ministries in the Indiana Conference, suggested that even if hate groups are growing, the number of groups working for racial equality and reconciliation might be growing as well.

Curtis DeVance, chair of the Iowa Conference Commission on Religion & Race, said he thinks things are getting better simply because of the greater number of young people who do not harbor the same attitudes as some of their parents and grandparents. He wondered whether overall membership in hate groups has increased. He said the Ku Klux Klan and other groups “are alive and well here in Iowa,” but said they are having little or no impact.

“The real issue is how long will the Silent Majority remain silent,” said DeVance. “What can we do to provoke more of a response by that Silent Majority?"

Harbinger of real change

DeVine views the growing hate activity as a harbinger of real change. “The closer the anti-apartheid movement came to actually transforming South Africa,” he recalled, “the more intense and violent the resistance to that movement became.”

We are called to respond and lead … not react or retreat.

The U.S. ethos continues to move forward and develop in complex diversity, according to DeVine, who will become the Detroit Conference director of Connectional Ministries this summer. “We see improvements in some places and setbacks in others. We are called to respond and lead in this time, not react or retreat.”

The Central Pennsylvania Conference Commission on Religion & Race chair, the Rev. Greg Johnson of York, Pa., said things are getting both better and worse. “There are inroads among many of us who are building bridges and being in true committed relationships across national, ethnic, cultural, social, economic and, most importantly, spiritual barriers,” he said. “But there are also those who are separating themselves from fellow human beings, and seeking to do harm that may lead to death as the final separation.”

Rhetoric of hate

The Rev. Eliezer Valentín-Castañón, GCORR assistant general secretary for Advocacy, laments the rhetoric of hate that has created an environment of hostility against all immigrants, not just the undocumented. “In fact, many Latinos who have been victims of hate crimes in the U.S. have been either citizens or documented residents,” he pointed out. “Hate cannot distinguish between documented and undocumented, between U.S. citizens and immigrants.”

Valentín-Castañón said the death of racism, asserted by some after Obama’s election, has been greatly exaggerated. He characterized the claim as like saying that after the Emancipation Proclamation black people were instantly made free, or that after the passage of the 14th Amendment black Americans were treated with equality and dignity, or that after the 1965 Civil Rights Act black, Latino, Asian and Native Americans, suddenly gained acceptance and equality.

“It is precisely when we see progress in America, especially in these movements toward equality and justice,” Valentín-Castañón explained, “that the forces of evil rise up and draw misguided new converts to their perverse cause. They traffic in fear, false pride, confusion, misdirected anger and destructive hatred.

“As people of faith we must be vigilant in opposing and speaking up against these activities. We must educate our people to resist the ignorance of hate and choose instead the wisdom of love.”

Editor’s note: John Coleman is Communications Director for General Commission on Religion & Race. GCORR supports United Methodists at all levels of the church in their quest to achieve racial justice, inclusiveness and reconciliation. A new blog site has been established by GCORR at Ending Racism to enable people to comment on this article. The SPLC report is available at the site, also.