STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- White supremacist groups nearly doubled their propaganda activity nationwide in 2020, according to the Anti-Defamation League’s (ADL) annual report, and just one group with a Staten Island presence was responsible for 10% of the recorded incidents.
The ADL’s Center on Extremism tracked 5,125 reported instances of racist, anti-semitic and anti-LGBTQ fliers, stickers, banners and posters being placed in locations from college campuses to highway overpasses, according to the report, compared to 2,724 postings in 2019.
“Hate propaganda is a tried-and-true tactic for white supremacists, and this on-the-ground activity is now higher than we’ve ever previously recorded,” said Jonathan Greenblatt, ADL’s CEO. “White supremacists appear to be more emboldened than ever, and the election year, the pandemic and other factors may have provided these extremists with additional encouragement.”
The spike came in a particularly turbulent year, capped in the first week of January 2021 when the United States Capitol building was breached during the Congressional certification of the 2020 presidential election. Members of groups like the Proud Boys, which the ADL says harbors white supremacist ideologies, have been indicted on federal conspiracy and other charges in the Capitol riot.
The ADL’s research uncovered that hate propaganda was most common in Texas, with more than 570 instances discovered, followed by California with more than 330 postings, New Jersey with 323 and New York with 308.
There were 41 instances of white supremacist material being posted on Staten Island, according to the ADL’s Heat Map. That number nearly doubled the borough’s recorded total of 21 in 2019.
However, an Advance investigation revealed that the New Jersey European Heritage Association (NJEHA), a white supremacist group with a presence on the borough, posted at least 50 flyers and stickers across multiple neighborhoods on Staten Island in an eight-month span in 2019, indicating that the ADL’s data could perhaps under-represent the extent of the issue.
Hundreds of counter-protesters gathered in Palmer Square in Princeton in January, 2019, after the New Jersey European Heritage Association said it had planned to be in the area. The night before, the group announced it was a hoax. (Olivia Rizzo | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com)
While more than 30 groups were responsible for all the activity tracked, the ADL said three groups — Patriot Front, NJEHA and the National Social Club — combined to constitute 92%. Of those three groups, Patriot Front, which dropped a banner over a Staten Island Expressway overpass in 2020, was responsible for 80% of all propaganda incidents nationwide.
The ADL’s report found that NJEHA were responsible for 500 incidents in 2020, representing 10% of the nation’s total.
While the group’s activity was centered in New Jersey, New York, Florida and Pennsylvania, its propaganda was spotted at least once in 23 different states.
On Staten Island, NJEHA material has been found from the North to South shores. Most recently, posters hung in New Dorp prompted the condemnation of the borough’s entire bi-partisan delegation
In the wake of the discovery of that material, Staten Island faith leaders organized a candlelight walk and vigil against hate. Just blocks into the route of the march, the group of about two dozen people encountered a flyer posted by NJEHA. The flyer was removed by the NYPD.
The latest ADL report said NJEHA promotes “explicitly white supremacist propaganda with messages targeting various groups, including Jewish people, Black people and immigrants.”
Earlier this year, the ADL said NJEHA likely has a small presence on Staten Island but added that the group is “definitely growing.”
Scott Richman, the director of the New York and New Jersey region for the ADL, said, “It was smaller in 2018, larger in 2019 and larger in 2020.”
The coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic likely altered the strategies of white supremacist groups last year, according to the ADL’s report.
College campuses, normally a favorite target of hate postings, saw significantly lower propaganda distribution, dropping steeply from 630 incidents in 2019 to 303 last year, likely because less students were at school amid virus restrictions.
Additionally, the ADL documented 56 white supremacist events held in 2020 — a decrease of 20 gatherings held in 2019.
However, some areas of focus did increase. The ADL said incidents that included anti-Semitic language or targeted Jewish institutions rose by 68% compared to 2019. Banner drops, which commonly take place over highways to maximize exposure, also more-than-doubled.
“Propaganda gives white supremacists the ability to maximize media and online attention while limiting their risk of exposure or arrest,” said Oren Segal, vice president of the ADL’s Center on Extremism. “The literature helps to bolster recruitment efforts and spreads fear by targeting specific groups, including the Jewish, Black, Muslim and LGBTQ+ communities, as well as non-white immigrants.”
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Bolstered by group with Staten Island presence, white supremacist propaganda activity spikes nationwide - SILive.com
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