Right-Wing Hate Groups Surged in 2015

The number of hate groups on America’s radical right has nearly doubled in the past 16 years, to 892 in 2015 from 457 in 1999 , according to a new report from the Southern Poverty Law Center. The legal advocacy group wrote that antigovernment militiamen, white supremacists, aggressive abortion foes, domestic Islamist radicals, neo-Nazis, black separatists, and lovers of the Confederate battle flag make up just a portion of the list of “hate groups.” Ku Klux Klan chapters grew to 190 last year from 72 in 2014, apparently inspired by the more than 350 pro-Confederate battle flag rallies held in response to South Carolina removing the symbol from its statehouse grounds. At the same time, black separatist hate groups reportedly grew from 113 chapters in 2014 to 180 in 2015, which the SPLC attributes to media coverage of police shootings of black men. The organization also wrote that “conspiracy-minded, antigovernment ‘Patriot’” groups grew from 874 in 2014 to 998 last year. Last year saw violence from various extremist hate groups in Charleston, Colorado Springs, Chattanooga, and elsewhere.