Report details Florida's rise in extremism and hate crimes | WUSF Public Media
By: Craig Kopp Published (WUSF Public Media)
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
WUSF Public Media - WUSF 89.7 | By Craig Kopp Published September 22, 2022 at 5:00 AM EDT
The report's author said one reason hate groups are finding Florida attractive is the ability to spread propaganda year-round.
Extremist incidents in Florida involving racial hate and antisemitism rose by 71% between 2020 and 2022.
That's the conclusion of the Anti-Defamation League's (ADL) "Hate in the Sunshine State" report.
The report shows that in 2019, there were 91 antisemitic incidents and 87 instances of white supremacist propaganda across the state. In 2021, the number rose to 190 antisemitic incidents and 186 reported encounters with white supremacist propaganda.
Ben Poppe, with the ADL's Center on Extremism, wrote the report. He said what makes the increase in Florida extremism stand out from the overall rise in hate across the country is that Florida extremists are now coordinating with each other.
And, Poppe said, they are even touting the Sunshine State as a great place to relocate your hate.
"They actually created Florida propaganda posters saying the state of hate needs you and advertising to other extremists to move to Florida," Poppe said. "They're trying to make Florida a place where this kind of thing is acceptable and to center their activities in the state."
Among the key findings:
- From January 2020 to August 2022, the report documents more than 400 instances of white propaganda being distributed across the state.
- Of the 855 individuals arrested in connection with the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, 90 (or 10.5%) are from Florida
- Crimes against Jews accounted for 80% of all religious-motivated incidents in 2020
The report details several hate groups — including the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers — that are operating in Florida, along with a number of incidents that occurred across the state and in the greater Tampa Bay region.
In May 2021, antisemitic graffiti was painted on an outside wall at the Florida Holocaust Museum.
In addition, the report describes a demonstration in which 10 individuals associated with the neo-Nazi organization NatSoc Florida gathered on an overpass in Pinellas County, holding banners with white supremacist and antisemitic messages.
Poppe said one reason hate groups are finding Florida attractive is the ability to spread propaganda year-round.
The Tampa Bay Times reported this week that a popular white supremacist who goes by the nickname "Baked Alaska" moved his base of operations to Clearwater in the past year. Anthime Gionet's nickname comes from his home state of Alaska, and he's awaiting sentencing on charges from the Jan. 6 insurrection.
Poppe said the biggest danger from the rising number of white supremacist and antisemitic groups operating and communicating with each other isn't violence, though that can happen.
The biggest threat, Poppe said, is acceptance.
"The primary dangers of the demonstrations and the leafletting is the normalization of the imagery that they're spreading as well as an attempt to desensitize the community to this sort of thing to make us think this is normal, or OK," Poppe said.
Additional articles that relate to this situation:
What We Know About the Proud Boys in the Miami-Dade GOP Executive Committee
https://www.miaminewtimes.com/news/proud-boys-miami-dade-republicans-executive-committee-14678246
Army vet risked his life to expose who was in the KKK
https://www.npr.org/2021/12/22/1066645155/army-vet-risked-his-life-to-expose-who-was-in-the-kkk
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A sad commentary on my state.
Desantis' cruelty towards refugees from Venezuelan communism is going down like the proverbial lead balloon among Cuban Floridians.
There are groups of Venezuelans that are protesting but I've not seen anything where the Cubans are protesting.
The Florida law states quite clearly that it can only be used to move illegals out of Florida. A lawsuit was filed in the last couple of days against DiSantis over this.
cool. trump smells deathsantis' blood in the water and will now throw him under the bus, just to take the media heat off his own seditious and criminal ass. it going to be fun watching trump burn down the republican party once his many lawyers start giving him multiple reality checks.
And now that the Proud Boys are part of the Miami Dade republican party I wonder which of them, Trump or DiSantis will claim them.
He's now calling him fat, phony, and whiny.
What? You mean you can't bring them into Florida, call them illegal (even though they are not illegal) and then send them elsewhere?
meh, the trumpster version of "hot potato" is fun to watch when their political stunts backfire.
LOL, pretty much even if you land the plane in FL to fuel.
Knights in White Satin.... must be rich clansmen, or maybe they just like the moody blues.
since when did the klan start accepting sausage eating, pasta spinning, mackerel snappers as members?
Why can't humans get a grip on themselves and let go of this hatred?
What is really concerning is the article that I linked below this one. Proud Boys are now members of the Miami Dade Executive Committee of the Republican party, and when the head of the Miami Dade party was asked about it he stated that we have different opinions in the party...Yeah right, talk about BS
So true!
That would require embracing change, something conservatives are ideologically opposed to. The status quo for the last several hundred years in our country has been judging people based on their race, background, culture, religion and skin color. It's a hard habit to break.
For those who have been continually discriminated against, for those at the bottom of society, change is their most hoped for desire, to no longer be treated as 2nd or 3rd class citizens simply because of their race, culture or faith that wasn't part of the majority.
For those who have been the ones at the top of society doing the discriminating, accepting that they are no better than anyone else is a punishment and a hard pill to swallow which is why we still see such seething hate among certain groups, mostly white rightwing conservative Christians. They're the only ones who demand their right to push their faith in schools demanding the right of teachers or coaches to pray with students, to push Christmas and Easter art projects and theatre productions while losing their minds when hearing of a Muslim calligraphy teacher daring to have students copy a few lines of Koran scripture. Coach wants to pray to Jesus with the students? Hell yes! Coach wanting to lay out prayer rugs and pray to Allah with the student's? Hell no! They are determined to maintain a class structure in American society with white conservative Christians on top which continues to empower racism and hate and an "Us against Them" mentality.
This article is exactly what you are discussing, DP...Well worth the read. Or the article shown at the bottom of the main article. Proud Boys are now part of the Miami Dade republican party executive comittee.
LOL, mmmkay....
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Did you read the complete article and the original which is linked? If so would you care to dispute it or are you agreeing with it?
I just saw your comment before it was deleted. So here is my response to you, bugsy.
I take it that you're close personal friends with many wealthy liberals to be able to read their minds.
Secondly, saying that we are on the plantation with white liberals being the master...What you are saying is not only ignorant but highly bigoted, which is something that you accuse others of being. What you've said is that millions of minorities be they black, red, yellow or brown or if religious Jews are not capable of thinking for themselves and have not accomplished anything in their lifetime if they are dem/liberal/progressive without being allowed to by the mythical white liberals. That, of course, is more bs as us, (being minorities) are represented in all professions no matter how important or those requiring highly advanced degrees without the permission of white liberals.
Comments like you made on this article are showing your lack of understanding, and viewpoint that at best belongs in the 1850s.
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LOL and you using the term plantation isn't disgusting and bigoted...Nice try, no cigar.
Actually, you did as I pointed out in my previous comment to you. I suggest that you look at the republican party leadership, nothing but old white men living in the 50s.
So, your wife, a minority can think for herself because she isn't a democrat but me, a minority and millions of others can't think for ourselves because we are not Republicans! LOL, do you know how stupid that sounds, probably not.
You may live in 2022 but your thoughts are perfect for the 50s.
Now, comment on the article or the links or don't comment at all.
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And yet, here you remain…adding nothing…this is as safe a place you can imagine given the invective continually spewed.
And they're barely hiding it anymore as exampled by the recent Supreme court ruling in favor of allowing teacher led prayer in schools. Here is an update:
The claim according to rightwing conservative Republicans: “Joseph Kennedy lost his job as a high school football coach because he knelt at midfield after games to offer a quiet prayer of thanks.”
" Everything in the sentence I just quoted was false , and the Court knew or should have known that it was false. He didn’t lose his job : he was offered an “accommodation that would allow him to pray after games away from his players,” which he rejected; he was put on paid leave; when his contract expired in the spring, he “ did not reapply to coach the following year .” He did not “pray quietly by himself ” on the field. He was surrounded by a crowd that he had brought there. He pressured his players to join him, leading some parents to complain."
Kennedy’s attorney, former Solicitor General Paul Clement, made an extraordinary misrepresentation of the facts when he stated, at the very beginning of his argument, that “The record is clear that Coach Kennedy was fired for that midfield prayer.” Justice Samuel Alito repeated that claim six times, until the school’s lawyer corrected him: “It’s not a question of firing, and in fact, he was put on paid leave.”
The school district claimed that the case was moot because Kennedy had left town and relocated to Florida. He responded that he had moved temporarily for family reasons. “If the U.S. Supreme Court were to grant me the only relief I have ever sought from the beginning – to be able to return to the sidelines as a football coach at Bremerton High School – I would be back in Bremerton as soon as a plane could take me there.”
That has turned out to be false as well. The school district complied with the Supreme Court’s command by offering him the contract renewal that he had not applied for. A spokesperson for the school said, “He’s had the paperwork for his reinstatement since August 8, and we haven’t gotten so much as a phone call.” Instead, he has become a sort of professional martyr, traveling around the country telling conservative Christian groups how he has been persecuted ."
Elena Kagan and the Supreme Not-A-Court (msn.com)
This is the landscape enabled by a rightwing conservative supreme court that is actively trying to force us back under the control of "old white" conservative Christian males from the 1950's when they could lie with impunity and as long as some white conservative Judge agreed with them they were declared the 'winner' so as not to rock the boat of the white Christian patriarchy status quo. And we are now seeing more and more of these white rightwing conservative Christian 'professional' martyrs who claim they're the victims because they are being denied what they see as a right to discriminate or right to force their religious beliefs on others.
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Removed for context - sandy
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“…still far more intelligent…”
Self-indulgent much? Meh, indeed.
When you burn crosses on front lawns in Florida you dont have to worry about a snowstorm putting the fire out.
Totally disgusting. We have to be ever vigilant and constantly aware. There are some very evil people out there.
Yes, we do and yes there is, G.
I guess it was a smart move that my brother and I sold our condo in Hallandale long ago.
Just a few months ago a couple of neighborhoods in Gainesville, 35 miles north of us were covered in anti semtic flyers. Gainesville is home to one of the finest medical centers and hospitals in the US, University of Florida Health.
It's getting worse, isn't it (and that is not a question).
Yes, it is.
It should never be acceptable to spew hate. DeSantis better get on the ball... question is does he care enough.
Seems that he doesn't and a report by the Miami Herald pointed it out.
He does realize that minorities vote doesn't he?
I don't think that he cares, Trout. I believe that he thinks that he has enough hardcore supporters to ignore anyone else.
The sad thing is, the republicans don't seem to care and/or embrace them.
This just happened here...
Sadly, that is true, Ender.
Wow...that is super stupid. He could have caught his house on fire.