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The distribution of white supremacist propaganda skyrocketed nationwide last year — hitting an “all-time high,” according to a report released Wednesday by the Anti-Defamation League.
The 5,125 instances of racist, anti-Semitic or anti-LGBTQ fliers, stickers, posters and banners disseminated by far-right and white supremacist groups in 2020 was nearly double the 2,724 cases reported in 2019, the New York-based organization said.
That’s an average of about 14 incidents per day and is the highest level the group has seen in its more than a decade of tracking the phenomenon, ADL officials told The Post.
The organization first started plotting the dataset on its “Hate, Extremism, Antisemitism, Terrorism” Map in 2016, but ADL has been monitoring far-right activity for more than 10 years, a spokesman said.
At least 30 known white supremacist groups sent out hateful propaganda last year, but just three were responsible for 92 percent of the incidents, according to the report.
They were identified as the Texas-based Patriot Front, the New Jersey European Heritage Association, and the Nationalist Social Club – a neo-Nazi group with chapters nationwide and around the globe.
The Patriot Front, which is led by white supremacist Thomas Rousseau, was responsible for more than 4,100 of the incidents alone – or 80 percent of the entire tally.
The group used ambiguous phrases such as “America First” and “United We Stand” in its propaganda, the ADL said, but it pushed white supremacist and neo-fascist views.
The hateful information dissemination was spotted in every state except Hawaii and the highest levels of activity were found in Texas, Washington, California, New Jersey, New York, Massachusetts, Virginia and Pennsylvania, ADL officials said.
ADL CEO Jonathan Greenblatt said white supremacists “appear to be more emboldened than ever,” while citing the election year and the pandemic as possible factors.
“In the era of social media, white supremacists plan and amplify their campaigns online, but they still rely on old fashioned tactics to spread their messages of hate, which can range from chest-thumping nationalism to outright bigotry,” Greenblatt said in a statement to The Post.
“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.”
ADL also recorded 283 incidents of propaganda containing anti-Semitic language or material targeting Jewish institutions – a 68 percent jump from figures tallied in 2019.
“Propaganda gives white supremacists the ability to maximize media and online attention while limiting their risk of exposure or arrest,” Oren Segal, vice president of ADL’s Center on Extremism, said in a statement, adding that the literature also spreads fear in the targeted communities.
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