A new report on the growing number of hate groups and hate crimes in America provides sad confirmation of the obvious.
Anyone paying the slightest attention to the news already knows that hate in this country is out of control. Yet it’s good to take stock of evil — to quantify it and pinpoint some of the sources — so that government, nonprofit groups and individuals can better figure out how to combat it.
The Oct. 27 Tree of Life tragedy in Squirrel Hill figured prominently in the annual Southern Poverty Law Center report, which counted a record 1,020 hate groups in 2018, up from 954 in 2017. Many of the groups specialize. Some are anti-immigrant, anti-LGBTQ, anti-Muslim or anti-government. But more than 160 have so much venom for so many people that they’re categorized simply as “general hate” groups.
The center has been criticized for labeling as hate groups some organizations that merely take hard-line positions on immigration and other social issues. The center denies this. It must continue to scrutinize groups with care or it will contribute to the polarization that produces hate in the first place.
The hate groups listed in the report operate more or less on the public radar. More difficult to quantify and becoming more pervasive are the cyber-backwaters where zealots can meet, vent and swap conspiracy theories with anonymity. The social media site Gab, on which Tree of Life shooting suspect Robert Bowers contributed anti-Semitic and anti-immigrant rants, was cited as a prime example.
But here’s one positive note: The dark-hearted and irrationally angry are driven to these marginal spaces because, as the report notes, “They continue to feel the squeeze online and in real life.” Members of these groups know that their views are anathema to most of society and that means good people have the upper hand.
For the proper response to hate, one need only look at Squirrel Hill, all but wrapped in a cocoon of support following the Tree of Life shooting. And it wasn’t just Pittsburghers helping other Pittsburghers. Support came from across the country and around the world. For education and inspiration, the center should include stories of survival and support in its next report on hate.
First Published: February 24, 2019, 12:00 p.m.
