New Report Shows Alarming Surge in White Supremacist Propaganda in 2020

A new report from ADL shows that the total number of reported cases nearly doubled between 2019 and 2020, appearing across 49 different states.

March 17, 2021

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The distribution of white supremacist propaganda surged across the U.S. last year, as shown in a new annual report from the Anti-Defamation League (ADL).

“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,” Jonathan A. Greenblatt, CEO of ADL, said in a news release on Wednesday. “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.”

A total of 5,125 cases of racist, antisemitic and other hateful messages were reported by ADL for 2020. Notably, this figure—which includes an average of approximately 14 such incidents daily—is nearly double what was reported (2,724 cases) for 2019.

The report, available in full here, showed that at least 30 white supremacist groups were responsible for the distribution of propaganda (i.e. fliers, stickers, posters, etc.) in 49 states last year. The only state where such activity was not reported was Hawaii. The highest levels, meanwhile, were seen in Texas. Other states with the highest recorded levels of propaganda activity include Washington, California, New Jersey, New York, Massachusetts, Virginia, and Pennsylvania.

Complex has reached out to ADL for additional comment on the new report.

Earlier this year, following the fatal Capitol riot, ADL called on the Biden-Harris administration to work toward implementing the PROTECT plan. The steps of this plan, represented in the PROTECT acronym, include prioritizing domestic terrorism threats and limiting the political power of those “most dangerous to our communities.”