SPLC Lawsuit Sends Neo-Nazi Into Hiding WHITEFISH, Mont
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Southern Poverty Law Center Non Profit Org. 400 Washington Avenue • Montgomery, AL 36104 U.S. Postage PAID www.splcenter.org Southern Poverty SPLC REPORT Law Center Published by the Southern Poverty Law Center Winter 2017 Fighting Hate • Teaching Tolerance • Seeking Justice Volume 47, Number 4 A special year-end message from IN THIS ISSUE a a a a Morris Dees and Richard Cohen SPLC answers the question: What is a Less than a year into the As you can see below, we had We took action on numerous hundreds of thousands of rac- Trump presidency, one thing is great success this year. We’d like fronts to combat this rising ex- ists – people who are energized hate group? crystal clear: We’re in a fight for to review some of our most signif- tremism and the infiltration of by Trump’s election and want PAGE 3 the very soul of our country. icant accomplishments and give hate into the mainstream. to intimidate Jews, Muslims, As we saw in Charlottesville you a preview of the work ahead. For example, we filed suit African Americans, LGBT peo- last August, President Trump has against one of the country’s ple and others they hate. energized and emboldened white Fighting hate most prominent alt-right lead- Also, in response to the a a a a supremacists in unprecedented The chilling scene of neo- ers, a neo-Nazi named Andrew post-election outbreak of Digital literacy guide ways and has given bigots a license Nazis marching with torches Anglin, for orchestrating a cam- hate-inspired violence, we dis- to act on their worst instincts. in Charlottesville this summer paign of terror against a Jewish tributed 40,000 copies of a new aims to help students At the same time, in close woman and her training video that will help law navigate ‘fake news’ collaboration with hate group family in Montana. enforcement officers recognize leaders and other far-right ex- Anglin runs a and respond to hate crimes. And, PAGE 4 tremists, Trump and Attorney website called the after Charlottesville, we pro- VALERIE DOWNES VALERIE General Jeff Sessions are re- MICHELLE LELAND Daily Stormer, duced another training video to versing hard-won civil rights which takes its help officers combat violence a a a a protections and shredding the name from the when hate groups hold rallies in safety net that helps the poor 1930s Nazi tab- their town. and the marginalized. loid Der Stürmer. We also: Unfortunately, we’re just He recently wrote • Alerted the country to hun- at the beginning of the Trump that he’s doing his dreds of post-election bias Morris Dees Richard Cohen presidency – and things will part “to accom- incidents – forcing the presi- likely get worse before they get was just one indication of the plish the goal Adolf Hitler set out dent, Congress and the country better. Without question, our way Trump’s incendiary rheto- to accomplish.” He calls Trump to confront the harm caused by work will be urgently needed in ric has emboldened the growing “Our Glorious Leader.” the mainstreaming of hate. the coming year. white supremacist movement Tanya Gersh and her fami- • Exposed the connections Training video helps Your continued support is vital that calls itself the “alt-right.” ly received hundreds of threats between Trump administration law enforcement keep to our efforts in 2018 and beyond. In 2017, we tracked and exposed and intimidating messages after officials and far-right extremists the peace at rallies Right now, we’re adding dozens of 917 hate groups, and documented Anglin launched a “troll storm” to help the public understand investigators, lawyers, analysts an increase for the second year in a against her. the forces that are influencing PAGE 5 and other staff to help fight hate row – a period that coincides with Anglin is dangerous because and injustice in the coming year. the Trump campaign. he commands the attention of Continued on page 4 SPLC lawsuit sends neo-Nazi into hiding WHITEFISH, Mont. – The him accountable,” said David aware of it. An online campaign his followers to launch a “troll mother of white nationalist founder of the leading neo-Nazi Dinielli, SPLC deputy legal di- reportedly has raised more than storm” against Tanya Gersh, a leader Richard Spencer. website has gone into hiding in rector. “It speaks volumes that $150,000 for his legal defense real estate agent in Whitefish, Anglin and Spencer are both the months since the Southern a person who used the internet fund – a campaign he discussed Montana. Gersh, her husband prominent leaders of the “alt- Poverty Law Center sued him to bully and terrorize others, via email with the Los Angeles and 12-year-old son received right” movement that rallied white for orchestrating a harassment runs away and hides the moment Times for a June 6 article. hundreds of harassing messages. supremacists behind President campaign that targeted a Jewish someone stands up to him.” “It’s an odd situation,” Dinielli The intimidation began in Donald Trump’s campaign. woman and her family with an- After filing the federal lawsuit said. “People sometimes try to December 2016 after Anglin ti-Semitic threats and messages. in April, the SPLC hired process disappear to avoid lawsuits, but accused Gersh of attempt- Relentless anti-Semitic hate Andrew Anglin, founder of servers to comb Anglin’s home they also try to stay quiet about it. ing to extort money from the One message received by Gersh the Daily Stormer, disappeared state of Ohio to serve the out- They don’t talk about it on their included an image of her being as the SPLC attempted to serve spoken neo-Nazi. His attorney, website or to a major newspaper.” sprayed with a green gas, along notice of the federal lawsuit. who could accept the lawsuit Aside from the lawsuit, with the words: Hickory dicko- on Anglin’s behalf, won’t return Anglin’s Daily Stormer recently ry dock, the kike ran up the clock. Deadline quickly approaching calls or emails. made headlines after publishing WIKI COMMONS The clock struck three and the The Daily Stormer, which takes When efforts failed to turn up an article that slurred Heather Internet Nazis trolls gassed the its name from the Nazi propa- Anglin after months of attempts, Heyer, the anti-racist protest- rest of them. ganda sheet Der Stürmer and has the SPLC published multiple no- er run down and killed by a car There were also phone calls established about 30 chapters in tices of the lawsuit in an Ohio during the Charlottesville rally. that consisted only of the sound the United States and Canada, newspaper, a process that does The article described Heyer as a of gunshots. has been designated a hate group not require a person to be phys- “drain on society.” The site has “This attack has been one by the SPLC. The Daily Stormer ically served notice. If Anglin since struggled to stay online as long nightmare that has changed recently promoted the deadly does not respond by Nov. 30, the multiple web companies have me forever in so many ways,” “Unite the Right” white suprem- lawsuit will be on a path to a de- denied it service. Gersh said when the lawsuit acist rally in Charlottesville. fault judgment against him. was filed. “No one should en- “Andrew Anglin may believe Despite his disappearance, Eye of the ‘troll storm’ dure what I’ve experienced. And Andrew Anglin used the Daily Stormer, a he can avoid this lawsuit by hid- it’s apparent that Anglin, who The SPLC lawsuit describes how large neo-Nazi website named after the with the love and support of my ing behind his computer screen, continued writing for the web- Anglin used the Daily Stormer to Nazi propaganda sheet Der Stürmer, to family and others, we will take a but we are determined to hold site after the lawsuit was filed, is publish dozens of articles urging harass a Jewish woman in Montana. stand against hate.” 2 SPLC REPORT // WWW.SPLCENTER.ORG WINTER 2017 A MESSAGE FROM SPLC PRESIDENT RICHARD COHEN SPLC REPORT Published by the Southern Poverty Law Center WINTER 2017 An alliance in mainstream hate The Southern Poverty As it does every year, the Gorka, who has an affinity for Congress, shouldn’t be allowed the enemy of his movement – a Law Center is dedicated to political event known as the a neo-Nazi group in his native to serve because of his faith. As proud moment for us. fighting hate and bigotry “Values Voter Summit” in Hungary, is an anti-Muslim con- any judge should know, the U.S. and to seeking justice for the most vulnerable October attracted a rogue’s spiracy theorist who was chosen Constitution explicitly bars any Thorn in extremists’ side members of our society. gallery of far-right extremists – by Trump as a top terrorism aide sort of religious test as a prereq- I wasn’t surprised that Bannon Using litigation, education, people who cloak their bigotry even though he was profoundly uisite to holding federal office. unleashed his vitriol on us while and other forms of in Christianity as they vilify the unqualified for the post. Like We know Moore very well. cozying up to the FRC and its advocacy, the SPLC LGBT community and Muslims. Bannon, Gorka was ousted from We’ve twice had him re- allies. We’ve been a thorn in works toward the day But something extraordinary the White House in moved from the the FRC’s side for years – call- when the ideals of happened this year.