A report from the Center on Extremism 09 18 New Hate and Old: The Changing Face of American White Supremacy Our Mission: To stop the defamation of the Jewish people and to secure justice and fair treatment for all. ABOUT T H E CENTER ON EXTREMISM The ADL Center on Extremism (COE) is one of the world’s foremost authorities ADL (Anti-Defamation on extremism, terrorism, anti-Semitism and all forms of hate. For decades, League) fights anti-Semitism COE’s staff of seasoned investigators, analysts and researchers have tracked and promotes justice for all. extremist activity and hate in the U.S. and abroad – online and on the ground. The staff, which represent a combined total of substantially more than 100 Join ADL to give a voice to years of experience in this arena, routinely assist law enforcement with those without one and to extremist-related investigations, provide tech companies with critical data protect our civil rights. and expertise, and respond to wide-ranging media requests. Learn more: adl.org As ADL’s research and investigative arm, COE is a clearinghouse of real-time information about extremism and hate of all types. COE staff regularly serve as expert witnesses, provide congressional testimony and speak to national and international conference audiences about the threats posed by extremism and anti-Semitism. You can find the full complement of COE’s research and publications at ADL.org. Cover: White supremacists exchange insults with counter-protesters as they attempt to guard the entrance to Emancipation Park during the ‘Unite the Right’ rally August 12, 2017 in Charlottesville, Virginia. Photo: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images Left: Rally organizer Joey Gibson (center) and right-wing demonstrators react as police fire flash-bang grenades at counter-demonstrators on the other side of Naito Parkway during a rally on August 4, 2018 in Portland, Oregon. Photo: Karen Ducey/Getty Images A report from the Center on Extremism New Hate and Old: The Changing Face of American White Supremacy ® EXECUTIVE SUMMARY New Hate and Old: The Changing Face of American White Supremacy hite supremacists in the United States have identitarianism, renegade conservatives and right-wing experienced a resurgence in the past three years, conspiracy theorists. The alt right also possesses its own Wdriven in large part by the rise of the alt right. distinct subculture, derived especially from the misogynists of the so-called “manosphere” and from online discussion • The white supremacist “Unite the Right” rally in forums such as 4chan, 8chan and Reddit. Charlottesville, Virginia, on August 11-12, 2017, attracted some 600 extremists from around the country and ended • Though aspects of the alt right date back to 2008, it was in deadly violence. These shocking events served as a Donald Trump’s entry in 2015 into the 2016 presidential race wake-up call for many Americans about a resurgent white that really energized the alt right and caused it to become supremacist movement in the United States. highly active in support of Trump. This activism drew media attention that provided publicity for • Modern white supremacist the alt right and allowed it to grow ideology is centered on the further. The alt right interpreted assertion that the white race Trump’s success at the polls in is in danger of extinction, November 2016 as a success for drowned by a rising tide of their own movement as well. WHITE SUPREMACISTS BELIEVE non-white people who are controlled and manipulated THAT ALMOST ANY ACTION • After the election, the alt right by Jews. White supremacists IS JUSTIFIED IF IT WILL moved from online activism into believe that almost any action HELP “SAVE” THE WHITE RACE. the real world, forming real- is justified if it will help “save” world groups and organizations the white race. and engaging in tactics such as targeting college campuses. The • The white supremacist alt right also expanded its online resurgence is driven in large propaganda efforts, especially part by the rise of the alt right, through podcasting. the newest segment of the white supremacist movement. Youth-oriented and • As the alt right received increased media scrutiny—in overwhelmingly male, the alt right has provided new energy large part due to its own actions, such as the violence at to the movement, but has also been a destabilizing force, Charlottesville—the alt right experienced dissension and much as racist skinheads were to the movement in the disunity in its own right, including the departure of many 1980s and early 1990s. extremists who did not advocate explicit white supremacy (the so-called “alt lite”). The backlash against the alt right • The alt right has a white supremacist ideology after Charlottesville hurt many of its leading spokespeople heavily influenced by a number of sources, including but has not resulted, as some have claimed, in a decline in paleoconservatism, neo-Nazism and fascism, the movement as a whole. • Other white supremacists—neo-Nazis, traditional white supremacists, racist skinheads, white supremacist religious sects, and white supremacist prison gangs— have also continued their activities. Some white supremacists, such as neo-Nazis, seem to have been buoyed by the alt right to some extent, while others— most notably racist skinheads—may experience a loss of potential recruits at the hands of the alt right. • Violence and crime represent the most serious problems emanating from the white supremacist movement. White supremacists have killed more people in recent years than any other type of domestic extremist (54% of all domestic extremist-related murders in the past 10 years). They are also a troubling source of domestic terror incidents (including 13 plots or attacks within the past five years). • Murders and terror plots represent only the tip of the iceberg of white supremacist violence, as there are many more incidents involving less serious crimes, including attempted murders, assaults, weapons and explosives violations, and more. In addition, white supremacists engage in a lot of non-ideological crime, including crimes of violence against women and drug-related crimes. THE ALT RIGHT INTERPRETED TRUMP’S SUCCESS AT THE POLLS IN NOVEMBER 2016 AS A SUCCESS FOR THEIR OWN MOVEMENT AS WELL. Alt right leader Richard Spencer and his supporters clash with Virginia State Police in Emancipation Park after the ‘Unite the Right’ rally was declared an unlawful gathering August 12, 2017 in Charlottesville, Virginia. Photo: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images ® TABLE OF CONTENTS 09 13 17 21 27 I. One Year Ago: II. White Supremacy: III. White Supremacy IV. The Ideology of V. The Subculture of A Death in The Haters and the Alt Right: the Alt Right the Alt Right Charlottesville and the Hated A New Relationship 31 35 45 51 57 VI. Alt Right VII. The Alt Right VIII. The Catch-88 IX. In the Shadow X. White Supremacist Tactics and the 2016 Now: Moving into the Paradox: “Optics” of the Alt Right: Violence and Crime Presidential Election Real World and Backlashes The Other White Supremacists New Hate and Old: The Changing Face of American White Supremacy White supremacists clash with counter-demonstrators before the start of a speech by alt right leader Richard Spencer at Michigan State University on March 5, 2018 in East Lansing, Michigan. Photo: Scott Olson/Getty Images I. ONE YEAR AGO: A DEATH IN CHARLOTTESVILLE 9 Almost every segment of the white supremacist movement was represented A Death in Charlottesville [ in Charlottesville that day. ] onths of nationwide white supremacist activity Other white supremacists confronted and attacked culminated in August 2017 in Charlottesville, counter-protesters in various locations—and were MVirginia, where hundreds of hardcore racists occasionally attacked by them as well, though gathered in a highly publicized two-day protest they most of the violence that day originated with the called “Unite the Right.” On the first night, close to 200 white supremacists. Though there was a heavy law marchers, mostly from the alt right segment of the white enforcement presence, the police inexplicably took supremacist movement, assembled with tiki torches on a hands-off approach. the campus of the University of Virginia, chanting racist and anti-Semitic slogans and fighting with a small group Eventually, the violence and disorder escalated to a of anti-racist counter-protesters. point where authorities declared the gathering unlawful and began to disperse white supremacists and counter- The next day, August 12, was the largest public rally of protesters alike. Some white supremacists made their white supremacists in more than a decade, with more way to an alternate rally location while others slowly than 500 white supremacists on hand. The many alt walked back to their cars or hotels. right activists were joined by a variety of other white supremacist groups: Neo-Nazis from the National The violence of the day, however, was not yet over. Socialist Movement, Vanguard America and the In the afternoon, a young alt right white supremacist Traditionalist Worker Party; Klan members from the Rebel from Ohio, James Alex Fields, Jr., apparently deliberately Brigade Knights, the Global Crusader Knights, and the drove his vehicle into a crowd of counter-protesters, Confederate White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan; racist throwing some into the air. The attack injured 19 people skinheads from the Hammerskins; Christian Identity and killed one woman, Heather Heyer, who had come adherents from Christogenea; neo-Confederates from out to protest the white supremacists. Fields was the League of the South; Odinists from the Asatru Folk subsequently charged with first-degree murder and Assembly; and many others. Almost every segment of other state and federal charges related to the attack, the white supremacist movement was represented in including federal hate crime charges. Charlottesville that day. The nation was shocked by the violence and by As the racists made their way across town towards the widely-covered gathering of so many white their planned rally location at Emancipation Park, they supremacists.