White Supremacist Propaganda Widespread In New York, U.S.

NEW YORK — White supremacists in New York contributed to a record number of propaganda reports in 2020, according to a new report released Wednesday by the Anti-Defamation League’s Center for Extremism.

Nationwide, white supremacist propaganda — defined as posters, flyers, and graffiti that are anti-Semitic, racist and anti-LGBTQ+ — was recorded 5,125 times in 2020, according to the report, almost twice the number of incidents recorded in 2019.

The ADL recorded propaganda incidents in every U.S. state except Hawaii last year.

The highest number of incidents were reported in Texas, Washington, California, New Jersey, New York, Massachusetts, Virginia and Pennsylvania, according to the report.

In New York, there were 308 incidents during 2020, including 16 in New York City, 11 in Poughkeepsie, five in New Rochelle, and three each in Long Beach and Farmingdale.

Three groups were responsible for a majority of the propaganda, the report said. In fact, about 92 percent of items were distributed by Texas-based Patriot Front, the New Jersey European Heritage Association and the Nationalist Social Club, which was founded in Massachusetts.

The majority of incidents in New York were by Patriot Front and the New Jersey European Heritage Association.

According to the ADL, Patriot Front is a white supremacist group formed by disaffected members of another white supremacist group, Vanguard American, in September 2017, in the wake of the Unite the Right white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia.

The New Jersey European Heritage Association, which was created in early 2018, is a small white supremacist group whose members see themselves as defenders of white European people and white culture, the ADL said.

The remaining propaganda distributions — roughly 7 percent of the national total — were linked to a range of neo-Nazi groups including 14 First, Folks Front, National Alliance and the now-defunct Moonkrieg division, in addition to white supremacist groups including the Hundred Handers and now-defunct American Identity Movement.

Despite a nationwide increase, the number of incidents reported on college campuses decreased, falling from 630 incidents in 2019 to 303 in 2020. This was likely due to coronavirus closures and restrictions, the report said.

The findings from the ADL report underscore a recent uptick in harassment and violence against Asian Americans since the coronavirus crisis was declared a pandemic in March 2020.

New data by Stop AAPI Hate reported 3,292 hate incidents against Asian Americans in 2020. After surveying more than 3,300 Asian Americans, researchers found 68 percent had experienced verbal harassment between March 19, 2020, and February 2021. Eleven percent reported being physically assaulted.

Instances of Asian American hate originated in every U.S. state, the AAPI (Asian Americans and Pacific Islander) report said. The highest number, however, was reported in California — nearly 45 percent of all reported hate incidents happened in the Golden State.

Behind California was New York with 13.6 percent of incidents and Washington state with 4 percent.