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Arizona is home to dozens of anti-government and hate groups, new report finds [1]

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Date: 2024-06-05  

By Jerod MacDonald-Evoy, Arizona Mirror

A newly released report details how white nationalist groups and other hate groups are seeing an increase in their numbers and boldness, including Arizona.

The Southern Poverty Law Center released its year in hate and extremism report for 2023 and the organization said that 2023 marks the highest number of groups tracked by the nonprofit organization since they began tracking in 1990.

In total, the organization tracked 1,430 hate and anti-government extremist groups across the country, including 38 in Arizona. There has been a steady increase in the Grand Canyon State since 2000.

“What we are seeing now should be a wake up call to all of us,” Margaret Huang, CEO of the SPLC, said in a call with reporters Tuesday morning. The increase is a continued trend, as last year’s report on 2022 saw similar increases.

Of Arizona’s 38 groups, 18 are hate groups aimed at minority groups or women, while the remaining 20 are classified as anti-government groups.

“Antisemitic narratives seeped into mainstream narratives at an alarming rate in 2023,” R.G. Cravens, a senior researcher for SPLC, told reporters.

Cravens cited the ongoing conflict between Israel and Palestine as aiding in inciting certain antisemitic hate groups.

Many of these groups are participating more in demonstrations and flyering. The SPLC stressed that many of these groups, despite some shared beliefs, operate as a “loose decentralized network of organizations.”

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The SPLC noted a 50% increase in white nationalist organizations across the country, something it attributed to extremists feeling emboldened by politicians engaging with policy ideas that have long been supported by extremist groups.

In particular, white nationalist groups participated in a large number of anti-LGBTQ+ demonstrations, with nearly 50% of all their demonstrations aimed at the LGBTQ+ community.

“The mainstream right is pursuing a policy agenda that is very much in line with what the white power movement wants,” Cassie Miller, a senior researcher at SPLC, said.

Some of those policy ideas include “male supremacist” ideologies that target women and advocate taking away their reproductive rights and other forms of autonomy. Arizona was one of 10 states that introduced legislation aimed at abolishing abortion supported by these male supremacist groups.

Arizona also made news for some of its anti-LGBTQ+ demonstrations, including an assault on an ASU professor by two members of Phoenix-based Turning Point USA. A number of drag story hours were also disrupted in the state, with one receiving a bomb threat while children were actively in the building.

Huang stressed that, given this is an election year, more attention needs to be focused on these groups which are already aiming to intervene in the upcoming election and some are actively seeking office.

“We must act now to counter disinformation, radicalization and threats to voters and election workers,” Huang said. “More than ever, it is imperative that we preserve and strengthen our democracy.”

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