There was a spike in white supremacist propaganda at American colleges last year, a report by the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) reveals. The newly released analysis found a “surge” in hateful racist content during the inaugural year of Trump’s presidency—something that isn’t necessarily surprising but is haunting nonetheless.
What is interesting is that white supremacists had been trying to gain traction on college campuses for about two years, but it was during the fall of 2016—at the height of the election season—when they really began to pick up the pace. A press release by ADL says:
Since September 1, 2016, ADL’s Center on Extremism has recorded 346 incidents where white supremacists have used fliers, stickers, banners, and posters to spread their message. These incidents targeted 216 college campuses -- from Ivy League schools to local community colleges -- in 44 states and Washington, D.C.
During the fall semester of 2017 (Sept. 1 through Dec. 31), there were 147 such incidents, a staggering 258 percent increase over the 41 incidents that took place during the fall semester of 2016.
ADL notes that the biggest offender is the white supremacist group Identity Evropa (IE), which is behind almost half—46 percent—of the 346 reported incidents. The group has a profile on ADL, which notes:
Identity Evropa is active online, but is best known for distributing white supremacist posters at universities across the country.
The group’s flyers have already appeared on a dozen college campuses in the first few weeks of the 2017-2018 school year. In a departure from the imagery used in previous flyers, the new flyers feature Damigo and Evan Thomas, an IE member from Michigan, and include new phrases, including “Our generation, our future, our last chance” and “Action. Leadership. Identity.”
Texas and California were the hardest hit by the propaganda while Alaska, Hawaii, Louisiana, Maine, New Hampshire and West Virginia had no reported incidents of propaganda.
Read the entire report here.