No organization in this country knows as much about hate groups and keeps a closer eye on them than the Southern Poverty Law Center does. The SPLC has just come out with its annual report on hate groups. The new report covers the year of 2006.
The SPLC lists 844 active hate group chapters in the United States. That is a 5% increase over the 803 chapters active in 2005. Not surprisingly, Texas is still proving to be a fertile recruiting ground for these new groups - especially the new immigrant-bashing hate groups. After seeing the results of of the Farmers Branch election, this should not shock anyone. Around 68% of the voters there think it is perfectly OK to discriminate against Hispanics in housing.
In 2006, Texas had 55 active chapters of hate groups of all kinds. The only state with more active hate group chapters was California with 63 chapters. The 10 states with the most active hate group chapters are:
1. California (63)
2. Texas (55)
3. Florida (49)
4. South Carolina (45)
5. Georgia (44)
6. Tennessee (35)
7.New Jersey (34)
7.New Jersey (34)
8. North Carolina (33)
9. Virginia (31)
10. Mississippi (28)
There were four states that had no active hate group chapters. This does not mean they have no one espousing hate - just that they're not organized. The four states were Hawaii, South Dakota, North Dakota and Rhode Island.
Here are Texas' 55 active chapters, along with the hate groups they belong to:
American White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan (2)
San Angelo, Sherman
Bayou Knights of the Ku Klux Klan (1)
Midlothian
Brotherhood of Klans Knights of the Ku Klux Klan (1)
Lake Jackson
Empire Knights of the Ku Klux Klan (1)
San Angelo
Imperial Klans of America (4)
Austin, Desoto, Houston, Lefors
National Knights of the Ku Klux Klan (1)
Blue Ridge
Texas Knights of the Invisible Empire Inc. (1)
San Antonio
White Camelia Knights of the Ku Klux Klan (2)
Cleveland, Houston
American Thule Society (1)
Texas
Aryan Nations (2)
Bellmead, Houston
National Alliance (2)
Dallas/Ft. Worth, Houston
National Socialist Movement (3)
Houston, Lubbock, Richardson
White Revolution (1)
Texas
Aryan Wear (1)
Keller
European and American Unity Rights Organization (1)
Dallas/Ft. Worth
Blood and Honour (1)
Richardson
Confederate Hammerskins (2)
Dallas, Houston
Lone Star State Skinheads (1)
Houston
Aryan Covenant Church (1)
Anderson
Christian Guard (1)
Texas
Gospel Broadcasting Association (1)
Houston
League of the South (8)
Austin, Iredell, Northeast, Panhandle, Rio Grande Valley, South Central, Southeast, San Angelo
Nation of Islam (7)
Austin, Dallas, Ft. Worth, Houston, San Antonio, Texarkana, Waco
New Black Panther Party (2)
Dallas, Houston
Border Guardians (1)
Livingston
Desastrious Records (1)
Springtown
Old Guard Records (1)
Plano
Fundamentalist Latter Day Saints (1)
Eldorado
Jewish Defense League (1)
Waco
Power of Prophecy (1)
Austin
What a sickening list! Texas has every kind of whacko hate group that there is. Constitutionally, these creeps have the right to spout their hatred. But we have the right to fight them every step of the way. To fight them, you must know them. That is why I printed the list, and that is why the SPLC keeps watch on these hate groups.
It's a dangerous job, but the SPLC does an excellent job of keeping tabs on all the hate groups in America (probably even better than the government). But they are a private group and this is expensive work. If you can afford it, send a few dollars their way and help them fight the hate.
One of my first jobs as an oppo researcher was working for Planned Parenthood in '92-'93. Some doctors had been shot in other states, Operation Rescue had just moved to Dallas, and I was hired to investigate hate groups and radical pro-lifers all over the state, including shaving my head and attending a couple of Aryan Nation meetings and visiting a Christian Identity church in East Texas.
ReplyDeleteIt was wild stuff, but I came to realize these folks aren't anybody to be afraid of - I told my employers at the time they should be more worried, from their perspective, about the religious right taking over the grass roots of the Republican party (and at the time, though the movement suffered blowback, local school boards). In retrospect, the mainstream religious right has had much greater impact than the extremists, and IMO continues to even though its power appears to have momentarily peaked. best,
Great post, jo.
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