Florida is Home to a Scary Network of White Supremacists, according to a Report
Murjani Rawls
Thu, September 22, 2022 at 2:18 PM·1 min read
Members of the Proud Boys gesture at the Torch of Friendship, protesting towards people gathered to remember George Floyd on their star anniversary of his death at the hands of a police officer, in Miami on May 25, 2021. - The family of African American George Floyd appealed today for sweeping police reform on the anniversary of his murder by a white officer as they met President Joe Biden at the White House. The legislation being considered to increase police accountability would be named after Floyd, who suffocated after being pinned down under the knee of Minneapolis officer Derek Chauvin on May 25, 2020More
A
new report published by the Anti-Defamation League provides a troubling look into the uptick of
white supremacists and far-right groups who have increasingly found a safe haven in
Florida. The “Hate in the Sunshine State: Extremism & Antisemitism in Florida, 2020-2022" claims that Florida is now home to the most people charged in the
Jan. 6th insurrection (10% of the 855 individuals implicated). 34.4% of those individuals are said to “maintain ties to extremists in the state including
Proud Boys, Oath Keepers and Three Percenters.
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From the ADL:
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“Florida is home to an extensive, interconnected network of white supremacists and other far-right extremists,” the Anti-Defamation League says in the report, warning that new groups have surfaced in the state in recent years while existing groups “have broadened their audience both online and on the ground.”
This information was drawn from George Washington University’s Program on Extremism. From January 2020 to August 2022 alone, ADL Center on Extremism (COE) recorded over 400 instances of white supremacist propaganda distribution in Florida. Florida has 15 chapters of the Proud Boys that are “actively recruiting new members.”
Unfortunately, when you have more uptick in membership in these groups, the potential for hate crimes also increases. According to the report, hate crimes against Jewish people accounted for 80% of the religiously motivated incidents in 2020, and antisemitic hate crimes have risen 300% since 2012.
Several members of the Proud Boys, including their leader Enrique Tarrio, were charged with
seditious conspiracy. Despite the comprehensive statistics given in the report, it doesn’t seem like there will be anything to slow this growth in Florida.
