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TERROR AND EXTREMISM (USA)

Murders and Attacks

Murders and Attacks

Right-wing terror and the rise of white nationalism are the current biggest terrorist threats in the United States, constituting a majority of domestic terrorist cases.

• ADL 18
  • The number of white supremacist murders in the United States more than doubled in 2017 compared to the previous year
  • This far surpasses murders committed by domestic Islamic extremists and making 2017 the fifth deadliest year on record for extremist violence since 1970.
• ADL 2019
  • Heat map documenting extremist attacks from 2002-2019.
  • Surprise! A vast majority of attacks are motivated by some sort of “right-wing” cause.
  • In 2019, there has been 1 “left-wing” attack. In 2018, there were reportedly zero. Business Insider even did a piece on this.
• Government Accountability Office (GAO) 17
  • A different analysis based on statistics from the United States Extremist Crime Database which includes foreign and domestic terrorism.
  • “There were no attacks since 1990 by persons associated with extreme leftist ideologies that resulted in fatalities to non-perpetrators.”
• The Investigative Fund: Neiwert et al. 17
  • Independent researches conclude the same thing: domestic terrorism is primarily motivated by right-wing causes.
  • More Info: map with methodology of recorded instances of terrorism:
  • Sivak 17
  • A fact check of the ADL statistics (hint: they’re accurate)
    • The Daily Caller News Foundation (a right-wing news organization founded by Tucker Carlson) conducted an independent analysis of domestic extremism for the same 10-year time frame as the ADL.
    • “Our findings support the ADL statistic. Using their definition of right-wing extremists, we found that 92 percent of ideologically motivated homicide incidents were committed with a right-wing extremist or white supremacist motive.”
  • Data is based on START homicide statistics
  • Here’s a basic summary:
• http://visionofhumanity.org/app/uploads/2019/11/GTI-2019web.pdf pages 44-50

Hate Crimes

Hate Crime

The prevalence of hate crime is growing at increasing rates, especially those crimes with a racial bias, and especially coincide with violent or reactionary rhetoric.

• PolitiFact: Xu 19
  • The aftermath of the 2016 election (2016-17) saw an increase in religious and ethnicity-based hate crime
  • The spike also corresponded with the election month of November
• Edwards & Rushin 18
  • Counties that voted the most in favor of Trump had the largest increases in hate crimes afterwards
  • Suggests that Trump’s election helped to validate his hateful rhetoric in the eyes of his more extreme followers - his election correlated with the most number of hate crimes since the immediate aftermath of 9/11
  • Only proves correlation and not causation, but still useful
• Here’s a further breakdown of hate crimes:
  • Center for Strategic and International Studies: Cordesman 17
• ADL 18
  • White supremacist groups continued to escalate their propaganda campaign targeting U.S. college campuses, with incidents increasing by 77% during the 2017-2018 academic year
  • “White supremacists’ propaganda campaign continues to accelerate, both on and off campus, online and on the ground”