Hate groups are on the rise in the U.S. And the Southern Poverty Law Center lists 13 such groups in Mississippi. MPB's Jasmine Ellis has more.
The number of hate groups in the U.S. has hit an all-time high with a 30 percent increase over the last four years -- according to the Southern Poverty Law Center. A report from the nonprofit says it tracked 1,020 hate groups in the nation last year. There are 13 organizations listed for Mississippi. Heidi Beirich is with the SPLC. She attributes the rise in hate groups to President Donald Trump.
“The number of hate groups has been rising broadly in the same time period from when Trump announced his run for office in 2015 and his presidency,” said Beirich. “And Trump has involved himself in demonizing rhetoric around a lot of groups. Folks will remember after the deadly Charlottesville riots that Trump said that there were good people on both sides. That kind of rhetoric has energized white supremacists.”
Beirich says the SPLC defines hate groups based on ideology and not violence. League of the South is one of the 13 groups listed as a hate group in Mississippi. Michael Hill is with League of the South. In a recorded video from the 2018 Nationalist Solutions Conference, he says white people need to take to the streets and take back civilization.
“We are facing an existential problem not just in the South but everywhere that the white men treads on this earth today,” said Hill. “We are being destroyed as a people.”
The SPLC says citizens should take a stand against hate and ask local officials to combat hate groups.
