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Thursday, March 08, 2012

Anti-hate center says more hate groups are forming

The number of hate and anti-government groups has continued to grow, according to a report from the Southern Poverty Law Center, based in Montgomery, Ala. Kim Severson of The New York Times reports the trend results from antagonism toward President Obama, resentment toward changing racial demographics and the economic rift between rich and poor. The center recorded 1,018 active hate groups last year, a number that has risen steadily since 2000.

The center said there's been a "stunning" rise in patriot and militia movements, whose ideology stems from deep distrust in the federal government, with 1,274 last year. "They represent both a kind of right-wing populist rage and a left-wing populist rage that has gotten all mixed up in anger toward the government," said author of the report, Mark Potok. The number of some hate groups has declined, including the Militiamen and Ku Klux Klan. California, Florida, Georgia, New Jersey and New York contain the most such groups. (Read more)

Conservative blogger Martin Cothran of Kentucky writes on Vital Remnants that the list "includes groups who support the 10th Amendment and any group that has anything good to say about the South." (Read more)

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