The number of hate groups in Idaho is on the decline, this watchdog group says
The number of hate groups in Idaho declined in the past year, according to one watchdog group, a statistic that bucks a national trend which saw the number of hate groups swell to an all-time high.
The Southern Poverty Law Center, a nonprofit with roots in fighting racism and civil rights violations, tracked 10 active hate groups in Idaho in 2018, according to a report released last week. There were 12 active groups across the state the previous year by SPLC’s count.
The center categorizes hate groups as those who “attack or malign an entire class of people, typically for their immutable characteristics,” according to previous Statesman reporting. It compiles information from groups’ publications and websites, but it’s not clear whether the organization ever reaches out to groups on the list.
Four groups identified in 2017 are no longer on the list: the Committee to End the CSI Refugee Center, Pig Blood Bullets (which appears to be a North Idaho company that sold bullets coated in pork-infused paint), Traditionalist American Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, and white nationalist group True Cascadia.
“There are groups that stay underground ... or go dormant and aren’t included on our list,” said Keegan Hankes, a senior research analyst for the SPLC.
In this case, the Idaho groups appear to have become dormant. But new organizations have cropped up in their place, according to the center.
Idaho groups on the 2018 list
The 2018 report saw the addition of two hate groups: The American Guard, a statewide organization categorized by the SPLC as a “general hate” group; and G416 Patriots, a Meridian-based group classified as “anti-Muslim.”
A Facebook group for Idaho G416 Patriots states that its mission is to “tell the truth about Islam” while defending the U.S. Constitution and Bill of Rights. G416 Patriots appears to be a new moniker for an existing group — the Idaho branch of Act! for America, which the SPLC also included as one of the 10 Idaho hate groups. According to the group’s Facebook page, group moderators changed the name in July 2018.
Hankes said the midyear name change would explain why both Act! and G416 Patriots appeared on the 2018 list.
“One of the features of the hate map is that any group that shows any activity in the calendar year is counted,” Keegan said.
Act! for America was also on Idaho’s hate group list in 2017, and the SPLC considers it an anti-Muslim organization as well.
The Statesman reached out to G416 Facebook group moderators and American Guard leadership; neither returned requests for comment.
Additionally, Independent History & Research, which appears on the 2018 list, has previously appeared under the name Campaign for Radical Truth in History. It’s run by a Coeur d’Alene man and is categorized as a Holocaust denial group.
The other Idaho hate groups identified in 2018 are America’s Promise Ministries, the Brother Nathanael Foundation, Crew 38, Endangered Souls RC/Crew 519, Lordship Church and Northwest Hammerskins.
How much hate here?
The SPLC tracked more than 1,000 groups across the country in 2018, a record number.
And though Idaho saw a decline in the number of hate groups in the state, it still joins South Dakota and Montana as having the most hate groups per capita in the country.
In 2017, the Idaho State Police said it handled 51 reports of hate crimes across the state, a nearly 16 percent increase from the previous year. In recent years, Idaho has earned the No. 2 and No. 1 spots in 24/7 Wall Street’s analyses of “most hateful states,” though the number of hate groups is down from a high of 18 in 2011.
Of course, some organizations on the list dispute the moniker assigned to them by the Southern Poverty Law Center. Last spring, former Statesman reporter Sven Berg spoke with pastor Warren Mark Campbell, whose Lordship Church has been categorized as a “general hate” group since 2015. Campbell said “it’s absurd to call his church a hate group,” but he said he believes that openly gay individuals should face criminal charges.
Campbell is not the only one to criticize the SPLC. Some individuals told Berg that they question the SPLC’s funding models, with one Yale University professor going so far as to call the Southern Poverty Law Center “a fraudulent operation.” In a Washington Post Magazine article published in November, some questioned the nonprofit’s criteria for calling an organization a “hate group.”
“Any list is just one means of understanding what hate activity is in the community,” Hankes told the Statesman.
This story was originally published February 25, 2019 at 10:46 AM.
