Terrorism and extremism experts are saying that there has been a sharp increase in homegrown, right-wing violent extremism in America.
“The right-wing terrorist threat that has been festering and growing for years — since the terms of former President Barack Obama and even before — is now at a critical level of participation and extremist action,” says Dr. Erroll Southers, professor of national and homeland security at the University of Southern California and director of the Safe Communities Institute. “There are troves of data showing the right-wing, white supremacist terrorist threat is dramatically outpacing the threat from Muslim Identity extremism, such as that espoused by al Qaeda and ISIS.”
A study released in January by the Anti-Defamation League found that attackers with right-wing extremist ties killed at least 50 people last year. The study claims, “The extremist-related murders in 2018 were overwhelmingly linked to right-wing extremists. Every one of the perpetrators had ties to at least one right-wing extremist movement, although one had recently switched to supporting Islamist extremism. White supremacists were responsible for the great majority of the killings, which is typically the case.”
Additionally, this past November, a report released by the FBI found hate crimes in the U.S. have spiked for the third year in a row, increasing 17% from 2016 to 2017 alone.
In this video, Dr. Southers details some of the current violent extremism trends in America, as well as the organizations that are most active right now, especially on college campuses. He also discusses the recruitment tactics these groups use to attract new members. Additionally, he talks about what institutions of higher education can do to address these recruitment tactics while honoring the First Amendment.
