WASHINGTON:
A record number of hate groups were active in the United States last year, their
anger driven by fears of Latino immigration, a souring economy and the election
of Barack Obama to the presidency, a report said Thursday.
The
report by the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) showed that 926 hate groups
were active in the United States, a four percent rise from the 888 groups active
the previous year and a 56 percent rise from the 602 groups documented in 2000.
"Tough economic times provide fertile ground for those who would
foment hate against minorities by scapegoating them for our problems," said Mark
Potok, editor of the quarterly Intelligence Report, which monitors the radical
right, in an editorial posted on the SPLC website.
The election of
Obama, the first African-American president of the United States, has further
"inflamed racist extremists who see it as another sign that their country is
under siege by non-whites," Potok said.
The report said Obama had
received "more threats than any other presidential candidate in memory, and
several white supremacists were arrested for saying they would assassinate him
or allegedly plotting to do so."
Scores of racially charged
incidents including effigy burnings and beatings were reported across the United
States after Obama was elected in November.
The hate groups active
in the United States include neo-Nazis, white nationalists, racist skinheads, Ku
Klux Klan groups, black separatists who don't like Obama, anti-gay and immigrant
groups, and negationists who deny the Holocaust.