Last week I posted on the rise in hate groups in Pennsylvania from 30 to 72 as listed by the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC). This week I will look at the changes in the categories of groups from last year to this year. Anti-government groups are a majority of hate groups in PA. Last year there were no anti-government groups being tracked in PA.
The group Mom’s for Liberty is classified as an anti-government group. They comprise 25 of the 51 groups in this category. These groups are the 25 chapters that they have statewide. Their national summit will be in Philadelphia next weekend. This group could have been classified as anti-LGBT, white nationalist or general hate as they campaign against “woke” books in schools.
Seventeen of the 72 groups (23.6%) listed had a statewide presence. These groups included the Oath Keepers. Last year there were 10 statewide groups. Eight of the 51 anti-government groups had a statewide presence. Nine of the remaining 21 groups had a statewide presence (42.9%).
Hate Group Categories
The number of white nationalist groups rose to 7 from 6 in 2022. A group called the Pennsylvania Active Club. There was no change in the number of racist skinheads groups with 2. The number of Neo-Nazi groups decreased from 3 to 4 in the state. There were two Ku Klux Klan groups in both states in both years. In 2021 there were 8 general hate groups. This year there were only 2 (the Proud Boys).
In 2021, there were 3 antisemitic groups in the state. In 2022 there was 1 (the Committee for Open Debate on the Holocaust). The Nation of Islam was not listed as a hate group this year. One anti-LGBT group called the American Family Association.
The majority of PA hate groups followed by SPLC last year were in the anti-government category. Mom’s for Liberty could easily fit in other categories. I am still waiting to hear from SPLC about the group Evergreen in Bedford, PA. Hopefully I will have something to report next week.