ADL Report Targets Hate Groups In Florida
MIAMI (CBS4) – Florida has a reputation of being a welcoming, tourist destination. But according to the Anti-Defamation League, there's a dark side of the Sunshine State full of hate groups.
In a new ADL report, titled "Extremism in Florida: 'The Dark Side Of The Sunshine State'" issued Tuesday, the group highlights the growing presence of white supremacist groups, anti-government extremists, Islamic extremists, and the new Black Panther Party in Florida.
"Dismayed and certainly frustrated that after two centuries of history in the United States of America that we're still dealing with people who are full of such hatred," said Andrew Rosenkranz, Regional Director of the Anti-Defamation League.
In fact, the world's largest white supremacist website, stormfront.org, is based in West Palm Beach, Florida. It's headed by a former grand dragon in the KKK, Stephen Donald "Don" Black. According to the ADL, the site averages 50,000 visitors on an average day.
"I think the election of President Obama certainly contributed to a lot of the agitation that we see in the community," said Rosenkranz. "The website Stormfront actually crashed the evening of the election. But I also think that it includes not only the election of a black president, it includes the economy, the downturn in the economy, the immigration issue."
"The dawn of a new century has not stilled the anger and hatred in Florida's extremist fringe," the ADL said in the report.
The ADL highlighted the fact that the Ku Klux Klan has had a presence in the state since 1860. It also said white supremacists poses "Florida's most significant extremist-related problem, with adherents engaging in criminal acts ranging from hate crimes to killing police to terrorist conspiracies."
Rosenkranz said the incidents of hate crimes have likely stayed the same across South Florida. But he said the level of agitation and hate seems to have increased dramatically in the recent past.
The ADL said all five of the major white supremacist movements are present in the state of Florida. That includes: neo-Nazis; racist skinheads; "traditional" white supremacists; Christian Identity adherents; and racist prison gangs.
Rosenkranz said the ADL has tracked pockets of the KKK to Davie and found extremist militia groups training and practicing in the brush of the Everglades.
"People who are very virulently anti government, the immigration debate has mobilized them," he said.
But it's not just racial movements, be it white supremacists or the new Black Panther Party that are impacting the Sunshine State.
The ADL also took note of the anti-government groups like the Sovereign Citizen Movement. The SCM says the federal government is illegitimate and wants to restore an "idealized, minimalist government, that never existed," the report said.
The ADL report also singled out the Muslim extremist groups like Revolution Muslim and the Liberty City Five as being dangerous to the residents of the Sunshine State.
The ADL said the report will be sent to all police chiefs throughout Florida in addition to being distributed at upcoming ADL roll calls and training for law enforcement.
