Virginia and Texas had the highest white supremacist propaganda activity in 2023, which reached record levels nationwide, according to a report released on Tuesday by the Anti-Defamation League (ADL).
Other states with relatively high levels of white supremacist propaganda activity in the U.S. in 2023 included California, New York, Massachusetts, Missouri, Tennessee, Michigan, Maryland, and North Carolina, according to the report from the ADL’s Center on Extremism.
Cases of white supremacist propaganda incidents, defined by the ADL as “the distribution of racist, antisemitic and anti-LGBTQ+ fliers, stickers, banners, graffiti, posters, and laser projections,” increased from 6,746 in 2022 to 7,567 in 2023, marking a 12 percent rise, the report stated.
The report noted that white supremacist groups and movements favor propaganda campaigns as they generate media and online attention for the groups and their messages while decreasing the risk of individual exposure, arrests, and public backlash often associated with more public activities.
“Propaganda, which can impact entire communities, allows a small number of people to have a significant influence.”
The ADL also documented an increase in propaganda incidents “that contained antisemitic language or symbols, targeted Jewish institutions, or both,” recording 1,112 such incidents, up from 852 in 2022, reflecting a 31 percent increase.
In a period of around two weeks after the Oct. 7 assault last year on Israel by Palestinian militant group Hamas, the ADL observed a substantial surge in antisemitic incidents, marking a 388 percent increase compared to the same period in the previous year.
“When conflict arises in Israel, antisemitic incidents quickly follow in the U.S. and globally,” stated ADL CEO Jonathan Greenblatt in a release.
