Homegrown terrorismWhite supremacist murders more than doubled in 2017: ADL
The number of white supremacist murders in the United States more than doubled in 2017 compared to the previous year, far surpassing murders committed by domestic Islamic extremists and making 2017 the fifth deadliest year on record for extremist violence since 1970. In its annual assessment of extremist-related killings, the Anti-Defamation League’s Center on Extremism found white supremacists and other far-right extremists were responsible for 59 percent of all extremist-related fatalities in the United States in 2017, up dramatically from 20 percent in 2016.
White supremacists push back against police during rally // Source: wikipedia.org
The number of white supremacist murders in the United States more than doubled in 2017 compared to the previous year, far surpassing murders committed by domestic Islamic extremists and making 2017 the fifth deadliest year on record for extremist violence since 1970. In its annual assessment of extremist-related killings, the Anti-Defamation League’s Center on Extremism found white supremacists and other far-right extremists were responsible for 59 percent of all extremist-related fatalities in the United States in 2017, up dramatically from 20 percent in 2016.
White supremacists were directly responsible for 18 of the total 34 extremist-related murders in 2017, according to the new ADL report, Murder and Extremism in the United States in 2017. A total of nine deaths were linked to Islamic extremists.
The most recent ADL data shows that over the last decade a total of 71 percent of all fatalities have been linked to domestic right-wing extremists, while 26 percent of the killings were committed by Islamic extremists. The other 3 percent of deaths were carried out by extremists not falling into either category.
“These findings are a stark reminder that domestic extremism is a serious threat to our safety and security,” said Jonathan A. Greenblatt, ADL CEO. “We saw two car-ramming attacks in the U.S. last year— one from an Islamic terrorist and another from a white supremacist in Charlottesville—and the number of deaths attributed to white supremacists increased substantially. The bottom line is we cannot ignore one form of extremism over another. We must tackle them all.”
Major findings
The ADL says that the organization’s Center on Extremism has been tracking data on domestic extremist-related murder in the U.S. since 1970. The 2017 assessment found:
· With 34 total deaths, 2017 was the fifth deadliest year for extremist violence since 1970, but there was a marked decline from the much higher total fatalities recorded in 2016 and 2015.
· The 18 white supremacist murders included several killings linked to the alt right as that movement expanded its
