Hate Groups on the Rise in Rhode Island

Hate Groups on the Rise in Rhode Island

In 2007 there were no hate groups in Rhode Island. Now, there are three.

In its annual report on extreme right-wing groups, the Southern Poverty Law Center lists three with chapters in Rhode Island in 2009—the most recent year for which the data is available: the Brotherhood of Klans Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, North East White Pride, and the United Northern and Southern Knights of the Ku Klux Klan. (Click here to read about their membership requirements.)

“For quite some time, Rhode Island was distinguished by not having hate groups,” said Toby Ayers, executive director of Rhode Island for Community and Justice. “Personally I feel that’s a sea change in Rhode Island and I’m very concerned about that.”

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What caused the rise in hate groups?

Local advocates for tolerance and diversity said two events that have happened since 2007 could have made the difference—the election of Barack Obama as the first African-American President and the crash in the economy. “We are in the midst of an economic crisis and hate and blame always rise in an economic crisis when people are stressed,” Ayers said.  

The election of Obama could also have stirred racist sentiments, according to Martin Cooper, the director of the community relations council for the Jewish Federation of Rhode Island. “You also have to wonder… a president of color—does that have anything to do with it?” Cooper said. “I hope not.”

Ayers, however, discounted Obama’s impact. Ayers said the bigger issue was incivility in politics—adding that the problem pre-dated his election. Incivility, Ayers said, becomes a intermediate step to expressing hatred.

Both Obama’s election and the recession are nationwide phenomena—but one local development has poured more fuel on the fire and that is Gov. Don Carcieri’s executive order requiring that the state step up enforcement of immigration laws, according to Cooper.

“No wonder it’s sprung up,” Cooper said. “We threw in the seeds of hatred and now we’re fertilizing them.”