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The Hate & Extremism Report will identify the number of active
hate groups in 2024 and how that compares with previous years.
It will also look at anti-government group trends. The law
center based in Montgomery, Alabama, tracks racism, xenophobia
and far-right militias.
Last year's report found “record numbers” of white nationalist
and anti-LGBTQ groups in 2023. The analysis highlighted how
far-right groups tried to waylay democracy through
disinformation, false conspiracy theories and threats to
election workers. It also examined how supporters of Christian
supremacy used similar topics to organize a movement toward
authoritarianism.
The SPLC is a liberal advocacy organization that, besides
monitoring hate groups, files lawsuits over justice issues and
offers educational programs to counter prejudice. Frequently
criticized by conservatives as biased, the nonprofit has faced
lawsuits for its designation of some organizations as hate
groups.
The report's release comes as a Los Angeles college professor
makes his first public appearance since he was severely injured
in a hit and run that he reported as a hate crime. He is
scheduled to speak Thursday morning at the Chinese American
Museum in downtown Los Angeles.
Aki Maehara, 71, was riding his electric bicycle in Montebello,
10 miles (16 kilometers) east of downtown Los Angeles, on April
29 when he says he heard a driver yell a racial slur. Maehara
says a car then struck him and the driver fled. He was
hospitalized with a concussion, neck injury, cheek bone fracture
and bruises and swelling up and down his body.
Maehara, who is Japanese American, teaches a course on the
history of racism in the U.S. at East Los Angeles College.
The Montebello Police Department is investigating.
Photos of his injuries posted to a GoFundMe page have been
shared multiple times on social media with users calling for
hate crime charges. The crowdsourcing campaign has raised almost
$77,000 for Maehara.
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