It’s Time For Florida To End White Supremacy

Frederic Aurelien/Contributing Writer

With the rise of the coronavirus pandemic, the fall of international stock markets and the unprecedented power struggle within the Democratic Party, the rotting flesh of social class has been slowly swelling under America’s own skin.

Yes, ladies and gentlemen. The bubbling issue of race persists post-Charlottesville, and it is apparently, still expanding now. 

Just recently, the New Jersey Office of Homeland Security and Preparedness has released its 2020 Terrorist Threat Assessment. To the surprise of many, white supremacist extremists were placed on the highest threat level.

This means that they are now officially recognized as more of a threat to New Jersey and its citizens than any other infamous international terrorist group you can think of. This includes ISIS, al-Qaida or Boko Haram.

Take a second, let that sink in and realize that this is great news for America.

In past years, domestic extremist groups like the Ku Klux Klan were able to get away with murder (quite literally), and even members of state law enforcement had ties with these criminal organizations.

Florida is no stranger to this truth. This was once a place where governors, judges and other high ranking officials were known to collaborate with the Klan in campaigns of arson and murder

The truth is, white supremacists have always posed as more of a direct threat to the lives of minorities living in the United States than any international terrorist organization ever has. Whether their violence was enforced through means of physical harm via hate groups or structural oppression via racist policies, white supremacy has always been one of the greatest threats to American society. 

In this day and age, the goals of many white supremacist extremists are quite literally to ignite a race war that would end with America becoming an all-white ethnostate.

The fact that these groups are now being perceived as high threats in New Jersey gives arms and legs to the state so that it can be fully prepared to defend itself. In time, we may find that this action will create a domino effect, leading other states, like Florida, that deal with these same issues to follow suit.

The data shows, however, that if there is ever a time for us to do so, the time is now.

There has been a 30 percent increase in hate groups over the past four years, according to the new Intelligence Project report from the Southern Poverty Law Center, and in Florida alone, there were 75 hate groups listed across the state. This leaves Florida with the third-most hate groups of any state in the country.

These extremist groups not only comprise of white supremacists, however. It’s important to point out that they also entail rising factions of black separatist extremists. Reports attribute the growth in all of these groups to the rise of the alt-right movement under President Trump, combined with the ability of social media to organize and radicalize people. 

The number of hate groups leaving flyers, stickers, banners, and posters in public spaces doubled from 1,214 in 2018 to 2,713 in 2019, according to the Anti-Defamation League. White supremacist propaganda was found and reported on 433 campuses across 43 states in 2019, with Florida ranking among the highest for the number of reports.

Membership continues to rise, and technological innovations have allowed these hate groups to inflict more harm than their previous generations could have ever dreamed of. 

Despite all of these terrifying facts, I still believe this is great news for America. Since the NJOHSP has regarded white supremacist extremists as high threats, the state can now allocate adequate resources to create ad hoc task forces designated to dismantle these organizations. 

Florida has its own share of extremism rising within its borders, and it’s our turn to take a stance. If nothing is done to stop this phenomenon, their numbers will continue to rise and opposing extremist groups will cultivate within this belligerent socio-political landscape.

The question is what steps will we take to counteract this threat and not only prevent the collapse of our society, but catalyze a change that will work to truly eliminate the rise of these extremist groups at their root.

Featured image by Quinn Dombrowski on Flickr.

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1 Comment on "It’s Time For Florida To End White Supremacy"

  1. User from Florida | March 13, 2020 at 12:06 PM | Reply

    It’s also time for Florida to deport all the Hispanics who refuse to speak English. If they want to continue speaking Spanish, they can go back where they came from. They came here for a better life, well that includes doing things the way we do them and not holding onto the ways of the garbage country or territory that they left behind. In America, we speak English.

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