Extremism, Anti-Semitism In Arizona: 30 Incidents In 2019

ARIZONA — In 2019, there were 30 incidents of extremism and anti-Semitism in Arizona, according to the Anti-Defamation League.

The figure for 2019 decreased from the 58 incidents reported in Arizona during 2018.

The occurrences in Arizona were among the 4,015 examples of extremist and anti-Semitic incidents that happened nationwide in 2019. The figure reported for 2019 is up almost 32 percent from the 3,052 incidents reported in 2018, according to the ADL.

Here is a collection of the incidents in the cities of Phoenix and Tucson that the non-governmental organization included in its registry:

White supremacist propaganda, Dec. 4, 2019

• Location: Phoenix
• Ideology: Right wing (white supremacist)
• Description: Alt right group Patriot Front distributed propaganda that said "Better dead then red," "One nation against invasion" and other slogans.

White supremacist propaganda: Nov. 19, 2019

• Location: Tucson
• Ideology: Right wing (white supremacist)
• Description: Alt right group Patriot Front distributed propaganda that said "Better dead then red" and other slogans.

White supremacist propaganda: Nov. 17, 2019

• Location: Phoenix
• Ideology: Right wing (white supremacist)
• Description: Neo-Nazi group The Base distributed propaganda that said "Save your race join The Base."

White supremacist propaganda: Oct. 22, 2019

• Location: Phoenix
• Ideology: Right wing (white supremacist)
• Description: Alt right group Patriot Front distributed propaganda that said "America first," "Reject poison," "To ourselves and our prosperity" and other slogans.

White supremacist propaganda: Oct. 15, 2019

• Location: Phoenix
• Ideology: Right wing (white supremacist)
• Description: Alt right group Patriot Front distributed propaganda that said "One nation against invasion," "Not stolen conquered," and "America is not for sale."

White supremacist propaganda: Sept. 30, 2019

• Location: Phoenix
• Ideology: Right wing (white supremacist)
• Description: Alt right group Patriot Front distributed propaganda at Paradise Valley Community College that said "Not stolen conquered" and "America first."

White supremacist propaganda: Sept. 29, 2019

• Location: Phoenix
• Ideology: Right wing (white supremacist)
• Description: Alt right group Patriot Front distributed propaganda at Grand Canyon University that said "America first," "Revolution is tradition" and "Better dead than red."

Anti-Semitic incident — assault: Sept. 2019

• Location: Phoenix
• Ideology: Not listed
• Description: Two people in a car veered toward, yelled at and threw a glass bottle at a Jewish father and his two kids as they walked home from synagogue.

Anti-Semitic incident — vandalism: Aug. 2019

• Location: Tucson
• Ideology: Not listed
• Description: An anti-Semitic flier that read "remove the Jews from power over banking, media and government" was posted in a public area.

White supremacist propaganda: May 30, 2019

• Location: Phoenix
• Ideology: Right wing (white supremacist)
• Description: Alt right group Patriot Front distributed propaganda at a veteran's memorial.

Anti-Semitic incident — vandalism: May 2019

• Location: Tucson
• Ideology: Not listed
• Description: A park's picnic table had a swastika carved into it.

Extremist murder: April 16, 2019

• Location: Tucson
• Ideology: Right wing (white supremacist)
• Description: Blane Barksdale, Arizona Aryan Brotherhood member, and wife Susan Barksdale are accused of killing Frank Bligh, 72, then burning his house and taking the veteran's guns.

Anti-Semitic incident — vandalism: March 2019

• Location: Phoenix
• Ideology: Not listed
• Description: A swastika was drawn onto a bus stop's advertisement.

Other anti-semitic/extremist incidents occurred in 2019 in other Arizona cities, too, including Scottsdale, Tempe, Gilbert, Mesa, Anthem, Casa Grande, Bullhead City and Flagstaff.

The Anti-Defamation League tracks the incidents through news and media reports, government documents (including police reports), victim reports, extremist-related sources and the Center on Extremism investigations, according to a “Frequently Asked Questions” section on the ADL’s website.

The Anti-Defamation League’s interactive map includes information on incidents involving anti-Semitism, white supremacist propaganda, white supremacist events, extremist-police shootouts, terrorist plots and attacks and extremist murders.

Along with providing the first-of-its-kind interactive and customizable map detailing extremist and anti-Semitic incidents around the nation, the ADL also provides information on the annual quantity of white supremacist propaganda that gets spread throughout the country.

The Anti-Defamation League’s Center on Extremism reported 2,713 cases of circulated propaganda by white supremacist groups in 2019, compared with 1,214 cases in 2018.

Oren Segal, director of the League’s Center on Extremism, pointed to the prominence of more subtly biased rhetoric in some white supremacist material, emphasizing “patriotism.”

By emphasizing language “about empowerment, without some of the blatant racism and hatred,” Segal told the Associated Press, white supremacists are using a “tactic to try to get eyes onto their ideas in a way that’s cheap, and that brings it to a new generation of people who are learning how to even make sense out of these messages.”

The Anti-Defamation League, which was founded in 1913 to combat anti-Semitism as well as other biases, describes its mission as “to stop the defamation of the Jewish people and to secure justice and fair treatment to all.”

You can find the complete interactive map on the ADL’s website.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.