​White Supremacist Propaganda Soared In WI, Nationwide In 2022: Report

WISCONSIN — Propaganda from white supremacist groups reached a five-year high across the nation in 2022, and Wisconsin was not immune from the efforts, according to a report released Thursday by the Anti-Defamation League’s Center on Extremism.

In Wisconsin, 33 separate incidents in which antisemitic, racial and otherwise hateful material was distributed were among 6,750 reported nationwide last year. Wisconsin saw 14 reports of white supremacist propaganda in 2021, the ADL said.

Nationwide, the distribution of racist, antisemitic and anti-LGBTQ fliers, stickers and banners, images, posters or graffiti increased 38 percent from 2021, and has increased fivefold since 2018, according to the report. Antisemitic propaganda alone more than doubled in 2022, rising to 852 incidents from 352 incidents in 2021.

The ADL H.E.A.T. Map shows Hawaii was the only U.S. state that didn’t report a single incident of white supremacist propaganda last year. The highest activity levels were in Texas, followed by Massachusetts, Virginia, Michigan, Pennsylvania, California, Utah, Florida, Connecticut and Georgia.

In Wisconsin, the 33 incidents were reported across the state, including in Waukesha and Milwaukee Counties.

One incident involving a white supremacist group last year happened in Waukesha. A group of people hung a racist sign from the top railing of a parking ramp at a downtown Waukesha transit center, according to police logs at the time. The banner was taken down nearly immediately, police said. The ADL identified the group as a white supremacist organization.

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Other efforts in the greater Milwaukee area in 2022 included distributing flyers. Greendale was hit with such propaganda in October. Authorites said residents one day awoke to find baggies filled with rice and flyers with writing about the "great replacement theory," a theory that the Associated Press defined as a racist conspiracy asserting there is a plot to reduce white people's influence.

Greendale village officials at the time condemned the writings and flyers and estimated that over 100 were distributed.

Altogether, the greater Milwaukee area saw nine incidents out of the 33 reported across Wisconsin in 2022, according to ADL.

Hate crime laws in Wisconsin provide protections based on race, religion and ethnicity, sexual orientation and disability, but state law does not offer protections for gender or gender identity.

Propaganda campaigns, intended to frighten and harass those who see the hateful messages, are limited-risk operations by white supremacist groups that give a few people an outsized voice, the report said.

At least 50 different white supremacist groups and networks distributed propaganda in 2022, the report said. Three of them were responsible for 93 percent of the activity:

Patriot Front, whose members espouse white supremacist and neo-fascist views, was behind the majority — 80 percent — of the propaganda, a distinction the Texas-based group has held since 2019. It was active everywhere but Hawaii and Alaska, and was most active in Massachusetts, followed by Texas, Michigan, Virginia, Pennsylvania and Utah.

Goyim Defense League, an antisemitic network with crossovers with white supremacist groups whose ultimate goal, the report said, is to expel Jews from the United States, was responsible for at least 492 propaganda incidents, about 58 percent of antisemitic incidents and 7 percent of incidents overall. Its propaganda was reported in 43 states, but was most active in California, followed by Florida, Texas, Georgia, South Carolina, Illinois and New York.

White Lives Matter, a network of white supremacists who engage in “pro-white activism” on a designated day each month, was responsible for 6 percent of propaganda incidents in 2022, and about 14 percent of antisemitic propaganda. The group was active in 36 states, most often n Washington, followed by Montana, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, New York, Virginia, North Carolina and Texas.

The ADL said the massive uptick in antisemitic propaganda was driven by the growth of the Goyim Defense League, but also noted the formation of other antisemitic white supremacist groups in 2022 that were responsible for 7 percent (62 percent) of the incidents nationwide:

Texas-based Aryan Freedom Network, NatSoc Florida, Iowa-based Crew 319, Southern California-based Clockwork Crew (aka Crew 562), Florida Nationalists and the short-lived, New York-based Aryan National Army.

Click here for the full report.