A new report says white supremacists have more than doubled the number of people they killed in 2017 as compared to the year before, making 2017 the nation’s fifth deadliest year for extremist violence since 1970.
“Americans do not have the luxury to ignore any extremist threat, including threats posed by white supremacists who are weaponizing social media and are more likely to take their actions into the streets,” Anti-Defamation League CEO Jonathan Greenblatt told the Huffington Post.
The findings were released in a report called “Murder and Extremism in the United States in 2017.”
“Their actions fuel controversy and conflict and their racist rhetoric and hateful ideas can inspire violence,” Greenblatt added.
The ADL’s Center on Extremism found that a total of 34 people were killed by extremists last year, 71 percent of which were killed by right-wing extremists. White supremacists, “alt-right” and “alt-lite” members, and anti-government militia members all fall under the right-wing extremists’ category.
White supremacists, though, specifically killed 18 people in 2017, an increase of 157 percent from the seven that were killed in 2017.
White supremacists came to the forefront of national consciousness last year after the violent Charlottesville rally that left many injured. One of the victims was Heather Heyer, who was violently run down and killed when alt-right member James Alex Fields Jr. ran his car through a group of peaceful protesters.