Associated PressAssociated Press
FILE - White nationalist demonstrators walk into Lee park surrounded by counter demonstrators in Charlottesville, Va., Saturday, Aug. 12, 2017. In its annual report, released Wednesday, March 9, 2022, the Southern Poverty Law Center said it identified 733 active hate groups in 2021, down from the 838 counted in 2020 and the 940 counted in 2019. Hate groups had risen to a historic high of 1,021 in 2018, said the law center, which tracks racism, xenophobia and far right militias.(AP Photo/Steve Helber, File) (ASSOCIATED PRESS)

The number of white nationalist, neo-Nazi and anti-government extremists fell for a third year in a row.

The Southern Poverty Law Center said in its annual report that it identified 734 active hate groups in 2021, down from the 838 it counted in 2020. The law center said that hate groups had risen to a historic high in the year.

The number of anti-government groups decreased from 566 in 2020 to 576 in 2019. The year former President Barack Obama was elected to a second term, such groups peaked at 1,360.

The new report says that the dropping of organized hate and anti-government groups suggests that the ideas that mobilize them now operate more openly in the political mainstream.

Tucker Carlson's discussion of a conspiracy likening immigration from nonwhite countries to a great replacement for white Americans was welcomed by white nationalists. The law center counted white nationalist groups.

One day after a federal jury convicted a Texas man of storming the Capitol with a holstered handgun in an attempt to obstruct Congress, the report was released. Tarrio, the leader of the Proud Boys, was arrested on a conspiracy charge related to the Capitol attack.

The active Proud Boys chapters increased from 43 in 2020 to 72 in 2021. More than three dozen members of the group had been charged in relation to their role in the Capitol attack and the rise in chapters was noteworthy.

Susan Corke, SPLC's Intelligence Project director, told the AP that after Jan. 6, these groups did lay low.

Extremist ideas are normalized by the anti-government groups.

The law center's report shows how the far right has been rejuvenated by political wedge issues. The banning of critical race theory and books that discuss the LGBTQ identity in public schools are some of the issues fueling active hate and anti-government groups.

The movement is working feverishly to undermine democracy, but it is also coalescing around a willingness to engage in violence.

According to the SPLC, elected leaders need to embrace democratic institutions while also protecting the right to vote for communities of color and other marginal people in order to slow any push toward authoritarianism. The law center has called for better funding of prevention programs that interrupt the radicalization of young people by hate and anti-government groups.

In addition to monitoring hate groups, the SPLC also files lawsuits over justice issues and offers educational programs to counter prejudice. The nonprofit group has faced lawsuits in the past over its designation of various organizations as hate groups.

There is a

AP's Race and Ethnicity team has a writer on it. He can be followed on the social media site, at: https://www.twitter.com/aaronlmorrison.

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