The Southern Poverty Law Center is set to unveil its yearly report this Thursday, focusing on the activities of white nationalist, neo-Nazi, and anti-government extremist groups across the United States.
The report, titled the Hate & Extremism Report, will detail the count of active hate groups for 2024 and compare this data with previous years’ statistics. It will also explore trends related to anti-government organizations. Based in Montgomery, Alabama, the law center monitors issues of racism, xenophobia, and far-right militia activities.
The previous year’s report revealed “record numbers” of white nationalist and anti-LGBTQ groups in 2023. It emphasized how far-right organizations sought to undermine democracy through spreading disinformation, promoting false conspiracy theories, and intimidating election officials. The report also analyzed how proponents of Christian supremacy utilized similar strategies to rally support for an authoritarian agenda.
The SPLC is a liberal advocacy organization that, besides monitoring hate groups, files lawsuits over justice issues and offers educational programs to counter prejudice. Frequently criticized by conservatives as biased, the nonprofit has faced lawsuits for its designation of some organizations as hate groups.
The report’s release comes as a Los Angeles college professor makes his first public appearance since he was severely injured in a hit and run that he reported as a hate crime. He is scheduled to speak Thursday morning at the Chinese American Museum in downtown Los Angeles.
Aki Maehara, 71, was riding his electric bicycle in Montebello, 10 miles (16 kilometers) east of downtown Los Angeles, on April 29 when he says he heard a driver yell a racial slur. Maehara says a car then struck him and the driver fled. He was hospitalized with a concussion, neck injury, cheek bone fracture and bruises and swelling up and down his body.
Maehara, who is Japanese American, teaches a course on the history of racism in the U.S. at East Los Angeles College.
The Montebello Police Department is investigating.
Photos of his injuries posted to a GoFundMe page have been shared multiple times on social media with users calling for hate crime charges. The crowdsourcing campaign has raised almost $77,000 for Maehara.
