Introducing: Life After Hate

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Each year, there are more than 250,000 victims of hate crimes in the US, with more than half going unreported. Between 2008 and 2017, 71% of extremist-related fatalities in the US were committed by members of the far right or white-supremacist movements.(1) The number of hate groups identified in the US by the Southern Law Poverty Center rose to 954 in 2017, with a 22% rise of neo-Nazi groups in particular.(2) Since 2001, the number of violent attacks on US soil inspired by far-right ideology has increased to an average of over 300 a year, with the number of terrorist attacks by far-right perpetrators more than quadrupling between 2016 and 2017.(3) (4) Recent attacks include the Tree of Life synagogue massacre in Pittsburgh which killed 11 people, a racially motivated shooting in Kentucky that killed 2 people, and a wave of pipe bombs mailed to prominent Democrats.(4) (5)

Meanwhile, in January 2017, the month of Trump’s presidential inauguration, 748 new online alt-right accounts were created. According to data analysis across 29,913 Twitter users that followed 41 self-identified “alt-right” accounts, support for Trump was shared by virtually all users, expressed by the two top hashtags #maga (make America great again) and #trump and the fat that @realdonaldtrump was the account users interacted with most.(6) With his inflammatory rhetoric and policies intended to marginalise and exclude minority communities, Trump spurs on and encourages extremism. Trump’s promotion of anti-Semitic conspiracy theories (7), his choice of incendiary and bigoted generalisations about Mexicans (“They’re bringing drugs. They’re bringing crime. They’re rapists”), Chinese (“They kill us (on trade)”) and Muslims (“I think Islam hates us”) among others (8), his deliberate delegitimisation of the press as “fake news” who are an “enemy of the American people” (9), his downplaying of sexual misconduct cases (10), the false claims he makes in order to look more righteous (11), his association with racists such as Ted Nugent and religiously intolerant people like Brigitte Gabriel (11), his defence of the “Unite the Right” rally that sparked violence in Charlottesville as he stated that there were “some very fine people on both sides” (12), and all the Trump administration policies that are based on such remarks signal to “alt-right” and white supremacist extremists that the current government condones and legitimises their opinions and violent actions.(5) (13)

Life After Hate (LAH) started out as a quarterly online publication in 2010 and was established as a non-profit organisation in 2011 following the founders’ attendance of the “Summit Against Violent Extremism” in Ireland. By 2014, LAH had expanded into academic research on intervention methods and deradicalisation, speaking out publicly against extremist groups, and launched an exit programme to help individuals who were previously involved in hate groups safely disengage and reintegrate back into society.(15) (16) One of the last announcements of the Obama administration was awarding LAH a $400,000 federal grant in 2016, a move that was rescinded by the Trump administration before any of the money reached the organisation, causing more than 8,000 supporters to raise $500,000 for LAH. (15) (17)

LAH is dedicated to inspiring individuals to a place of compassion and forgiveness, for everyone’s benefit. Its goal to interrupt bias-motivated violence is done through education, interventions, academic research, and outreach, that inform its 4 programmes:

• ExitUSA—founded and run by former hate group members, ExitUSA provides support to people looking to leave racism and violence behind, utilising strategies such as public awareness campaigns, individualised education and job training programmes, and leveraging strategic community partnerships. The aim of this programme is to aid people in rebuilding their identities and changing their lives and their communities for the better.(18)
• Against Violent Extremism Network—empowering former violent extremists and survivors to work together to push back extremist narratives and prevent the recruitment of at-risk youths.(16)
• Formers Anonymous—similarly structured to Alcoholics Anonymous, this programme brings together people who have identified a shared problem of attachment and addiction to a grossly irresponsible, criminal and/or drug lifestyle and seeks to helps those who wish to exit a life of crime and violence through the sharing of resources and lived experiences.(16) (19)
• Strong Cities Network—launched in 2015, this is the first global network of mayors, municipal-level policy makers and practitioners united in building social cohesion and community resilience to counter violent extremism in all its forms.(16)

LAH is also working towards the #WeCounterHate project alongside Possible, a Seattle company. Social media has meant that messages, whether positive or negative in nature, can circulate and spread with speed and ease throughout the world. #WeCounterHate aims to reduce the number of hateful messages online by using a computer programme to detect hate posts on Twitter and then sending a message that says a $1 donation will be made to LAH from the person who tweeted the hateful words.(19)

Since the “Unite the Right” rally in August 2017, LAH has helped more than 150 individuals, families, and inmates grapple with extremist hate groups, with the support of of over 30,000 people who back their mission.(1)

Life After Hate is a tax deductible 501(c)3 charitable organisation.

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Citations:

[1] “Our Impact.” Life After Hate, www.lifeafterhate.org/our-impact.
[2] “Hate Map.” Southern Poverty Law Center, www.splcenter.org/hate-map.
[3] Sreenivasan, Hari. “U.S. Sees 300 Violent Attacks Inspired by Far Right Every Year.” Public Broadcasting Service, 13 Aug. 2017, www.pbs.org/newshour/show/u-s-sees-300-violent-attacks-inspired-far-right-every-year.
[4] “The Rise of Far-Right Extremism in the United States.” Center for Strategic and International Studies, 7 Nov. 2018, www.csis.org/analysis/rise-far-right-extremism-united-states.
[5] Berger, J.M. “Trump Is the Glue That Binds the Far Right.” The Atlantic, Atlantic Media Company, 31 Oct. 2018, www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2018/10/trump-alt-right-twitter/574219/.
[6]“Support for Trump Is the Single Greatest Factor Uniting the 'Alt-Right' on Twitter.” Motherboard, VICE, 17 Oct. 2018, motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/7x3jnx/support-for-trump-is-the-single-greatest-factor-uniting-the-alt-right-on-twitter.
[7] Dale, Frank. “Trump Promotes Anti-Semitic Conspiracy Theory on Twitter.” ThinkProgress, 5 Oct. 2018, thinkprogress.org/donald-trump-george-soros-anti-semitic-conspiracy-theory-7962b3d02a86/.
[8] Berger, J.M. “A Dangerous New Americanism?” War on the Rocks, 24 Apr. 2017, warontherocks.com/2017/04/a-dangerous-new-americanism/.
[9] Kalb, Marvin. “Enemy of the People.” The Brookings Institution, 25 Sept. 2018, www.brookings.edu/book/enemy-of-the-people/.
[10] Bever, Lindsey. “Trump's Onstage Mockery of Christine Blasey Ford Was 'Hurtful' to Sexual Assault Survivors.” The Washington Post, 4 Oct. 2018, www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2018/10/03/why-trumps-onstage-mockery-christine-blasey-ford-was-hurtful-sexual-assault-survivors/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.6a1c887fe3cb.
[11] “100 Days in Trump's America.” Southern Poverty Law Center, 27 Apr. 2017, www.splcenter.org/20170427/100-days-trumps-america.
[12] Gray, Rosie. “Trump Defends White-Nationalist Protesters: 'Some Very Fine People on Both Sides'.” The Atlantic, Atlantic Media Company, 15 Aug. 2017, www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2017/08/trump-defends-white-nationalist-protesters-some-very-fine-people-on-both-sides/537012/.
[13] Michel, Casey. “Attorneys for Trump-Supporting Extremist Blame Trump for His Violence.” ThinkProgress, 30 Oct. 2018, thinkprogress.org/attorneys-for-trump-supporting-extremist-blame-trump-for-violence-02a425fce84e/.
[15] “History.” Life After Hate, www.lifeafterhate.org/history/.
[16] “Our Programs.” Life After Hate, https://www.lifeafterhate.org/programs.
[17] Nixon, Ron, and Sullivan, Eileen.”Revocation of Grants to Help Fight Hate Under New Scrutiny After Charlottesville.” New York Times, 15 Aug. 2018, https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/15/us/politics/right-wing-extremism-charlottesville.html
[18] “ExitUSA.” Life After Hate, https://www.lifeafterhate.org/exitusa.
[19] McClure, Jewels. “No more hate.” The Observer, 6 March 2018, https://cwuobserver.com/11781/news/no-more-hate/.