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Defendants in case of slain federal officer appear to mirror state of domestic terrorism in U.S., CSUSB professor says
NBC News
April 9, 2021
Brian Levin, director of CSUSB’s Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism, was interviewed in an article about four Northern California men allegedly affiliated with the far-right extremist "Grizzly" militia indicted on charges of destroying evidence in a federal investigation into the killing of two officers, prosecutors said Friday.
Levin said the defendants appear to be mirroring the state of domestic terrorism in the U.S.
"We have a string of far-right extremist Boogaloo defendants with a common denominator of social media," he said. "In an increasingly splintered extremist landscape, it's the smaller, underground groups that are among the most dangerous threats."
Read the complete article at “Four alleged 'Grizzly' militia members charged with destroying evidence in federal investigation.”
Indictment of 4 extremists related to killing of a federal officer is ‘very significant,’ CSUSB professor says
Los Angeles Times
April 9, 2021
Four members of a Northern California militia were indicted Friday for allegedly obstructing justice and destroying records related to the May shooting death of a federal officer in Oakland by another member of their extremist group.
Brian Levin, executive director of Cal State San Bernardino Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism, said the Grizzly Scouts have been on the radar for extremist watchers for months.
“This is not the first time the name has come up,” he said. Northern California, he said, has become a hub of extremist antigovernment activity, though much of the boogaloo element shares little beyond a love of the 2nd Amendment and a hatred of organized government. “It is a bring your own plate to the extremist buffet,” Levin said.
Levin called Friday’s indictment a “very significant” development in the government crackdown on such groups, which have become a focus for law enforcement after the Jan. 6 insurrection in Washington, where multiple extremist groups were involved.
Read the complete article at “Four extremist ‘Grizzly Scouts’ indicted on charges of obstructing federal probe into deadly shootings.”
'White Lives Matter' rallies flop; CSUSB professor says its larger organizations have splintered
NBC News
April 11, 2021
The poor turnout at such rallies planned nationwide underscores how the country's unpopular and disorganized extremist movements have been driven underground.
“Not only have organized larger groups splintered, but so, too, did their social media footprint,” said Brian Levin, director of the Center for the Study of Hate & Extremism at California State University, San Bernardino. “Some extremists continued a whack-a-mole migration underground to encrypted, affinity-based platforms, while others exited these movements altogether.”
The realignment and the lack of cohesive leadership don’t lessen the threat from extremist groups, however.
The risk now, Levin says, can be found in “loners and cells, who act on their own combination of hatreds and idiosyncrasies often cobbled together from a constant all-you-can-eat buffet of stereotyping and conspiracies that still populate online discourse.”
Read the complete article at “'White Lives Matter' rallies flop as hardly anyone shows up.”
The news site Axios cited Levin’s comments in its April 11, 2021, report, “Nationwide far-right rallies fizzle.”
CSUSB professor says white supremacist movement is rebranding itself with ‘white lives matter’ phrase
Los Angeles Times
April 11, 2021
A crowd of White Lives Matter protesters and antiracism counterprotesters filled the streets near the Huntington Beach pier on Sunday but quickly dispersed after police declared an unlawful assembly amid increasingly hostile clashes among Donald Trump supporters, those displaying allegiance to white supremacist groups and their opponents.
“White Lives Matter isn’t a group; it’s a whole subculture,” said Brian Levin, director of the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism at Cal State San Bernardino. “The swastikas and Klan hoods just aren’t great branding and recruiting tools. Their focus now is the message that whites are under attack.”
Read the complete article at “White Lives Matter rally ends with large counterprotest, 12 arrests in Huntington Beach.”
CSUSB professor urges restraint by protestors during Huntington Beach protest on April 11
KNX Radio Los Angeles
April 11, 2021
As part of its live coverage of a “white lives matter” rally in Huntington Beach on April 11, the newscast interviewed Brian Levin, director of the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism at Cal State San Bernardino. He said it would be a bad idea for Black Lives Matter protestors or their supporters to get into confrontations with the other side. “I thoroughly understand our brothers and sisters with BLM who want to show up and be in their face,” he said. “But I just don’t want anybody hurt.
CSUSB professor comments on organization of ‘White Lives Matter’ movement
The Orange County Register/Southern California News Group/Bay Area News Group
April 11, 2021
A “white lives matter” rally promoted in leaflets touting the Ku Klux Klan was vastly outnumbered on Sunday by Black Lives Matter supporters and others who showed up at the Huntington Beach pier to condemn hate speech.
“White lives matter” appears to be a phrase rather than the name of a specific group, said Brian Levin, director of the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism at Cal State San Bernardino.
“That’s not to say there is no cell of individuals or a small group that decided to form a little group by that name,” he said. “We just don’t know. These types of catch phrases and bumper sticker slogans are typically used by a broader sub-culture rather than an organized group.”
Read the complete article at “‘White lives matter’ rally goers are vastly outnumbered in Huntington Beach.”
CSUSB professor predicted ‘fizzle and drizzle’ in advance of ‘White Lives Matter’ rally in Huntington Beach
The Orange County Register/Southern California News Group/Bay Area News Group
April 9, 2021
Before the April 11 “White Lives Matter” rally in Huntington Beach, one of several nationally, the newspaper reported on concern voiced by some in the community over the planned event.
Brian Levin, director of the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism at Cal State San Bernardino, said his center is closely monitoring the rallies promoted for Sunday in six or seven major cities in the United States, including Huntington Beach.
“If there is a city this Sunday for law enforcement to be ready in Southern California, Huntington Beach would be the place,” he said. He noted Sunday’s rallies appear to be the first time far-right groups or individuals have attempted to organize in this manner since the Capitol riot on Jan. 6.
Levin said he expects to see more activity among far-right groups as COVID-19 protocols ease. But, he said, they’ll likely stay local or regional and tend to operate as loners or small cells.
“They are moving into more encrypted platforms,” he said of far-right groups. “We see more regional activity as we see groups of people who feel politically disenfranchised. Organized groups are continuing to exist and exert influence even though the leadership is tumbling. In the far-right, white-supremacist world, leaderless resistance and regional action is the fallback.”
So, could Sunday’s event be a forerunner of things to come or might it fizzle out at a national level?
“I think there is going to be some fizzle, drizzle and thunder,” Levin said, “but mostly fizzle and drizzle.”
Read the complete article at “Rally for ‘white lives’ in Huntington Beach raises concerns.”
The CSUSB Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism’s latest report on hate crimes against Asian Americans was also cited in the following:
Former prosecutor teams with Maryland Gov. Hogan to address anti-Asian discrimination, fear suffered by their families
The Baltimore Sun
April 9, 2021
Yumi Hogan said discrimination is faced by Korean Americans, Chinese Americans, Filipino Americans and others, and even those whose families have been in the United States for generations, the “same as all Americans.”
Anti-Asian hate crime in America’s largest cities increased 145% in 2020 compared to 2019, according to the Center for the Study of Hate & Extremism at California State University, San Bernardino.
The first spike occurred in March and April of last year “amidst a rise in COVID cases and negative stereotyping of Asians relating to the pandemic,” the center said.
Rally in solidarity with South Bay AAPI community
Rafu Shimpo (Los Angeles)
April 9, 2021
“Stand up against anti-Asian hate, stand together in solidarity against racism and xenophobia” is the theme of a rally to be held Sunday, April 11, from 2 to 4 p.m. at the Redondo Beach Performing Arts Center, 1935 Manhattan Beach Blvd.
Hate crimes and assaults targeting Asian Americans are on the rise over the past year, correlated with the COVID-19 pandemic. Anti-Asian hate crimes surged by 149% in 2020 in an analysis of hate crime data in 16 of the largest cities in the U.S. (CSU San Bernardino).
Rally at Hartford’s Bushnell Park condemns racism against Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders
The Hartford Courant via Yahoo! News
April 10, 2021
Proclaiming that Connecticut will not harbor racism, a crowd of 150 chanted “Hate is a virus — protect Asian lives” at a rally Saturday afternoon at Bushnell Park in Hartford.
Saturday’s rally follows similar gatherings in Fairfield, West Hartford and elsewhere in the wake of the March mass shooting in Atlanta that killed eight people, including six Asian women. Research from the California State University at San Bernardino shows hate crimes in 16 major U.S. cities dropped in 2020, but anti-Asian attacks soared by 149%.
'Stop AAPI hate:' Gathering in Las Vegas aims to strategize against hate crimes
KVVU Las Vegas
April 11, 2021
A group of Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) locals gathered at a west valley park on Sunday to build and strategize a movement against hate and anti-Asian sentiment in Las Vegas.
In 2020, reports of hate crimes increased 150% against people in the Asian community, according to a study released last month by the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism at California State University at San Bernardino, which examined police records in 16 of the country’s largest cities.
These news clips and others may be viewed at “In the Headlines.”