This is really scary stuff!!!! What do you think?
Anti-immigration hate on a rapid upswing
But the outrage over illegal immigration has gone far beyond those questions, entering the realm of hate. The Alabama-based Southern Poverty Law Center, which tracks hate groups more closely than any other groups, reports that fully 888 hate groups are now active around the nation, 80 of them operating in California. That's a growth of 5 percent nationally from the number of groups operating in 2006 and far above the 602 the center tracked in 2000. The number of hate groups active in California rose by a startling 27 percent in 2007 and another 19 percent this year, the center reports. (For a detailed list, go to http://www.splcenter.org/intel/map/hate.jsp#s=CA.)
That count leaves out about 300 other groups that the center says frequently harass and intimidate immigrants.
In California, hate groups listed by the poverty center include racist skinhead gangs operating in locales from Riverside to Fresno to San Jose and Sacramento. Some might take exception to the "hate" tag the center applies to the National of Islam and the Jewish Defense League, both of which have strong California presences. Each would contend it does not push hate, but merely encourages ethnic pride.
"Anti-immigrant rage is the No. 1 factor driving the massive growth in American hate groups," says Mark Potok, poverty center's Intelligence Project director. "It's no wonder we are seeing a rise in anti-Latino hate crimes."
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