Report: Young Racists Seeking Out 'Hipper' Groups Than KKK

KKK membership declining despite surge in 'hate groups'
By Newser Editors and Wire Services
Posted Feb 21, 2018 7:33 PM CST
KKK Chapters Drop Steeply Despite 'Hate Group' Surge
Members of the Ku Klux Klan gather outside the Jasper County Courthouse in the days after the dragging death of James Byrd Jr, a black man, on June 27, 1998 in Jasper, TX.   (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)

An organization that tracks far-right extremists says the number of Ku Klux Klan chapters in the US is plummeting as a new generation of khaki-clad racists rejects hoods and robes for a "hipper" brand of hate, the AP reports. The Southern Poverty Law Center said in a report Wednesday that its count of Klan groups fell from 130 in 2016 to 72 last year. SPLC Intelligence Project Director Heidi Beirich says the Klan seems to be "collapsing" because younger white supremacists are turned off by its "old-school" traditions. The Alabama-based law center reported a surge in neo-Nazi groups—from 99 in 2016 to 121 last year. And it counted a total of 954 active "hate groups" in 2017, an increase of 4% over the previous year (More Ku Klux Klan stories.)

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