Homegrown Hate: An FBI File Hones in on Domestic Terrorism

Violent right-wing extremist groups are on the rise in the United States. According to a recent report by Mark Potok, senior fellow at the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), the number of hate groups representing far-right ideologies increased from 784 to 892 between 2014 and 2015.

Potok attributes the surge, in part, to racist statements about Latinos and Muslims made by Republican presidential frontrunner Donald Trump. He said the real estate mogul’s words have “electrified the radical right.”

These homegrown domestic extremist groups, many of which carry out violent attacks in the name of Christianity, present a far greater threat to Americans than Islamic extremists, but they don’t attract the same type of attention from the media and politicians.