To mark the one-year anniversary of the Charlottesville, Virginia rally, the Anti-Defamation League is looking to spread awareness surrounding acts of hate, with a new tool they’re calling a H.E.A.T. (Hate, Extremism, Anti-Semitism, and Terrorism) map.
On August 12, 2017, a white-nationalist rally in Charlottesville became violent and resulted in the killing of a counter-protester.
The Connecticut region ADL director, Steve Ginsburg, says that while there’s a rising tide of opposition to the “alt-right” movement since Charlottesville, the H.E.A.T. map shows that there are some places where far-right ideology shines brighter.
“We’re seeing a lot of H.E.A.T. on college campuses,” Ginsburg said. “There’s been a huge rise in extremist propaganda and fliers on college campuses across the country.”
There’s a “Unite the Right” rally scheduled to take place in Washington D.C. this weekend to mark the Charlottesville anniversary. But because of infighting among leadership of the various groups representing the alt-right, Ginsburg said it may not be well-attended.
“Our understanding, because we’ve been working on tracking and monitoring white supremacists for about 100 years,-is that often these people don’t really get along with each other,” Ginsburg said. “That’s why Charlottesville last year was such a big deal.”
In Connecticut, the H.E.A.T. map shows four instances of white supremacist propaganda, along with a white supremacist event held in the state. The ADL also reported an increase in anti-semitic harassment since 2015.
