Report: 13 hate, anti-government groups active in Alabama

A man who declined to give his name leads the crowd in prayer during an anti-abortion protest in Atlanta on July 21, 2023. (Ross Williams/Georgia Recorder)

There were 13 active hate and anti-government extremist organizations in Alabama last year, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center Year in Hate & Extremism report .

While there aren’t as many hate groups in Alabama as other Southern states, people faced threats, flyers, protests and gatherings targeting people of color, LGBTQ+, Jewish communities and other religious minorities.

“It is imperative that we preserve and strengthen our democracy, and that means preventing anti-democracy forces from dividing us from one another. When extremists attack one community, they’re hoping to drive wedges between that group and all others,” said Margaret Huang, CEO and president of SPLC.

Alabama had 120 incidents of hate flyers being distributed, according to the report, and 12 attempts were made to ban 74 titles from public libraries. In June last year, Prattville’s first Pride picnic was disrupted by masked Patriot Front members with hate signs and chants.

The Autauga-Prattville Public Library and former Director Andrew Foster recently settled a lawsuit over the director’s firing in March, stemming from a yearlong controversy over the leadership of the library and the materials available to the public.

In May, white nationalists from Patriot Front defaced a road sign on Interstate 65 near Clanton with hate slogans. The second annual neo-Confederate conference in Wetumpka was held in August, featuring speakers from white nationalist groups supporting anti-Black eugenics. Jewish houses of worship in Montgomery, Dothan, Auburn, Mobile, and Birmingham receive bomb threats in October.

Hate group activity often leads to intimidation, harassment and violence, often targeting marginalized communities and institutions like libraries, schools, and hospitals.

The report identified a record number of hate and anti-government groups across the nation. There was a historic increase in the number of active hate groups, going from 523 to 595, and anti-government extremist groups, which increased from 702 to 835.

R.G. Cravens, senior research analyst for SPLC’s Intelligence Project, said the actions they have tracked “show a strategy of targeting the very idea of inclusive civil society.”

“Theories about LGBTQ plus and reproductive health care, immigrants and inclusive education were operationalized by far-right groups and used to fuel these campaigns of intimidation, harassment and fear,” Cravens said.

The report highlighted the South as a center of extremist activity, following nationwide trends. States like Florida and Georgia have seen a significant increase in hate group activity, including book bans, hate crime incidents, and attacks on marginalized communities.

California had the highest number of hate and anti-government groups across the U.S. with 117 groups, which was attributed to the state’s population size. It was followed by Florida with 114 groups.

A record number of white nationalist groups and anti-LGBTQ+ groups, fueled in part by the increasingly hard-right rhetoric within mainstream politics. These groups are becoming more mobilized and less compromising, according to the report, increasing the risk of violence.

Male supremacy and anti-abortion extremism: The report highlighted the growing threat of male supremacist groups, particularly groups targeting reproductive rights. Several anti-abortion groups were added to the list of hate groups due to their efforts to deny bodily autonomy and punish women for seeking abortions. SPLC identified four groups that aim to abolish abortion, making abortion with any exception murder.

“We are also expanding our research into male supremacy, and this is a belief that cisgender men are innately superior to people of other gender and gender identities, and is their right to subjugate women, trans people, non-binary people,” said Cassie Miller, senior research analyst at SPLC’s Intelligence Project.

Rep. Ernie Yarbrough, R-Trinity, introduced what he initially called an “ abortion-as-murder ” bill in 2023, which could have criminalized pregnant people with murder. The bill was not considered by the Legislature. He also distributed signed copies of a book called “The Doctrine of the Lesser Magistrates,” written by Rev. Matthew Trewhella, a minister who signed a statement in 1993 justifying the murder of an abortion provider, at the end of the 2023 session.

He also introduced an anti-immigration bill this year that would have allowed local law enforcement agencies to arrest undocumented immigrants. The bill moved out of committee but was not considered on the House floor.

A message seeking comment was left with Yarbrough.

The report examined the rise of the New Apostolic Reformation (NAR), a religious supremacist movement with a growing influence on the far-right. SPLC deems The NAR’s ideology and denounce those who disagree with them a significant threat to democracy.

Joe Wiinikka-Lydon, senior research analyst of the SPLC’s Intelligence Project, said that the NAR has a political project called “The Seven Mountain Mandate,” which proposes seven key areas of importance for followers: family life, religious institutions, education systems, media outlets, arts and entertainment, businesses and government.

“The NAR is not just interested in conquering mountains, such as government. They want to conquer the mountain of religion and be the supreme religion over all others, including other Christian denominations and traditions,” said Wiinikka-Lydon.

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