White nationalists and counter protesters clash in Charlottesville, Va. Aug. 12, 2017. (AP Photo/Steve Helber)

Every year when the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) issues its list of so-called hate groups, New Jerseyans are reminded that hate and racism are alive in the Garden State.

The group listed 18 distinct hate groups that were active in New Jersey in 2018. While that's up from 15 in 2017, a spokeswoman from the center said the state's numbers are still trending downward from 2015. At that point, New Jersey had 40 hate groups, the fourth highest number in the country, according to the SPLC.

“Things have turned for the better," said Heidi Beirich, director of the SPLC's The Intelligence Project, which publishes the annual hate group map and listing. She said that's thanks partly to efforts from law enforcement.

“New Jersey has been really active on that front,” she said.

In 2017 and 2018, police arrested the leaders of two hate groups that had been active in New Jersey: the white supremacist

and black nationalist

.

What’s notable in this year’s “Hate Map” is that in terms of the total numbers of chapters or branches, more than half of the 18 listed are black nationalist groups, as opposed to white supremacists.

However, the center lists each city’s chapter as a separate organization. The black nationalist Nation of Islam, for instance, has five different groups within New Jersey. There are still a greater variety of white supremacist organizations in New Jersey than black nationalist groups, the report shows.

Beirich said New Jersey has historically had several different black nationalist groups, as they tend to crop up in and around cities on the East Coast, from Boston to Washington, D.C., especially where there are large African-American populations.

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Jermaine Grant, also known as the "Chief High Priest Tazadaqyah" of the Israelite Church of God, was charged with embezzling $5.3 million from the church. (Courtesy of Emil Vicale Corp.)

Groups spread hate, promote hate crimes

John Cohen, a professor at Rutgers University and senior advisor at the University's Institute for Emergency Preparedness and Homeland Security, said New Jersey is unfortunately “not immune” to the wave of racial divisiveness in the country, thanks partly to what he calls tribal, political rhetoric on both sides.

“It creates an environment for these extremist groups to inspire more soldiers to their cause. And the main tool for them to inspire attacks is social media and the internet,” said Cohen, a former counterterrorism coordinator at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. “The idea that the KKK is going to be recruiting members and is going to be found burning a cross in the woods — it could happen, but that’s not the main threat.”

Law enforcement officials used to rely on their ability to infiltrate meetings or intercept communication as a hate group planned some sort of attack. Now, Cohen said, those investigative tools don’t work because it’s much more likely that an individual will self-identify with a group after reading propaganda online, and then act alone. Law enforcement can monitor suspects activity online, but they also rely on members of the public reporting signs that a person may be thinking about committing a violent act for their hateful cause, he said.

“People are still joining these hate groups, but the groups have mostly turned toward promoting their message on social media and online,” he said.

Just like ISIS and other international terrorist organizations, hate groups know that their reach can be extended exponentially by inspiring lone wolf attacks instead of coordinating them themselves, he said.

The actions they aim to inspire can range from spreading racist flyers to more violent acts, like hate crimes or even mass shootings.

Leading off are the statewide hate groups operating in New Jersey in 2018

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Atomwaffen Division

The Atomwaffen Division is a neo-Nazi group that has branches in numerous states.

The SPLC says that like other neo-Nazis, they idolize Adolf Hitler and the Third Reich, and some even dream of starting a fascist state. While they spew hate for minorities and people who are not straight, “they perceive ‘the Jew’ as their cardinal enemy,” the SPLC said.

Some neo-Nazi groups favor a big, sweeping organization and movement, but Atomwaffen Division operates mostly in underground cells, the center said. After many white supremacists were outed at the Charlottesville, members of this group are more likely to remain in the shadows.

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Identity Evropa

The alt-right movement is looking to replace the old-school hate groups across the country, and Identity Evropa, founded in 2016, is at the forefront with its campus-based organizations. As Beirich put it, “the khaki pants, polo shirt white supremacists like we saw in Charlottesville.”

Instead of focusing on hating minorities, the SPLC said, the group “focuses on raising white racial consciousness, building community based on shared racial identity and intellectualizing white supremacist ideology.”

Members are likely to insist they’re not racist, but simply proud of their white heritage and interested in preserving Western culture -- hence the European name

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Israelites Saints of Christ

The group is one of several Black nationalist organizations that have operated around New Jersey. The SPLC said more black nationalist groups are forming and more people joining them in reaction to the racially divisive climate in the U.S.

Like other black nationalists, their members tend to believe that separate institutions or even a separate state for black people is needed to fix the problem of racism.

“Most forms of black nationalism are strongly anti-white and anti-Semitic,” the center said.

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Firm 22

Firm 22 is a statewide, racist skinhead group. Racist skinheads are known for their shaved heads, Doc Martens, racist tattoos and their violence, the SPLC said.

The center said that members tend to age out of the culture and the subculture “continues to die out.” Born in the 1980s, the racist skinheads “lack relevancy compared to the racist ‘alt-right and new, younger neo-Nazi and white nationalist groups” who organize online.

The Anti-Defamation League said Firm 22 is the name the racist skinhead gang Vinlanders Social Club uses to refer to

who aren’t gang members.

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The Daily Stormer

Many people may recognize the name of The Daily Stormer because of its website full of white supremacist propaganda that resembles news articles.

Dylan Roof, who has been sentenced to death for killing nine African-American worshippers in Charleston church in 2015, had self-radicalized after reading content on The Daily Stormer website, Beirich said.

The group is real and more than just the website, she said. They hold gatherings that they call “book clubs,” she said.

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Noble Klans of America

That’s right, there is still a vestige of the Ku Klux Klan in the Garden State.

The Noble Klans of America is only active in two states, New Jersey and Maryland, but there are still a few dozen groups under the umbrella of the KKK, one of the oldest racist groups in the U.S.

Beirich said that groups like the KKK are on their way out as younger white supremacists flock to the alt-right instead. While there were 130 chapters nationwide in 2016, there are now only 51, she said.

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Hate groups based in N.J. cities or towns

Atlantic City Skins or AC Skins

AC Skins are a racist skinhead hate group operating out on the Jersey Shore.

Several AC skins members have done time for violent, racist attacks in New Jersey. In 2013, Christopher Ising of Waretown, was

of attacking two Middle Eastern men in Sayreville in a planned attack.

Another skinhead, Walter Anthony Dille Jr. is serving life in prison for

an African-American woman, Cindy Cade, 44, of Galloway Township, in 2009.

Shirts with the group’s logo used to be for sale on the website of Micetrap Records, a Cherry Hill-based

and merchandise site that shut down in 2017.

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Nation of Islam - Camden, Newark, Plainfield, Trenton, Willingboro

The Nation of Islam is a black nationalist organization operating in five communities in New Jersey, from Newark to the Burlington County bedroom community of Willingboro.

The political and religious organization rejects claims that it is anti-white or anti-semitic and says it works to improve the lives of African-Americans, according to its website. Formed in 1930, the group has had notable members including Malcolm X, before he split with the organization.

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The United Nuwaupians Worldwide or All Eyes on Egipt - Jersey City and Newark

The United Nuwaupians Worldwide is one of several black nationalist groups that trace their origins back to cult leader Dwight York in New York in 1967.

One of those offshoots, the Nuwaubian Nation of Moors, is described by the SPLC as mixing “black supremacist ideas with worship of the Egyptians and their pyramids, a belief in UFOs and various conspiracies related to the Illuminati and the Bilderbergers.”

All Eyes on Egipt is the name of a cult bookstore in New York City that sells the teachings of the York, who is serving 135 years in prison for child molestation, racketeering, and other offenses.

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Ancient Egyptian Distribution Company - Jersey City

The Ancient Egyptian Distribution Company is a black nationalist organization operating in Jersey City, the center said.

It’s Facebook page describes hawks books about and created by the Nuwaubian Nation, which is, again, traced back to York’s cult teachings.

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Elegy Records - Clifton

Elegy Records billed itself as a record label that sold all kinds of black metal, but the SPLC said it is a hate organization that hawks all manner of loathsome hate music.

The owner of the website — who proclaims that the label simply distributes music regardless of the opinions contained within — announced this year that the site is liquidating and shutting down after Paypal and various other payment platforms refused to work with them, according to articles on various black metal websites.

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Israel United In Christ - Newark

This organization is part of the black Hebrew Israelite movement, which started after the Civil War when a group of African-American christians started preaching that the emancipated slaves were actually “God’s chosen people, the true Hebrews," according to the SPLC.

Hebrew Israelites were recently in the news because their hurling of anti-white, anti-Semitic and homophobic language on the steps of the Lincoln Monument in Washington D.C. was part of what allegedly instigated

between Native American protesters and a group of high school students.

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Forza Nuova - Trenton

The SPLC calls Forza Nuova a neo-fascist group. It is an Italian far-right political movement, and the name translates to New Force.

They are under the umbrella of white nationalists, the SPLC says. Forza Nuova focuses on denigrating non-whites and gay or lesbian people, among other things.

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There was NO application for a permit. There were NO social media postings announcing a rally. Next time do a little more research than the FAKE NEWS MEDIA! Have fun and keep warm at your "anti-racist" echo-chamber today. — NJEHA (@EuropeanAssoc) January 12, 2019

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In the past, the Anti-Defamation League (ALD) has said the SPLC’s list of hate groups is not the best measure of white supremacist activity in New Jersey.

In a statement Friday, Evan R. Bernstein, director of ADL’s New York/New Jersey regional office, said the ADL tracked 41 incidents of white supremacist propaganda distribution by Identity Evropa, Patriot Front, Daily Stormer Book Clubs, Loyal White Knights and the New Jersey European Heritage Association.

Beyond using flyers, he said the ADL documented seven white supremacist "incidents" in New Jersey, including the hoax demonstration the NJ European Heritage Association concocted in Princeton last month to upset locals.

“At the end of the day, Americans don’t have the luxury to ignore any of these threats, no matter where they come from,” Bernstein said. “Having a correct assessment of activities and precedence allows policy makers and law enforcement to allocate resources appropriately.”

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Read more about hate in New Jersey

Rebecca Everett may be reached at reverett@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter

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