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In November 2008 election signs showing support for presidential candidate Barack Obama were defaced in Delaware Township. (Frank Conlon | Star Ledger) (Conlon, Frank)

(Conlon, Frank)

"I don't think it's a hellhole of hate, but it has problems."

That's Mark Potok, a senior fellow at the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), talking about New Jersey. The SPLC has just published its 2014 list of active hate groups in the United States -- 784 in total. Potok wrote about them in the nonprofit's Intelligence Report publication.

New Jersey has the fourth highest number of active hate groups in the country, according to the SPLC's list. With 40 such groups, N.J. takes a backseat only to California, Florida and New York on the list of bigotry and intolerance.

New Jersey's high ranking comes partly thanks to the 22 racist skinhead groups the SPLC says are active in the state. However, according to the list, the New Jersey also harbors one Ku Klux Klan chapter, seven neo-Nazi groups, one white nationalist society, eight black separatists organizations and one record label that specializes in white-supremacist music.

"New Jersey has had a fairly high number of hate group for quite a number of years," said Potok in an interview on Friday. "The skinhead problems in New Jersey are something that's been happening over the past 10 years.

"Particularly with the AC Skins, around Atlantic City, you see a lot of chapters in places like racially homogonous suburbs that bump up against cities that are more diverse."

The SPLC counts 14 chapters of the AC Skins -- in Absecon, Atlantic City, Brick, Brigantine, Camden, Galloway, Hamilton Township, Little Egg Harbor, Marmora, Pemberton Township, Pine Hill, Somers Point, Wildwood and Woodbine.

There are also chapters of the American Front racist skinhead gang in Hackensack, Haledon and Roselle on the list.

However, according to Potok, most racist skinheads aren't part of any group, so the list is far from comprehensive.

"Largely, it's a bar and music scene," he said. "In general, you do see, from time to time, some political plots, but most of the time it's low-level interpersonal violence -- infighting amongst themselves over women or drugs -- or beating people up on the street."

"By the time you're 30, you're aging out of it, by and large," Potok later added. "You grow your hair out, even if you still have the same views."

According to the SPLC, the number of hate groups in New Jersey and the nation has been falling. The state in 2013 had 44 hate group listed, compared to 40 in 2014. Nationally, the SPLC calculated a 20 percent reduction in active, organized hate groups.

"The organized movement seems to be diminishing," said Potok. "Even though there really hasn't bee a reduction of violence across the country, there has been a disaffiliation from organized groups in favor of the Internet or being a lone wolf."

The SPLC's registry of hate groups isn't without its critics.

According to Mark Pitcavage, director of investigative research at that Anti-Defamation League (ADL), the SPLC has a habit of counting single individuals as groups or chapters, which can give a skewed impression of hate groups in any given state.

As an example, he noted that the American Front racist skinhead group largely fell apart in 2012 and 2013, after its leaders were arrested in Florida. Since then, its presence in New Jersey and other places has been virtually nonexistent, he said.

"The Southern Poverty Law Center's list is wildly inflated," said Pitcavage. "They list skinhead groups in places where there are no organized groups, but instead it's just a couple of individuals.

"There definitely are white supremacists in New Jersey, but it's overstated by the SPLC's list," he later added. "Most skinheads don't belong to any group -- they're just part of the scene."

While the ADL doesn't maintain annual lists of hate groups, it does track racism-related events and criminal activity across the country, as well as the larger trends of racist organizations. According to Pitcavage, most such groups are either in decline -- like neo-Nazis or the KKK -- or stagnant -- like racist skinheads and Christian Identity churches.

However, one category that has been on the rise nationally, and one that has gained an albeit small foothold in New Jersey, is racist prison gangs, he said.

"Racist prison gangs have been spreading from west to east, along with the meth trade," said Pitcavage. "It's not a huge problem in New Jersey and the surrounding areas as much as it is in the Midwest, in places like Indiana, Missouri and Texas."

According to Pitcavage, there are two racist prison gangs in New Jersey -- the East Coast Aryan Brotherhood, which formed in the 1990s and early 2000s and has largely been fading out, and the State Prison Skins, which was established in 2005 and has become the main white-supremacist prison gang in the state with about 100 to 150 members.

"As a comparison, the largest neo-Nazi group in the country, the National Socialists, has about 325 members," said Pitcavage.

"The Internet and social networking has changed things, allowing the different groups to contact each other, so there's more ties between the sect," he later added. "Luckily for New Jersey, these gangs haven't spread too much into the state."

Below is a list of hate groups and chapter locations active in New Jersey in 2014, aside from racist skinheads, according to the SPLC.

Ku Klux Klan

Loyal White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan -- Trenton.

Neo-Nazi

Aryan Nations -- Midland Park and North Bergen.

National Socialist Movement -- Bayonne, Clifton, Holland, Newark and Pemberton Township.

White nationalist

Advanced White Society -- Pemberton Township.

Black separatist

The Israelite Church of God in Jesus Christ -- Asbury Park, Camden, Jersey City and Vineland.

Nation of Islam -- Camden, Newark, Plainfield and Willingboro.

Racist music



Micetrap Distribution, a record label based in Maple Shade.

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Jason Laday may be reached at jladay@southjerseymedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @JasonLaday. Find the South Jersey Times on Facebook.