White Supremacists Step Up ‘Unprecedented’ Recruitment on College Campuses, ADL Says
“Never have we seen anti-Semites and white supremacists so focused on outreach to students,” says Anti-Defamation League leader
Brian Welk | March 6, 2017 @ 10:04 AM
Last Updated: March 6, 2017 @ 12:16 PM
White supremacist groups have been recruiting college students at an “unprecedented” rate, the Anti-Defamation League said on Monday.
The groups have been hanging anti-Muslim, anti-Semitic and anti-immigrant posters, speaking on campus and flooding campus fax machines with fliers that warn of “multiculturalism,” according to the ADL.
The civil rights group blames a documented rise of the use of racist graffiti, slurs and even students wearing blackface on calculated efforts by such white nationalist groups to capitalize on a polarized presidential election (via The Washington Post).
“White supremacists have consciously made the decision to focus their recruitment efforts on students and have in some cases openly boasted of efforts to establish a physical presence on campus,” said Jonathan Greenblatt, chief executive of the ADL, in a statement. “While there have been recruitment efforts in the past, never have we seen anti-Semites and white supremacists so focused on outreach to students on campus.”
The ADL has catalogued 104 incidents since the beginning of the school year in September last year, with more than half occurring since January. The group described an “unprecedented outreach effort” by organizations they’ve identified as white supremacist.
Racist posters have appeared on several campuses in at least 25 states, the ADL reports. One Texas State University professor said some contain code words for “white genocide.” One poster from a group called Vanguard America has an image of two white faces over a black background reading, “We have a right to exist.” Vanguard America’s website also has a recent post titled “A Muslim Free America.”
The groups responsible for the white nationalist propaganda sweeping college campuses include Identity Evropa, American Vanguard, American Renaissance.
The ADL also pointed to “some of the more disturbing incidents reported on campus”:
Feb. 21, 2017 – Old Dominion University, Norfolk, Va. – student wearing ODU sweatshirt tweeted a music video called “white power” that spread around campus.
Feb. 15, 2017 – University of Southern California, Los Angeles – vendor (had prior permission) was asked to leave after it was discovered he/she was selling shirts and albums with swastika symbols.
Feb. 10, 2017 – Adolf Hitler valentine cards “my love 4 u burns like 6,000 jews” circulated at Central Michigan University, Pleasant, Mich.
Jan. 18, 2017 – Printer hacked caused anti-Semitic fliers to be printed – Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tenn.
Dec. 6, 2016 – White nationalist Richard Spencer spoke at Texas A&M, College Station, Tex., as a guest of Preston Wiginton.
9 People Stopped at Airports Under Trump's Travel Ban (Photos)
On Jan. 27, President Donald Trump signed an executive order restricting travel from seven Muslim-majority countries. The ban is now tied up in courts, but Trump has announced plans for a new ban.
The first travel ban affected about 90,000 people. Here's an introduction to eight of them.
Muhammad Ali Jr.
Legendary boxer Muhammad Ali's son and his mother were stopped by immigration officials at the Ft. Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport.
CNN
Khalilah Camacho-Ali was let go after showing officials a photo of her and her then-husband Muhammad Ali, but Muhammad Ali, Jr. was questioned for an hour and 45 minutes, according to the Los Angeles Times.
We can't say conclusively why the Alis were stopped, but the family's lawyer said that the officials kept asking Ali Jr. about his religion. (The elder Ali is pictured here with President George W. Bush, receiving the Presidential Medal of Freedom.)
Hameed Khalid Darweesh
Hameed Khalid Darweesh worked for over 10 years as an interpreter for the U.S government in Iraq.
According the the New York Times, Darweesh was detained at JFK airport for about 19 hours before he was allowed to enter the U.S.
“What I do for this country? They put the cuffs on,” Darweesh told the Times.
A 5-year-old boy
A 5-year-old boy was detained for a few hours at Washington Dulles International Airport.
According to the Independent, the boy is a U.S. citizen who lives with his Iranian mother in Maryland and was traveling with another family member at the time.
“To assume that just because of someone’s age and gender that they don’t pose a threat would be misguided and wrong,” said White House press secretary Sean Spicer.
Areej Ali
The 33-year-old software developer, a green-card holder, was detained in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia and again in Los Angeles. She said she was returning from her sister's wedding in Sudan.
Her family found a lawyer who noted that the ban did not apply to people with green cards, according to the Daily Bulletin.
Fusion
Mazdak Tootkaboni and Arghavan Louhghalam
This husband and wife are associate professors at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth, and both are permanent residents of the United States, but are Iranian in nationality.
According to the Guardian, the two professors were coming back from a conference in France when they were stopped at Boston's Logan airport and questioned for four hours before being released.
Getty
Sidd Bikkannavar
The U.S.-born Muslim scientist says he was detained under President Trump’s travel ban and forced by border agents to unlock his NASA-issued phone.
Bikkannavar is an employee at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory and was coming back from a trip in Patagonia when he was detained. Patagonia is a region in Argentina and Chile -- neither of which are among the countries covered by the travel ban.
YouTube
Khanon Mahindokht Azad
According to the Guardian, Khanon Mahindokht Azad is a 78-year-old Iranian grandmother who visits the U.S. every now and then to see her kids -- who are U.S. citizens.
After 27 hours of being detained at LAX, she was finally allowed into the country.
Getty
1 of 11
From a legendary boxer’s son to a 5-year-old boy to a woman visiting her grandkids
On Jan. 27, President Donald Trump signed an executive order restricting travel from seven Muslim-majority countries. The ban is now tied up in courts, but Trump has announced plans for a new ban.
The first travel ban affected about 90,000 people. Here's an introduction to eight of them.