美国国家公共电台 NPR A 'Mainstreaming Of Bigotry' As White Extremism Reveals Its Global Reach（在线收听）

A 'Mainstreaming Of Bigotry' As White Extremism Reveals Its Global Reach

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Last week's mass shooting in New Zealand was an extreme example of white nationalist violence. But while it's extreme, it is not alone. White hate ideology is rising around the globe and especially in the United States. NPR's Kirk Siegler reports.

KIRK SIEGLER, BYLINE: It's a common misconception that your average white supremacist is some disaffected white guy with economic anxieties according to Kathy Blee, who studies white extremism at the University of Pittsburgh. Her research shows middle class and even upper-middle-class men from the mainstream are increasingly getting drawn into this movement, which is mostly online and worldwide. We reached her while traveling through the Detroit airport.

KATHY BLEE: A lot of them are very casual viewers initially, and they get pulled into these very extreme ideas.

SIEGLER: Blee says this online world is a lot more convoluted and complicated than we think. People who are already spending huge amounts of time online discover or are recruited into racist communities, and they become radicalized. And some are prone to act on this anger urgently.

BLEE: It's more that this world can create people who are aimless, marginalized, isolated and quite extreme (unintelligible).

SIEGLER: Blee was as horrified as the next person about the murders at the New Zealand mosques but maybe not as surprised. Here in the U.S., there's been a spike in white-supremacist-motivated violence and murders.

According to the Anti-Defamation League, ideologically motivated extremists killed at least 50 people in the U.S. last year according to preliminary figures. And all but one of those murders had at least some link to right-wing extremism. Just one, according to a recent report, was blamed on Islamist extremism.

And therein lies another widespread and dangerous misconception, says Brian Levin. He heads the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism at Cal State San Bernardino.

BRIAN LEVIN: This threat of homegrown, far right-wing white nationalism, terrorism and extremism is the most prominent threat.

SIEGLER: Since 2015, Levin says Islamist extremism directed at Westerners has dropped. That movement has splintered as white extremism has strengthened.

LEVIN: And during these periods of polarization and when there is declining trust in communal institutions, who gets targeted? Immigrants, foreigners, people of color and Jews.

SIEGLER: Speaking to reporters after the attacks, President Trump said he didn't believe white nationalism is on the rise. Experts say the hard numbers prove the opposite.

PETE SIMI: Well, we're not getting much, if any, national leadership in terms of how to respond to hate and extremism.

SIEGLER: At Chapman University in Southern California, sociology professor Pete Simi says, whether intentional or not, President Trump also speaks the language of white supremacists when he makes derogatory remarks about immigrants in the countries they come from and repeatedly talks about a, quote, "invasion at the U.S.-Mexican border." He did so again on Friday when vetoing Congress's attempt to block his emergency declaration.

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PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: We're on track for a million illegal aliens to rush our borders. People hate the word invasion, but that's what it is.

SIMI: When you have a president who's endorsing those ideas and using that kind of language, it does send the message that, hey - you know, this is not only permissible, it's encouraged.

SIEGLER: After the New Zealand attack, a White House spokesperson called it outrageous to make any connection to Trump, saying the president has repeatedly condemned bigotry and racism. Kirk Siegler, NPR News, Los Angeles.