NBCNews - Groups of neo-Nazis and white supremacists spread antisemitic, white supremacist and anti-LGBTQ messages outside Disney World and in the nearby Orlando, Florida, area Saturday in the latest examples of rising antisemitism in the U.S., officials said.

About 15 people wearing clothing and bearing flags emblazoned with Nazi insignia demonstrated outside the entrance to the Disney Springs shopping center, said the Orange County Sheriff's Office, which said deputies were dispatched around 10:40 a.m.

According to the Anti-Defamation League, a civil rights organization dedicated to countering extremism, participants carried antisemitic, white supremacist and anti-LGBTQ flags and signs. The group consisted of members of the neo-Nazi groups Order of the Black Sun, Aryan Freedom Network and 14 First, a now disbanded group that has been absorbed into the National Socialist Movement, the largest neo-Nazi group in the U.S., according to the ADL.

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NBCNews - The white gunman who killed three Black people at a Dollar General store in Jacksonville, Florida, over the weekend wore a Rhodesian army patch on his tactical vest, law enforcement sources say, a reference that has been used before during white supremacist attacks.

The patch — representing Rhodesia, a former white minority-ruled territory in southern Africa in the 1960s and ’70s that would become Zimbabwe — is yet another symbol of how the shooter, Ryan Palmeter, was racist and was influenced by racist ideology, investigators say.

Further details also emerged Monday about his struggles with his mental health and a domestic disturbance that required law enforcement intervention.

“This shooting was racially motivated, and he hated Black people,” Sheriff T.K. Waters told reporters Saturday.

The victims were identified as: Angela Michelle Carr, 52, an Uber driver who was dropping off a passenger at the Dollar General; Jerrald De’Shaun Gallion, 29; and Anolt Joseph “A.J.” Laguerre Jr., 19, an employee at the store.

The Jacksonville Sheriff's Office said it had no additional comments when asked about the Rhodesian army patch.

An admitted white supremacist who was convicted in the 2015 shooting of nine worshippers at a historically Black church in Charleston, South Carolina, appeared in an online image wearing a jacket with two patches: the green-and-white flag of Rhodesia and the flag of apartheid-era South Africa. He remains on federal death row.

Rhodesia’s white military had been locked in conflict with the Black population before the territory was dissolved into what is now Zimbabwe.

Rhodesia also became a reference for white lawmakers in the South who sought to uphold segregationist Jim Crow-era policies, and it continues to embolden white nationalists in the U.S., said Gerald Horne, the author of “From the Barrel of a Gun: The United States and the War Against Zimbabwe.”

“They would like to see the clock turned back to the days of yore,” said Horne, a professor of history and African American studies at the University of Houston. 

“Oftentimes, what you find with some of these white supremacists, these lone wolves, as they’re called, these vigilantes, they adhere to an idea that a single spark can start a prairie fire,” Horne said. “They feel that their actions will lead to a larger conflagration and that will lead to their demented dreams’ coming true.”

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StopAAPIHate.org - More than 11,000 acts of hate against Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders have been reported to the national coalition Stop AAPI Hate since March 2020 and the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. This includes thousands of parents, siblings, friends, and neighbors who are simply going about their everyday lives — commuting to work on public transit, taking their kids to school, shopping for groceries or running errands — only to suddenly face discrimination, bullying, harassment, shunning, or assault. Some of these acts of discrimination may be violations of civil rights laws.

To better understand these troubling, and at times illegal, experiences with hate, Stop AAPI Hate commissioned the nonpartisan and independent research organization NORC at the University of Chicago to conduct a nationally representative survey of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders. This landmark survey adds to community-generated data at Stop AAPI Hate and existing research to provide a more complete picture of the discrimination that impacts Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders and the changes needed to uphold the civil rights that protect us all.

Key Findings

1. Nearly half (49%) of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders nationwide have experienced discrimination or unfair treatment that may be illegal. • This discrimination, which is usually based on race or ethnicity, happens when they dine at restaurants, shop for groceries, and ride public transit, as students at school and employees at work, when renting and buying homes, when voting, and when interacting with government employees, including members of law enforcement or staff at the Department of Motor Vehicles.

2. Discrimination negatively affects the mental health and well-being of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders. • Half (50%) of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders experiencing discrimination report feeling sad, stressed, anxious, or depressed as a result. • 45% say it negatively changed their sense of belonging to their school, workplace, or other community, and nearly a third (31%) say it negatively changed their behavior, such as switching schools, jobs, or where they shop.

3. Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders know they have rights and want accountability for unlawful discrimination, yet few who experienced what they believed to be a civil rights violation report it. • Only one in five (21%) Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders who experienced discrimination said they reported it. • A majority (60%) of those who experienced discrimination and reported it say the reporting process was difficult. • Half (52%) of those who experienced discrimination but did not report it thought reporting would not make a difference.

4. Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders want a better understanding of how to enforce their rights and want new laws to protect their civil rights. • A majority (60%) of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders want to learn more about their rights and how to enforce them. • Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders trust community, advocacy, and civil rights organizations serving their respective communities (57%) and government agencies responsible for enforcing civil rights (54%) to learn more about their rights. • A majority (67%) believe new civil rights laws are needed.

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Independent - A neo-Nazi group gathered outside a synagogue in Georgia and brandished swastikas during its Shabbat service on Saturday.

Shocking pictures and videos showed around a dozen people waving the hate symbols outside the Chabad of Cobb synagogue in East Cobb, the non-profit Stop Antisemitism reported.

Jon Minadeo II, leader of the so-called Goyim Defense League, was arrested for disorderly conduct and public disturbance the day before at a synagogue in Macon, Georgia, local station WMAZ reported.

Members of Chabad of Cobb told WMAZ that the neo-Nazis were out there for a few hours. Videos posted online showed the group holding swastika flags and signs that read: “Every Single Aspect of Abortion is Jewish” as local residents could be heard shouting at them to “go home”.

Officers from the Cobb Police Department responded to the scene but did not dispel the rally. Freedom of speech, even hate speech, is generally protected by the First Amendment of the US Constitution — although true threats and harassment are not. Officers stood between the two groups.

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PBS - 

When it came down to it, Rick Colby called on his spirituality in deciding how to support his transgender child, Ashton.

It wasn’t a guarantee. Colby had dedicated his life to Republican politics, starting in 1984 on the field campaign to reelect Ronald Reagan. Reagan and the Republican Party with him and in the decades following would push anti-LGBTQ+ policies. But Colby’s Methodist church by comparison preached inclusivity and empathy, a message that conflicted with what he was hearing from Republicans.

Colby went with Ashton to his first endocrinologist appointment. He held Ashton’s hand the following year as Ashton awoke from gender-affirming top surgery.

“You know, as a parent, you want to protect your child from the nastiness of the world,” Colby said. “I was so relieved as a parent that he was being accepted. And it was just wonderful.”

Survey after survey show that Americans support LGBTQ+ equality, and Republicans are no exception. Still, Republican-dominated states have seen a blitz of anti-LGBTQ+ legislation since 2020, particularly anti-transgender bills. That dissonance — between the reality of the electorate and the priorities of Republican lawmakers — may seem counterintuitive to many.

Randall Balmer, a Dartmouth professor who was raised evangelical, has spent much of his career researching those kinds of contradictions. His book, “Bad Faith: Race and the Rise of Religious Right” traces the rise of the evangelical voting bloc from nonexistent in the 1960s to the single most important interest group for any Republican candidate in the 1980s. In a conversation with The 19th, Balmer said that rise was driving Republican support for anti-trans legislation now.

“They have an interest in keeping the base riled up about one thing or another, and when one issue fades, as with same-sex relationships and same-sex marriage, they’ve got to find something else,” Balmer said. “It’s almost frantic.”

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VOA - It is a growing trend that defies conventional wisdom: Some people of color are joining forces with groups that openly champion right-wing causes, including white supremacy and racism.

Spurred by shared resentments and hatreds, American Latinos, Blacks and other nonwhites are swelling the ranks of some of America’s right-wing groups in rising numbers.

The recent mass killing in Texas shone a light on the phenomenon, reigniting a debate about what draws nonwhites to far-right militancy and why extremist groups embrace them.

Mauricio Garcia, the 33-year-old gunman who killed eight people in Allen, Texas, on May 6, was a Latino who allegedly harbored white supremacist views.

Police killed Garcia, but he left behind a trove of social media posts that showed his affinity for neo-Nazism and white supremacy.

In one post, he showed pictures of Nazis and neo-Nazis with swastika flags, calling them “my type of people.” In another, he referred to himself as “a full-blown white supremacist.”

“We’re going to make America white again,” he bragged in yet another post.

What led a Latino to embrace white supremacist views? Garcia offered some clues: Referring to his “self-loathing phase,” he ranted against “loser Hispanics” and admitted he once wished he were white “because my own race treats me like [expletive].”

“This goes to the root of the power of white supremacy: the wish to identify with the racial category that you think is most powerful in the society that you live in,” said Heidi Beirich, a prominent extremism researcher and co-founder of the Global Project Against Hate and Extremism.

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BusinessInsider - More than a hundred members of a white supremacist group marched in downtown Washington, DC on Saturday evening while chanting "reclaim America," reports say.

Videos show members of Patriot Front outside the Lincoln Memorial wearing matching outfits of khaki pants, dark blue jackets, and baseball caps.

Some carried flags, shields, and photographs show one banner reading "victory or death."

Their faces were obscured mainly by sunglasses and white coverings around their noses and mouths.

The group's leader Thomas Rousseau gave a speech near the Capitol reflecting pool while bystanders booed, The Daily Beast said.

"Our demonstrations are an exhibition of our unified capability to organize, to show our strength," Rousseau said, according to the outlet.

"Not as brawlers or public nuisances, but as men capable of illustrating a message and seeking an America that more closely resembles the interests of its true people."

On Saturday, police closely monitored the scene in case of violence, but the march ended without incident, The Daily Beast reported.

At the end of the protest, two dozen members were stranded as all could not fit in a U-Haul van rented to transport them to and from the rally, The Daily Beast said.

Many waited by the side of the road for hours as the vehicle made several trips, the outlet said. 

According to The Anti-Defamation League, Patriot Front members believe that their ancestors conquered America and bequeathed it.

The group espouses "racism, anti-Semitism, and intolerance under the guise of preserving the ethnic and cultural origins of their European ancestors," the organization said.

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KRON4 - An arrest has now been made in what authorities investigated the Feb. 16 incident that happened around 9:30 a.m. as a hate crime. Joseph Benjamin, 44, was arrested last Friday, the San Francisco Police Department announced Thursday in a press release.

One of the victims was Michelle Young. “So he said stupid Chinese ****h and then I believe he repeated himself and we didn’t respond,” Young, who was visiting San Francisco, told KRON4.

According to SFPD, Benjamin is believed to have been involved in at least two more incidents on Muni — making it a total of three he is linked to.

Another Muni rider says Benjamin threw food at her back last December. The victim also claims the suspect made derogatory comments about her ethnicity and gender.

SFPD also reported on Feb. 13 a Muni driver was assaulted. The driver told police one of his passengers was spit on and used “threatening language,” the press release said. The driver, an Asian man, told the suspect to leave the bus, and the suspect spewed hateful language and spit on him before fleeing the scene.

Benjamin was arrested over two months later in the Tenderloin on the 500 block of Jones Street. He was booked into San Francisco County Jail on two counts of battery committed against a transportation worker or passenger and two counts of hate crime– all misdemeanors.

Benjamin is also charged with three counts of violation of individuals’ civil rights.

As of Thursday afternoon, Benjamin is out of custody following an arrangement earlier that day, according to SF District Attorney Brooke Jenkins. Benjamin is required to stay away from the victims and the 38 and 38R Muni bus lines.

Jenkins said the suspect faces up to seven years in state prison if convicted of all charges.

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USAToday - FBI data shows an "unmistakable pattern" of reported hate crimes spiking during presidential elections, according to a new report.

Data going back to 2008 reveals increases in hate crimes against racial groups around general elections, according to the report from the Leadership Conference Education Fund, a national civil rights group.

"What it shows is an extremely disturbing and sadly not so surprising trend," said the fund's CEO, Maya Wiley.

Since 2015, hate crimes have increased at a staggering rate of more than 80%, the report found.

The data also showed 2021 had the highest number of reported hate crimes on record since the FBI began publishing data in 1991.

Authors of the report issue a stark warning that "there are few – if any – signs that tensions will lessen."

The report says that in 2023, the U.S. is "rife with opportunities" for increased hate crimes to continue into the 2024 election, which will see Donald Trump run for president again.

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