Politics & Government

Extremism, Anti-Semitism In Illinois: 113 Incidents In 2019

The Anti-Defamation League says incidents of extremism and anti-Semitism went up nearly 32 percent nationwide in 2019.

(AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar, File)

ILLINOIS — In 2019, there were 113 incidents of extremism and anti-Semitism in Illinois, according to the Anti-Defamation League.

The figure for 2019 increased slightly from the 110 incidents reported in our state during 2018.

The occurrences in Illinois were among the 4,015 examples of extremist and anti-Semitic incidents that happened nationwide in 2019. The figure reported for 2019 is up almost 32 percent from the 3,052 incidents reported in 2018, according to the ADL.

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Illinois' 2019 total includes one terrorist plot or attack — explosive materials and a notebook found in a 22-year-old Lombard man's home — as well as three white supremacist events, 76 incidents of white supremacist propaganda being distributed and 34 anti-Semitic incidents, according to the ADL.

Here just a few of the incidents that happened in Illinois that the ADL, a non-governmental organization, included in its registry:

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Terrorist plot or attack: Aug. 11, 2019

  • Location: Lombard
  • Ideology: Right-wing (anti-government)
  • Description: Police said they found materials to make explosives in Daniel Waters' home, along with "a notebook in which Waters allegedly described plans to start a 'black ops' militia group to gather intelligence on potential targets and to set up ambushes." Among the items found in his home were potassium nitrate, BBs, "two pounds of sulfur powder, one pound of activated charcoal, a bag of flash powder, a safety fuse spool, ball bearing, 30 PVC pipes, and four pre-made pipes with caps, wholes and wicks," according to CBS Chicago. Waters was charged with one felony count of unlawful possession of explosive materials.

Anti-Semitic Incident - Harassment at a white supremacist event: April 1, 2019

  • Location: Chicago
  • Ideology: Right Wing (White Supremacist)
  • Description: Patriot Front, an alt-right group, protested outside American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) and Israeli consulate offices "in support of national sovereignty, and in opposition to Zionist influence."

White Supremacist Event: Jan. 16, 2019

  • Location: Chicago
  • Ideology: Right Wing (White Supremacist)
  • Description: Around 30 people associated with white supremacist group Identity Evropa held a flash demonstration in front of then-Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s office claiming to condemn the city’s sanctuary policies and to demand President Donald Trump "build the wall by any means necessary." The group held lettering that spelled "HEY RAHM" and two banners that read: "No sanctuary No asylum No citizenship."

On 76 different documented occasions throughout 2019, white supremacist and alt-right groups distributed propaganda in the Chicago area, notably the Patriot Front, "an American white supremacist, neo-Nazi, neo-fascist and American nationalist" group, and the American Identity Movement, an alt-right white supremacist group that started last year. Propaganda was handed out on multiple occasions in towns including Willowbrook, Lyons, Elmhurst, Hinsdale, Palos Hills, Wheaton, Elgin, Glen Ellyn, Palatine, Lemont, Burr Ridge, Crest Hill, Oak Forest, St. Charles, Naperville, Champaign and Chicago.

The Anti-Defamation League tracks the incidents through news and media reports, government documents (including police reports), victim reports, extremist-related sources and the Center on Extremism investigations, according to a “Frequently Asked Questions” section on the ADL’s website.

The Anti-Defamation League’s interactive map includes information on incidents involving anti-Semitism, white supremacist propaganda, white supremacist events, extremist-police shootouts, terrorist plots and attacks and extremist murders.

Along with providing the first-of-its-kind interactive and customizable map detailing extremist and anti-Semitic incidents around the nation, the ADL also provides information on the annual quantity of white supremacist propaganda that gets spread throughout the country.

The Anti-Defamation League’s Center on Extremism reported 2,713 cases of circulated propaganda by white supremacist groups in 2019, compared with 1,214 cases in 2018.

Oren Segal, director of the League’s Center on Extremism, pointed to the prominence of more subtly biased rhetoric in some white supremacist material, emphasizing “patriotism.”

By emphasizing language “about empowerment, without some of the blatant racism and hatred,” Segal told the Associated Press, white supremacists are using a “tactic to try to get eyes onto their ideas in a way that’s cheap, and that brings it to a new generation of people who are learning how to even make sense out of these messages.”

The Anti-Defamation League, which was founded in 1913 to combat anti-Semitism as well as other biases, describes its mission as “to stop the defamation of the Jewish people and to secure justice and fair treatment to all.”

You can find the complete interactive map on the ADL’s website.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.


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