White supremacists in US using coronavirus crisis as rallying call for new recruits

“Although the protests that have broken out across the country have drawn out a wide variety of people pressing to lift stay-at-home orders, the presence of extremists cannot be missed, with their anti-immigrant and anti-Semitic signs and coded messages aimed at inspiring the faithful,” The New York Times reported on Saturday.

White supremacists are generally most active in April, using Adolf Hitler’s birthday and the anniversary of the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing, in which 168 people died, as a rallying call for new recruits.

This April, the extremists have turned the coronavirus pandemic into a battle cry by spreading disinformation on the transmission of the virus and urging loyalists to defy stay-at-home orders.

“They are being very effective in capitalizing on the pandemic,” Devin Burghart, a senior researcher of white nationalists who runs the Institute for Research and Education on Human Rights, told the Times.

It is not yet clear whether the white nationalists have had much success in their recruitment efforts. However, research shows that an increased number of people are consuming extremist material while under coronavirus lockdown.

Their messaging often occurs on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube, while those banned from mainstream platforms resort to less-policed venues such as Telegram, Reddit and gaming sites.

There have also been a rise in violent incidents linked to white supremacists who are enraged over aspects of the pandemic response.

Last month, the Department of Homeland Security warned law enforcement officials across the country of violent extremists mobilizing in response to lockdown measures, a senior law enforcement official and congressional staff member told the Times on condition of anonymity.

A number of extremists have been arrested for threatening government officials implementing coronavirus-related regulations, according to a DHS memo dated April 23 which was distributed to law enforcement centers and congressional committees.

The white supremacists have echoed the US President Donald Trump when it comes to spreading misinformation about the coronavirus pandemic.

Trump, who faces accusations of being sympathetic with white supremacists, had initially dismissed the coronavirus as a hoax designed by Democrats to destroy his reelection chances, and later as the virus spread throughout the US, described it as a disease spread by immigrants.

Last month, Trump urged his supporters in a series of tweets to “liberate” Minnesota, Michigan and Virginia, stirring accusations that the president was encouraging domestic rebellion against Democratic governors in those states.

The US President later defended the controversial posts, accusing those states of doing “too much” and saying he was not worried about protesters defying social distancing guidelines.