the Anti-Defamation League released this report,
Hate In The Sunshine State.
Documenting the rise of white supremacists
and neo-Nazi groups in Florida over the last two years.
In reading the report, one thing that was clear to me
is that when elected officials,
through their words or actions,
demonize a group of people, for instance immigrants,
as a danger or threat to our community,
it emboldens these racist groups
to push their hate even further.
Before DeSantis's secret flights
to Martha's Vineyard were uncovered,
I spoke to Ben Popp,
an investigative researcher with the ADL,
and Sarah Emmons, the ADL's Florida regional director.
>>So this report published by the ADL,
the Anti-Defamation league
titled Hate In The Sunshine State,
finds that extremism is on the rise
here in our great state of Florida.
One of the key findings from the report
is that we saw a 71% increase
in extremist related incidents from 2020 to 2021,
and as we are more than halfway into 2022,
we're seeing a continuation of this extremist activity
which we're finding very concerning.
>>So when we talk about
the rise in those extremist related incidents,
a large number of those can be attributed
to one specific network in the state of Florida.
There's this developing white supremacist network
that we've been monitoring for some time,
and it's largely centered around a couple of groups.
One called the Goyim Defense League, GDL,
and another called White Lives Matter.
And so these groups are collaborating
and working together in an unprecedented way
to distribute propaganda and hold
in-person demonstrations across the state.
>>Ben, let me stay with you for a second.
Is it primarily that they're making their presence known?
Are they, you know, by picketing, protesting
doing things along that line,
which, you know, we all understand
they have a constitutional right to do?
Or is it more concerning than that?
>>Yeah, so I think on the surface,
propaganda distribution and these in-person rallies
that they're holding, you know,
dropping banners from overpasses and stuff like that
can seem a little bit less harmful than it actually is
because the goal of these groups
is to normalize their ideology,
and to further desensitize the community to this messaging
and this horrible imagery that they're using.
So the idea is to slowly continue
to make the community aware of of their presence,
as well as to, as I said, normalize their views.
>>Sarah, pick up on that point.
What's the harm here?
>>So part of the work we do here
in the ADL Florida team is actually talking to the people
who received this propaganda in their driveways.
We've seen on the news about these anti-Semitic pamphlets
being distributed in little baggies with corn or rice.
Things like that are incredibly harmful
and intimidating for communities.
And that really, as Ben spoke to,
is the goal of these extremist groups
is to scare people, to intimidate communities,
and to normalize this kind of rhetoric in a way
that I think is really terrible
for the communities we live in.
>>But it seems as if the numbers I think what you cite
is you talk about dozens of people.
Now, one person holding these views is disturbing,
dozens is certainly is troubling,
but in a state of the size of Florida,
is it really that troubling
when you've got dozens of people
holding these sorts of views?
I'm not supporting it.
I'm just trying to get a perspective on how serious this is.
>>Yeah, so that's, you know, one positive
that you can take away from the report is that
these events are not attended by massive numbers of people.
It's usually in the 10s of people.
Sorry, the 10s or hundreds of people on occasion.
But specifically, with this white supremacist network
that we're discussing, they're generally quite small.
But what they're doing is building
a growing community across Florida
of white supremacist groups that are working together.
And, you know, while one of these events
hosted by one of these groups may have 20 people at it,
what they're doing is working with other groups
that may have 20 people that continuously
attend their events, and they're expanding that way.
>>So I understand that numbers aren't everything.
It's the normalization of these views
that I believe you find so most troubling.
Sarah, let me ask you why do you think
these incidents are rising?
What's your theory as to why this is spreading
more so in the last few years than we've seen in the past?
>>You know, it's really hard to pinpoint any one cause
as to why we're seeing the rise
in extremist related incidents,
but, you know, our center on extremism
and our work here in Florida,
we think about a couple contributing factors.
So certainly one is just the widespread disinformation
that we see circulating not only online,
but in newspapers from our community
and our elected leaders.
We're also seeing a rise in conspiracy theories.
Individuals who are perpetuating conspiracy theories,
which we know theories like the Great Replacement theory
have even led to violence
that we've seen throughout our country
even in this past year.
And then the third that Ben spoke to a bit
is just the normalization of hateful rhetoric.
We're seeing, you know, here in the state of Florida,
we see our elected leaders using very hateful
and divisive rhetoric in a way
that I don't think is beneficial to anyone,
and helps embolden these extremists
to commit these hateful acts.
>>Well, let's stay with that for a second, Sarah.
In going through the recommendations from the report,
one of the things that you say,
and it's amazing to me that it even needs to be said,
is that "Elected officials and community leaders
must strongly and consistently condemn
antisemitism and extremism
wherever and whenever it occurs."
The fact that you have to recommend that is telling to me.
You know, are you under the belief right now
that enough of that is not being done?
>>Yes, I think there are many acts
that we've seen across our state
over the past few years and nationwide
where hateful acts or occurring.
We're seeing individuals in very hateful moments
where we're not seeing all of our elected
and community leaders condemn and call out this behavior.
And again, that emboldens these extremists,
that they're taking these actions
and that they're not hearing
from our community leadership
that that's not acceptable.
It encourages them to do it the next time and the next time.
>>You, the report, the recommendations write,
"Officials and community leaders must denounce hate,
especially when it emanates from a group
or political party that they identify with."
You know, I guess I wanna try to take it
from the abstract to to the reality
of what we're dealing with.
We've seen an increase of rhetoric.
In the report, they cite, you know,
the raid on Mar-a-Lago, the January 6th event.
Do you specifically believe that Republicans
should be doing more?
I mean, one of the photos
that is most striking to me in your report
is a group of Nazi-like sympathizers
holding up a sign DeSantis country.
You know, now I understand that they're not doing that
with DeSantis's blessing, but where's the condemnation?
Is that your point?
>>Yes, and, you know, at the ADL,
we see antisemitism and hateful rhetoric
coming from the left and from the right.
And when we speak to people of any political party
calling it out, if you lean left or you lean right,
you have to condemn that hatred
even if it comes from your own political party
or from people that you might otherwise agree with.
I think it's on each and every one of us
to call out that rhetoric wherever we see it,
and that's the work we do here at the ADL.
>>Are you...
I mean, I'm gonna just ask the question.
Are you disappointed with what you're hearing
from the governor in Florida on this issue?
>>You know, I think there is many layers of disappointment
when we look at many of our leaders
both statewide and nationwide.
I think there's certainly more that could be said
and more that can be done across our leadership.
>>When we come back,
we talk to Miami-Dade mayor, Daniella Levine Cava
about her plans to offer millions of dollars
in rental assistance and mortgage relief
to struggling residents.
Stay with us.