The spread of white supremacist propaganda has left Michigan’s most vulnerable communities feeling more unsafe than ever.
A recent report by the Anti-Defamation League shows the spread of racist, antisemitic and anti-LGBTQ+ messages online and in real life are only growing. The report cites a 12% increase in the number of white supremacist incidents between 2022 and 2023.
In that same year, propaganda targeting the Jewish community saw a 30% increase. The spread of anti-LGBTQ+ propaganda saw the largest spike, with a 141% increase in those incidents.
From hand-delivered fliers, to graffiti, to posts on social media, misleading or biased information designed to inspire hate against marginalized communities can come in a number of different forms. The rise in incidents against people of the Jewish faith is no shock to Greater Lansing Jewish Federation Executive Director Amy Shapiro.
“It’s very concerning how high they’ve gotten year after year recently, although it’s not surprising,” she said.
One of the most recent cases of antisemitic threats in Michigan is that of 19-year-old Sean Pietila, who was
recently sentenced to 12 months and one day in federal prison for threats he made against an East Lansing synagogue last year. Many of those threats were made via social media, which U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Michigan Mark Totten said plays a significant role in hate crimes today.
“We’ve seen people being able to communicate in ways they never would have, and we’ve also seen people who have been radicalized because of their contacts and their relationships and what they’re consuming online,” he said.
Totten’s office prosecuted numerous hate crime cases, including Pietila’s, and has investigated even more. He said other groups that continue to experience a higher rate of hate crimes are people of color, specifically Black Americans, and members of the LGBTQ+ community, both of which are reflected in the Anti-Defamation League report.
www.wilx.com
