The Southern Poverty Law Center, a national legal advocacy group specializing in civil rights, says it has found 24 hate groups in the Show-Me State in 2018. The previous year, the organization found 18. The nonprofit shows Missouri has hate groups including two anti-Muslim, three neo-Nazi, one Ku Klux Klan, six black nationalists, one Christian identity, three white nationalists and one skinhead.
Of Missouri’s eight neighboring states, the center says the Show-Me State has more hate groups than any of them except for Illinois and Tennessee.
Nationwide, the center shows 1,020 hate groups in 2018, an increase from 954 in 2017.
The organization’s findings could be lower than the actual figures. Many hate groups keep a low profile and depend on websites, social media and chatrooms to spread their message and recruit members.
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