The report includes disturbing findings based on research from our Center on Extremism (COE), one of the world’s foremost authorities on extremist terrorism, anti-Semitism and all forms of hate.

• The list of attackers in 2019 was again dominated by right wing extremists, including white supremacists, who were responsible for 38 murders. The deadliest, by far, was the August white supremacist shooting spree at a Walmart in El Paso, Texas, which left 22 people dead and at least 24 more wounded.
• Among the killings not tied to right-wing motives were the December killings at a Jersey City kosher market by two attackers with prior ties to the Black Hebrew Israelite movement. The U.S. also had what appears to be its first lethal foreign terror attack on American soil since 9/11, a shooting spree by a Saudi Arabian in Florida thought to be motivated by Islamist extremism.
• The report illuminates trends from the past decade, during which right-wing extremists have been responsible for more than 75 percent of domestic extremist-related murders.

For decades, the Center on Extremism’s seasoned investigators and analysts have tracked extremist activity and hate in the U.S. and abroad — online and on the ground. The team assists law enforcement with investigations, provides tech companies with insights and expertise and presents individuals and communities with information about the dangers that arise when extremism goes unchecked.

COE’s H.E.A.T. Map, a first-of-its-kind interactive tool, includes sortable data on all of these attacks as well as other incidents of hate, extremism, anti-Semitism and terrorism. The map enables you to see where hate and extremism are happening in the communities of most interest to you.

Key Steps to Fight Extremism

ADL calls for several vital steps to reduce the deadly threat of extremist attacks. We urge:

• new laws that specifically focus on tracking and preventing domestic terrorism
• stronger steps by the tech sector to address the offline consequences of online hate
• enhanced federal, state, and local responses to hate crimes, and the adoption of comprehensive hate-crimes laws at all levels of government
• far more attention and resources need to be focused on countering far-right extremism
• schools, supported by government guidance and resources, should promote an inclusive school climate and regularly integrate anti-bias and anti-hate content into their teaching
• Most important, public officials and law enforcement authorities must send a consistent and much stronger message that violent bigotry is unacceptable, while providing assistance to individual victims and communities.

Please join ADL in keeping your community informed about these threats, and pushing our political leaders for the changes we need to reduce the deadly impact of extremism. Your voice is essential in the fight against hate in all its forms.

Sincerely,

Jonathan Greenblatt

CEO and National Director

ADL