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Friend, Today is the sixth anniversary of the horrific massacre at "Mother Emanuel" African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, South Carolina. The nine people who tragically and senselessly lost their lives must not be forgotten. We remember them and grieve for them, their families and their loved ones. Rev. DePayne Middleton-Doctor These nine people, along with five others who survived, welcomed a new visitor with open arms. They couldn’t have known that he had spent months spying on the church and would open fire as the group shared a final prayer. They also could not have known that their murders would become a flashpoint in the nation’s ongoing struggle with racism and hate violence. Their killer embraced white supremacist propaganda and admired South Africa’s apartheid. He represented the modern face of domestic terrorism: an extremist who acts after being radicalized online. Online radicalization is a growing problem that affects each of our communities. The SPLC’s 2020 Year in Hate and Extremism report found that many extremists are not formal members of any organization. Instead, they use online platforms to form connections with hate and antigovernment groups or other extremists. Despite the lack of formal affiliation, these individuals still take real-world actions. The growing popularity of extremist spaces and content online has created new and powerful avenues for radicalization, especially for young people who are often the targets of radical-right propaganda. In partnership with American University’s Polarization and Extremism Research and Innovation Lab (PERIL), we released a guide to help parents, caregivers and educators understand how extremists exploit times of unrest and target children and young adults. You can read and share the guide for free here. To end hate, we must dismantle white supremacy and oppression in all its forms. We are challenging hate through our work by vigilantly monitoring more than 800 hate groups in the country and urging lawmakers to take the threat of online extremism seriously through our congressional testimony. We owe it to the Emanuel Nine, and to all who have lost their lives to white supremacy and racism, to continue onward. In solidarity, Your friends at the Southern Poverty Law Center
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