Organizations that study hate crimes in the United States say that the number of hate groups in the country has risen since 2015. Hate groups are organizations that call for hatred or violence against people because of their race, religion, sexual orientation or other characteristics. The Southern Poverty Law Center, or SPLC, is a civil rights organization that researches hate groups, incidents of hate and hate crimes. In a report released last month, the SPLC said the number of hate groups in the United States reached a near-record of 917 in 2016. That is up from 892 in 2015. The SPLC has been counting hate groups for 30 years. The highest number of hate groups was 1,018 in 2011. President Trump began his address to the United States Congress last week by recognizing recent hate crimes in America. “Recent threats targeting Jewish Community Centers and vandalism of Jewish cemeteries, as well as last week’s shooting in Kansas City, remind us that while we may be a nation divided on policies, we are a country that stands united in condemning hate and evil in all of its very ugly forms.” There have been a number of anti-Jewish incidents in 2017. The Anti-Defamation League is a rights group that seeks fair treatment for Jewish people. It released a security warning to Jewish organizations across the U.S. late last month. The warning comes as a sixth wave of bomb threats targeted 110 Jewish community centers and day schools since January. The latest wave was Tuesday. According to the ADL, bombs threats were made to at least 13 Jewish centers and schools in 10 states. In many places, people had to evacuate buildings while police and dogs searched for bombs. No bombs were found.
