White supremacy groups have seldom, if ever, been more active, the top official for the Anti-Defamation League’s Philadelphia Region told an audience of about 50 during a May 25 presentation at the Free Library of Northampton Township.

 

During a talk organized by the Bucks County Human Relations Council, ADL Philadelphia Regional Director Andrew Goretsky said Pennsylvania had the highest level of white supremacist propaganda in the country in 2021, with 473 incidents including racist, antisemitic and other hateful messages.

 

White supremacist propaganda distribution remained at historic levels across the United States in 2021, with a total of 4,851 cases of racist, antisemitic and other hateful messages reported by the ADL, added Goretsky, who oversees an ADL region that includes Eastern Pennsylvania, Southern New Jersey and Delaware.

 

He said everyone needs to educate themselves on white supremacist groups and be ready to combat hate and intolerance in all its forms. Some of the ways that can be done, Goretsky said, is for public officials to immediately condemn white supremacist flyers or propaganda as acts of hate, arrange for community-wide shows of solidarity with those targeted and engage in public awareness campaigns to expose those behind propaganda efforts and extremists.

 

“It’s an exceptionally scary time,” said county Human Relations Council Chairman Bernie Hoffman. “We were fortunate to have one of the foremost authorities on these issues speak to us tonight.”

 

For more information, including the ADL’s full report on white supremacist groups, visit adl.org.