FBI Director: White nationalism a 'persistent, pervasive threat'

SCREEN CAPTURE / CBS

The 2017 Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville was meant to mainstream white nationalism.

White nationalists, and/or white supremacists, have become bolder and more dangerous, and should no longer be ignored, said FBI Director Christopher Wray.
Wray testified before the House Appropriations Subcommittee Thursday (April 4) that these radical-right elements are a "persistent, pervasive threat" to U.S. security, contradicting Donald Trump who shrugged off questions about the danger of white nationalists.

“How would you define the danger to public safety that is posed by white supremacist extremism?” asked Committee Chair Rep. Jose Serrano (D-N.Y.).

Wray responded that the “danger ... of white supremacists, violent extremism or any other kind of extremism is, of course, significant.”

The Trump-appointed director added: “We assess that it is a persistent, pervasive threat. We tackle it both through our joint terrorism task forces on the domestic terrorism side as well as through our civil rights program on the civil side through hate-crime enforcement.”

As if to underscore Wray's statement, the DOJ announced last week that multiple members and associates of a white supremacist gang known as the 1488s, have been arrested and charged for their alleged roles in a racketeering enterprise involving narcotics distribution, firearms trafficking, and acts of violence including murder, assault, and kidnapping.

According to the indictment, the 1488s are a violent and “whites only” prison-based gang with approximately 50 to 100 members operating inside and outside of state prisons throughout Alaska and elsewhere. The 1488s allegedly offered protection to white inmates if they joined the gang, and all members were required to “be white, look white and act white.” 

Members allegedly often had tattoos incorporating Nazi-style symbols; however, the most coveted tattoo of 1488s members was the 1488s “patch” that could be worn only by “made” members who generally gained full membership by committing an act of violence on behalf of the gang.

In the wake of the mass shooting of Muslims in New Zealand, the House Judiciary Committee announced its plat to host a hearing Tuesday, April 9, addressing the rise of white nationalism in the U.S. and the hate crime and hate speech surrounding the movement, according to two sources with direct knowledge of the committee’s schedule, according to The Daily Beast.

The committee, which is chaired by Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.), will “examine the causes of racial and religious violence, assess the adequacy of federal hate crimes statutes, and scrutinize targeted domestic surveillance of specific groups,” Nadler wrote in a letter last November to the Homeland Security Department, Justice Department and FBI.

Nadler, who is Jewish, told Roll Call in an interview last year that, as part of his committee’s hearings on hate-fueled violence, he wants to examine “the extent to which [the rise in hate crimes] correlates with the president’s rhetoric and coddling of white supremacists.”
The number of hate-related incidents increased for a third straight year in 2017, according to an FBI report released In November.

For nearly two decades, counterterrorism forces in the U.S. largely ignored the rise of militant far-right extremism, The New York Times reported.

At the April 9 hearing, lawmakers will “examine hate crimes,” the “impact white nationalist groups have on American communities,” and the “spread of white identity ideology,” according to a tweet from the Judiciary Committee Democrats on Thursday.

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